Grant Guidelines
Fibromyalgia Research Grant Guidelines & Application
Request for Applications
Amount: Five grants up to $90,000 each
Grant Period: One to two years
Application Deadline: March 1, 2027
Total Funding Allocation: Up to $465,000 (U.S. dollars)
Welcome!
Thank you for your interest in AFSA’s fibromyalgia research grant program. Please read the guidelines below carefully before preparing your application. AFSA has specific research priorities, budget restrictions, and principal investigator requirements, and applications that do not meet these requirements will not be sent out for peer review.
If you have questions about whether your project, budget, study team, or proposed methods fit AFSA’s funding priorities, I strongly encourage you to contact me before applying. My role is to assist potential applicants, clarify AFSA’s requirements, and help determine whether a proposed project is likely to meet our review criteria.
To better understand the types of projects AFSA funds, please review our Projects Funded page. Your proposal should not overlap with any ongoing AFSA-funded study.
If you are uncertain whether your proposed project falls within AFSA’s research-funding goals, please email me a brief Letter of Intent (LOI) before submitting a full application. LOIs should be submitted in PDF format; see the final section of these guidelines for details. Submitting an LOI or contacting me with questions can help prevent the time and effort involved in preparing an application that does not meet AFSA’s requirements.
Investigative teams, including PIs and Co-PIs, may submit only one application for this RFA. In addition, any researcher who is currently part of the investigative team for an ongoing AFSA-funded study is ineligible to apply for this RFA, whether as a PI or team member, unless the current AFSA project will be completed before March 1, 2027.
Completed applications, including a signed Conditions of Award, should be emailed to me as a single PDF attachment by March 1, 2027. Applicants may submit proposals before the deadline to help expedite the review process.
I look forward to hearing from you and welcome your questions before you apply.
Kindest regards,
Kristin Thorson
President and Founder of AFSA
kthorson@afsafund.org
Priority Areas for Research Funding
Proposals submitted for review must align with AFSA’s fibromyalgia research priorities. AFSA funds projects that are clinically focused, directly relevant to patients with fibromyalgia, and distinct from ongoing AFSA-funded studies.
AFSA gives priority to projects that do one or more of the following:
- Test therapeutic interventions or agents aimed at reducing key fibromyalgia symptoms.
- Evaluate or identify peripheral and central biological mechanisms that may contribute to fibromyalgia.
- Identify or develop diagnostic measures that could be used in a clinical setting, preferably with blood or other easily accessible biofluids. Brain imaging techniques and other costly or invasive procedures are generally outside AFSA’s funding scope because of cost, accessibility, and implementation barriers.
All proposed projects must be clinically focused and ideally should have the potential to improved patients’ lives within the next ten years. AFSA does not fund rodent studies. Applicants should also keep in mind that proposals involving expensive treatment modalities that are not typically covered by insurance may receive a lower patient-relevance score. The same may apply to projects focused on hypotheses relevant to only a small subset of people with fibromyalgia.
AFSA does not fund projects whose primary purpose is to compare fibromyalgia with ME/CFS, Long COVID, or other chronic illnesses. Our funding is limited and dedicated specifically to fibromyalgia-focused research.
Projects outside AFSA’s current funding scope include:
- Behavioral interventions
- Psychosocial assessments
- Epidemiological studies
- Self-help or lifestyle-change strategies, including dietary changes
- Movement therapies, including any form of exercise
- Surveys
- Rodent studies
Applicants who are uncertain whether their proposed project fits AFSA’s research priorities are encouraged to contact AFSA before preparing a full application or to submit a brief Letter of Intent.
Principal Investigator (PI) Requirements
The PI must be fluent in English and must be a coauthor on at least one study published in a peer-reviewed, English-language medical journal. Prior publications should be in pain, sleep, neuroscience, immunology, or another field directly relevant to fibromyalgia. Editorials, commentaries, letters, and meta-analyses do not satisfy this requirement.
Applicants outside the United States must submit their budget in U.S. dollars. PIs residing in certain countries may be ineligible to apply; please contact AFSA if you have questions about this restriction.
Because AFSA funds small, time-limited clinical research projects, applicants must also demonstrate that the proposed study can be completed within the grant period and that patient recruitment, data collection, and symptom reporting can be conducted reliably. AFSA may be unable to fund studies in regions where active armed conflict, civil unrest, or other major disruptions could interfere with participant recruitment, patient safety, sleep or symptom reporting, follow-up assessments, or timely project completion. Applicants who are uncertain whether this requirement applies to their proposed study location are strongly encouraged to contact AFSA before applying.
The PI must be a board-certified M.D. or D.O., or a Ph.D. with applicable basic science research experience. All Ph.D. applicants must collaborate with an experienced fibromyalgia clinician, such as an M.D., D.O., or N.P., who will be responsible for assessing human subjects. In fact, all applications must include at least one clinician team member, with a biographical sketch, who will assess all study participants. Applications that do not satisfy this requirement will not be reviewed.
PIs and Co-PIs may be listed on only one grant application for this RFA. In addition, any researcher who is currently part of the investigative team for an ongoing AFSA-funded study is ineligible to apply for this RFA, whether as a PI, Co-PI, or team member, unless the current AFSA project will be completed before March 1, 2027.
Other Application Requirements
In addition to meeting AFSA’s PI requirements, applicants must comply with the following application requirements and budget constraints.
Participant Assessments: The 2016 ACR survey criteria for diagnosing fibromyalgia may be used to screen potential study participants; however, a thorough physical examination is required to confirm the diagnosis and assess pressure pain thresholds. Participants with fibromyalgia may not have other chronic conditions that cause multisite pain. AFSA funds research studies focused on primary fibromyalgia.
Institutional Overhead: AFSA does not pay institutional overhead, administrative fees, or other indirect costs. These expenses should not be included in the grant request. Substantial equipment costs, as well as salary requests for the PI or other team members, may reduce the likelihood of funding unless they are clearly justified and essential to the proposed study.
Most of AFSA’s revenue comes from people with fibromyalgia and their supporters. For this reason, AFSA awards are intended to support direct research expenses, particularly the collection of preliminary data that can help investigators pursue larger grants from the NIH or similar funding agencies. If needed, AFSA can provide a letter to the applicant’s institution or grants office explaining why overhead expenses are not allowed and requesting that these costs be waived.
Sample Size Justification: Applicants must describe the method used to determine the proposed sample size. They must also demonstrate that they can recruit the required number of participants within the grant period to avoid project delays. If the proposed study is a pilot-scale project, applicants should state this clearly and explain how the preliminary data will be used to expand this line of investigation or support future funding applications.
IRB Approval: An application may be submitted while institutional review board approval is pending; however, IRB approval must be obtained before AFSA can release grant funds. If IRB approval has already been granted, please include the approval document as a separate attachment with the application.
Tag-On Project Proposals
All AFSA-funded projects must be designed to test one or more specific hypotheses and, whenever possible, should not depend on another funding source for completion. However, AFSA will consider tag-on proposals connected to government-sponsored projects, such as NIH-funded studies, if the AFSA-funded portion meets both of the following conditions:
- It is designed to test a specific hypothesis or meet a specific aim.
- It has a clearly defined budget and budget justification.
If a tag-on project is proposed, the applicant must explain how the AFSA-funded portion fits within the overall project and why it is important. Because of the special nature of tag-on projects, applicants should also provide a brief description of the larger project, separate from the AFSA-funded portion. This information should be included in the “Main Body” section of the application; see the application instructions for additional details.
Project Timelines
AFSA grants are one-time awards. Applicants must demonstrate that the proposed project can be completed within one to two years of funding. If an applicant is considering a two-part project or a study that may require more than two years to complete, they should contact AFSA before submitting a proposal.
Grant Review
Only applications that meet AFSA’s requirements and fall within one of AFSA’s priority areas for funding will be sent out for peer review. Funding decisions will be made by July 31, 2027. Applicants who are uncertain about any application requirement, budget restriction, or project eligibility issue should contact AFSA before applying. If there is uncertainty about whether the project addresses one of AFSA’s research priorities, submitting an LOI is strongly recommended.
Conditions of Award
Prior to filling out AFSA’s application, please review the Conditions of Award to make sure you meet our requirements. Download the PDF below.
Grant Application and Instructions
In addition to the Conditions of Award, please download the instructions and the Research Grant Forms (a fillable PDF). Use your word processor for the Main Body of the application (Project Description and CVs) and then convert it to a PDF file. A complete application includes our Research Grant Forms, the Main Body, and Conditions of Award – All compiled into one PDF.
Instructions for the Grant Application
Research Grant Forms
Submissions must contain three completed sections: the Research Grant Forms, the Main Body, and the Conditions of Award. Pease compile all three sections into one PDF before submitting to AFSA.
You will need Adobe Acrobat Reader to download and use all PDF forms.
Guidelines for a Letter of Intent (LOI)
Applicants are encouraged to submit a brief Letter of Intent (LOI) if they are uncertain whether their proposed project fits AFSA’s funding priorities. The LOI is not intended to be a full application. In most cases, a concise summary of less than one page is sufficient. Researchers are also welcome to contact AFSA before submitting an LOI if they are unsure whether an LOI would be helpful.
Submitting an LOI gives AFSA an opportunity to assess whether the proposed project appears to meet our funding criteria before the applicant invests time in preparing a full application. LOIs submitted by December 15 will be reviewed by at least one, and usually two, independent reviewers. When possible, reviewers will provide constructive feedback to help applicants strengthen their proposal and improve its likelihood of being competitive for funding.
Applicants may not have all study details finalized at the LOI stage. However, to help AFSA evaluate project fit, please include the following information when available:
Study investigators: Include the name, degree, and area of specialty of the principal investigator, along with the names and degrees of key study team members. If the study will be conducted within an institutional setting, such as a university, hospital, or research center, please identify the institution.
Study hypothesis: Provide a brief statement of the study hypothesis, along with a few supporting details. These may include relevant references, clinical observations, preliminary data, or other information that led to the hypothesis.
Study goals or objectives: Briefly describe what the proposed study is intended to test, demonstrate, or clarify. One to three sentences is usually sufficient.
Study design: Briefly identify the study population, expected study duration, and primary testing methods or assessments to be used.
Estimated budget: Provide an estimated total budget in U.S. dollars. AFSA understands that this amount may change if a full application is submitted. The maximum award size is $90,000 in U.S. funds. Applicants considering a larger request should contact AFSA before submitting an LOI or full application. Exceptions to the one-time maximum award amount may be considered on a case-by-case basis.
Patient relevance: Describe how the proposed study could improve the understanding, diagnosis, treatment, or well-being of people with fibromyalgia. Please be specific and explain what is new or important about the project. Applicants should keep in mind that AFSA does not fund studies focused on behavioral interventions, psychosocial assessments, self-help or lifestyle-change strategies, movement therapies, surveys, or rodent studies.
All LOIs should be submitted in PDF format to:
Kristin Thorson
kthorson@afsafund.org