2020 Mason Foundation funding round now open

2020 Mason Foundation funding round now open
The Mason Foundation, an Australian philanthropic foundation, is offering grants of up to $2.7 million over three years for research projects that focus on Myalgic Encephalomyelitis. This is $90,000 a year, down from $120,000 per year available last year, due to the financial impact of COVID-19.

The goal of the Mason Foundation is to achieve enduring, positive impact in the areas of Myalgic Encephalomyelitis and Alzheimer’s disease through funding medical research principally into the causes, prevention and/or management of these diseases. There are very few Australian philanthropic organisations funding research into ME and they have funded many important projects, making the Mason Foundation very important to Australian scientific research.

The Mason Foundation stipulate that the 2011 International Consensus Criteria for ME or the earlier iteration, the 2003 Canadian Consensus Criteria for ME/CFS or the 2017 Pediatric Primer are the criteria used for research. This is the second year they have specified this criteria, an improvement on previous years where Australians petitioned the Mason Foundation to stop funding trials of graded exercise with undefined research groups. The Mason Foundation acknowledges that these are the criteria recommended by the Australian government’s National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC).

International Consensus Criteria for ME 

Researchers use the ICC exclusively and call the disease ME in all written documents about their research.

• Government agencies/foundations give research grants to scientists using the ICC.
• Government agencies/institutions officially adopt the ICC and post them on official websites.
• Doctors use the ICC to diagnose patients and write only ME G93.3 in patient journals or in all written documents about these patients.
• Advocates/patient associations speak with one voice by agreeing to call the disease ME.
• From the ME International Consensus Primer 

The Mason Foundation guidelines state that ‘research grant applications that consider opportunities for synergy with the newly created patient registry and biobank resources will be a priority’. The Mason biobank was announced last year. Applications close on 16 November 2020.

For more information visit their website.