Science For ME
Forum Announcements
Science for ME is looking for research proposal reviewers
A project in collaboration with the WWTF Vienna Science and Technology Fund
WWTF is a Vienna-based non-profit research funding organisation. It is the organisation supporting the WE&ME Foundation with the 2026 funding round that S4ME is collaborating on. WWTF has asked the forum committee to suggest people who could be suitable as reviewers for another ME/CFS research funding round. This round provides followup funding to some of the Vienna-based research teams funded in an earlier funding round.
A reviewer will have several weeks to read the research proposal allocated to them and prepare a written review. Each proposal will be reviewed by a range of reviewers with different perspectives in order to help the jury make decisions about which proposals to fund.
This work is voluntary.
Your expertise
You need to be able to assess a research proposal, apply your knowledge of ME/CFS, and write clearly in English. Perspectives and expertise that would be helpful for some of the proposals include:
The review
You will have access to the researcher's full proposal. The review should fairly assess the proposal against the key evaluation criteria (https://wiki.wwtf.at/books/mecfs-call-2026-consolidation/page/funding-and-evaluation-criteria). It should be no more than three pages, including a brief summary. Good reviews can be short. You may not use generative AI to produce your review.
How to apply
If you are interested, please send an expression of interest to Trish by direct message. The expression of interest should be up to three paragraphs setting out your relevant expertise and experience. You will need to include your real name. If you have severe ME/CFS, you and a carer or friend can apply as one author team. Please note how many proposals you are willing to review.
Your expression of interest together with your posting history on the forum, will be reviewed by a sub-committee of the forum committee. The sub-committee members are Forestglip, Hutan and Trish. The subcommittee will nominate qualified reviewers for each of six proposals. If you are nominated, we will let you know and will forward your expression of interest to WWTF.
Your personal information will be kept confidential by the forum sub-committee and deleted from the forum once the process has been completed. WWTF will be aware of your real name (but not your forum name) as will the funding round jury. Reviews (without author names) will be given to the researcher teams when the funding decisions have been made.
If you are interested, but unsure whether you have enough experience or if you can write well enough in English, we encourage you to apply anyway. We will offer support to reviewers that we have nominated, including proofreading.
Timing
We need your Expression of Interest by 20 July 2026. We will let you know if you have been nominated by the end of July. Nomination is not a guarantee that you will be appointed as WWTF will also be recruiting reviewers directly.
We are very pleased that we can offer this opportunity to members. We think it is a recognition of the expertise among our members and of the value of the forum in advancing community knowledge. We think it is a great opportunity to build the stock of experienced reviewers who really understand ME/CFS. Thanks to WWTF for their ongoing commitment to patient involvement in health research and for including Science for ME in the evaluation process.
A project in collaboration with the WWTF Vienna Science and Technology Fund
WWTF is a Vienna-based non-profit research funding organisation. It is the organisation supporting the WE&ME Foundation with the 2026 funding round that S4ME is collaborating on. WWTF has asked the forum committee to suggest people who could be suitable as reviewers for another ME/CFS research funding round. This round provides followup funding to some of the Vienna-based research teams funded in an earlier funding round.
A reviewer will have several weeks to read the research proposal allocated to them and prepare a written review. Each proposal will be reviewed by a range of reviewers with different perspectives in order to help the jury make decisions about which proposals to fund.
This work is voluntary.
Your expertise
You need to be able to assess a research proposal, apply your knowledge of ME/CFS, and write clearly in English. Perspectives and expertise that would be helpful for some of the proposals include:
- Experience as a person with ME/CFS, experience of severe or very severe ME/CFS
- Experience caring for a person with severe or very severe ME/CFS
- Expertise in qualitative research
- Expertise in clinical trial design
- Knowledge of common issues in ME/CFS research including patient selection
- Knowledge of issues relevant to government policies on provision of care for people with severe and very severe ME/CFS
- Expertise in fields of community nursing, immunology, genetics and epigenetics, skeletal muscle, vascular system, metabolomics
- Knowledge of ME/CFS literature
The review
You will have access to the researcher's full proposal. The review should fairly assess the proposal against the key evaluation criteria (https://wiki.wwtf.at/books/mecfs-call-2026-consolidation/page/funding-and-evaluation-criteria). It should be no more than three pages, including a brief summary. Good reviews can be short. You may not use generative AI to produce your review.
How to apply
If you are interested, please send an expression of interest to Trish by direct message. The expression of interest should be up to three paragraphs setting out your relevant expertise and experience. You will need to include your real name. If you have severe ME/CFS, you and a carer or friend can apply as one author team. Please note how many proposals you are willing to review.
Your expression of interest together with your posting history on the forum, will be reviewed by a sub-committee of the forum committee. The sub-committee members are Forestglip, Hutan and Trish. The subcommittee will nominate qualified reviewers for each of six proposals. If you are nominated, we will let you know and will forward your expression of interest to WWTF.
Your personal information will be kept confidential by the forum sub-committee and deleted from the forum once the process has been completed. WWTF will be aware of your real name (but not your forum name) as will the funding round jury. Reviews (without author names) will be given to the researcher teams when the funding decisions have been made.
If you are interested, but unsure whether you have enough experience or if you can write well enough in English, we encourage you to apply anyway. We will offer support to reviewers that we have nominated, including proofreading.
Timing
We need your Expression of Interest by 20 July 2026. We will let you know if you have been nominated by the end of July. Nomination is not a guarantee that you will be appointed as WWTF will also be recruiting reviewers directly.
We are very pleased that we can offer this opportunity to members. We think it is a recognition of the expertise among our members and of the value of the forum in advancing community knowledge. We think it is a great opportunity to build the stock of experienced reviewers who really understand ME/CFS. Thanks to WWTF for their ongoing commitment to patient involvement in health research and for including Science for ME in the evaluation process.