AFM‑Telethon has opened its 2026 international calls for proposals to fund research by French and non‑French teams on neuromuscular disorders and rare genetic diseases, inviting applications via its online portal (the “Scientific Information System”), with the main deadline on 20 January 2026 (17 CET) and a separate PhD fellowship round closing on 10 March 2026 (17 CET). Full call documents, calendars and instructions are available on the AFM‑Telethon calls for proposals page.
For people living with rare neuromuscular conditions and their families, better diagnosis, care and treatments depend on sustained, patient‑driven investment across the full research pathway, from understanding disease mechanisms to generating robust measures and data that make clinical studies more meaningful and feasible.
The 2026 calls span both scientific and medical research. They cover, for example, disease mechanisms in muscle, motor neurons and the neuromuscular junction; clinical and genetic heterogeneity (including undiagnosed conditions); translational work on outcome measures, biomarkers, models and artificial intelligence; and medical research on patient management, quality of life, newborn screening, natural history studies, and digital health and telemonitoring. Applications are assessed by AFM‑Telethon’s scientific advisory board, with the association supporting more than 200 research projects and young researchers each year.
Funding routes include a Trampoline grant (up to €50 000 for one year) for early‑career teams and/or early‑stage, higher‑risk ideas, as well as one‑year research projects and post‑doctoral fellowships (renewable for a second year). PhD and post‑doctoral fellowship salaries must be applied for separately and cannot be included within a research or Trampoline grant budget, as set out in the call documents.
AFM‑Telethon is the French Muscular Dystrophy Association, created in 1958 by patients and parents determined to change what was long treated as “incurable”, and it is also the Telethon fundraising movement that helped bring rare diseases into the spotlight. Through annual calls and longer‑term programmes, it funds research and therapeutic innovation in collaboration with scientists worldwide.
For the wider rare disease community, this opportunity aligns with ERDERA’s work on Funding and Clinical Research, and with data‑enabled approaches that can support more inclusive, efficient studies and improve the evidence base for patients across Europe. Applicants can access the portal and guidance via the AFM‑Telethon calls for proposals page.