EMERG-led Consortium Secures EU Horizon Funding
A first in the history of EU research funding: DISCOVER-ME is funded under EU Horizon call HORIZON-HLTH-2025-01-DISEASE-07 - the first European research call ever to name ME explicitly as a priority condition. For a disease long marginalised within mainstream medical research, this is not merely a funding announcement - it is a historic, landmark moment for people with ME, and the culmination of twenty years of sustained, volunteer-driven effort to build European biomedical research into this disease.
In its twentieth year as a registered charity, Invest in ME Research (IiMER) announces a historic milestone for European research into ME. A consortium led by the European ME Research Group (EMERG) has been awarded EU Horizon funding for a major pan-European biomedical research project - DISCOVER-ME.
The project has been facilitated by European networks and international contacts established by the charity over 20 years and this achievement builds on the two decades of volunteer dedication to patient-centred biomedical research. The creation of this project and subsequent funding award is a direct consequence of IiMER's long-standing European strategy of enabling a collaborative infrastructure and international networks built over these two decades, as outlined here [2].
About this page
This page announces the award of EU Horizon funding to the EMERG-led DISCOVER-ME consortium - the first major pan-European biomedical research project into ME. It describes the project itself, how it came to be, and the twenty years of effort by Invest in ME Research that made it possible. - May 2026
The EMERG-led consortium brings together over 20 research institutions and clinical centres across more than a dozen countries in Europe and Canada - a scale of collaboration that would have been unimaginable for ME research a decade ago. That it exists at all is the result of years of deliberate, patient network-building backed by the support of Invest in ME Research supporters. The story of how it came to be is set out below.
As a full partner in the consortium, IiMER - together with our European ME Alliance (EMEA) colleagues - will provide Patient and Public Involvement (PPI) across all work packages through the EMEA PPI Group, and will lead one of those work packages directly.
The announcement follows IiMER's International ME Conference Week in May 2026, spanning five days under the fitting title: '20 Years of Investing in ME Research to Discover ME: In Pursuit of the Mechanisms and Treatment Strategies for Myalgic Encephalomyelitis'.
That title was no accident. It was at successive IiMER International ME Conference Weeks and Biomedical Research Colloquia over two decades that the researchers who now form the DISCOVER-ME consortium first met, exchanged findings, built trust, and began to conceive of what a pan-European research project might look like. The conference week was not merely the backdrop to this announcement - it was the seedbed from which EMERG, and ultimately DISCOVER-ME, grew.
The EMERG group convened its annual meeting during the recent International ME Conference Week with a DISCOVER-ME initial meeting for the consortium partners, marking the start of collaborative work on the project.
The Project: DISCOVER-ME
Biological evidence and mechanism-based disease classification for the improved diagnosis, prognosis and treatment of ME/CFS
The funded project — submitted under the EU Horizon call HORIZON-HLTH-2025-01-DISEASE-07: Tackling high-burden for patients and under-researched medical conditions — sets out to advance the biomedical understanding of ME/CFS through a coordinated, multi-national research programme.
Research workstreams address the core pathophysiological mechanisms of ME/CFS: immune dysregulation, neurological involvement, autonomic dysfunction, and metabolic abnormalities — with a translational focus on identifying reproducible biomarkers and informing future treatment development.
The project is built on a patient-centred research philosophy. Patient representatives and advocacy organisations are integrated into governance, ensuring that research priorities and outcomes remain connected to the lived experience of ME/CFS.
Myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME) is a debilitating multisystem disease affecting up to 1% of the population, defined by post-exertional malaise, persistent fatigue, cognitive and neurological symptoms, and autonomic, endocrine, and immune dysfunction. Clinical heterogeneity and the absence of specific diagnostic tests lead to long delays in diagnosis, lack of effective therapies, and a socioeconomic burden exceeding €40 billion annually in Europe.
DISCOVER-ME will deliver the first clinically actionable, biologically validated stratification framework for ME. Through harmonised clinical phenotyping of 2,000 patients and multi-omics profiling of >900 samples from five European biobanks, the project will identify, validate, and prioritise biomarkers across (epi)genetic, immune, metabolic, neuroendocrine, and vascular domains — overcoming decades of fragmented, underpowered studies that have stalled progress.
Three innovations set DISCOVER-ME apart: (i) a robust biomarker discovery and validation pipeline; (ii) the first systems-level taxonomy of ME grounded in mechanistic disease drivers and supported by AI-assisted stratification; and (iii) open-access disease maps and digital twin models combining biological mechanisms with social and economic determinants of health, enabling in silico testing of therapeutic hypotheses — underpinning biomarker-guided clinical trials and precision drug repurposing.
Patient involvement is embedded throughout — from co-design of phenotyping tools to stratification frameworks and policy recommendations — ensuring lived experience informs all biomedical and computational outputs. With over 20 partners across a dozen countries in Europe and Canada, DISCOVER-ME starts a new phase in discovery for ME.
Reproducible diagnostic markers
Multi-national datasets
Multi-omics integration
Clinical translation
How This Came to Be
Large-scale European research consortia do not form spontaneously. The story of EMERG - and of this award - begins with a strategic decision taken by a small, entirely volunteer-run charity almost twenty years ago: that the only credible path to meaningful progress for people with ME lay in building a sustained, collaborative, pan-European biomedical research infrastructure. Everything that followed flowed from that commitment.
Over two decades, IiMER's International Conference Week and Biomedical Research Colloquia served as the global forum for ME research exchange — convening researchers, clinicians and patient representatives from across Europe and beyond, and providing the seedbed from which the EMERG consortium grew.
The Foundation
With European colleagues IiMER founded the European ME Alliance (EMEA) in 2008, serving as its chair for most of its existence and establishing the patient advocacy network that now provides PPI across the DISCOVER-ME project.
Building the Research Network
IiMER initiated and established the European ME Research Group (EMERG) - bringing together leading ME researchers and clinicians from across Europe under a shared collaborative framework. This was the product of years of introductions made at IiMER's annual International ME Conference Week and Biomedical Research Colloquia (BRMEC), which became the principal forum for European ME research exchange.
Forming the Consortium
When the EU Horizon call was published - the first ever to name ME as a priority condition - IiMER convened the EMERG members, facilitated the discussions needed to form a consortium, and provided the organisational impetus to turn an aspiration into a project. Critical to this were dedicated EMERG working sessions held during successive IiMER International Conference Weeks, where the foundations of the proposal were built.
Securing the Bid
Recognising that a competitive EU Horizon application requires specialist expertise in project management and proposal development, IiMER - together with its partner Luna Nova - jointly funded the engagement of a specialist consultancy to work with the EMERG team. That investment proved decisive. The consultancy helped the consortium structure, develop and submit the proposal to the standard required for a successful award.
The full account of IiMER's European strategy and the steps that led here is outlined in: European ME Research - IiMER's long-term strategy.
Twenty Years of Sustained Effort
Since its founding in 2006, Invest in ME Research has operated as a volunteer organisation
focused unwaveringly on funding and facilitating biomedical research into ME and
advocating for the health and human rights of people with ME and their carers without compromise.
This independence has allowed for a steadfast adherence to biomedical principles and patient advocacy.
Key Initiatives Established by IiMER:
- Co-founded the European ME Alliance (EMEA) in 2008, serving as chair for most of its existence
- Initiated and established the European ME Research Group (EMERG), coordinating collaborative research across Europe
- Created the European ME Clinicians Council (EMECC), connecting clinicians treating ME patients across Europe
- Launched Young EMERG to encourage and support early-career researchers in ME
- Funded the first crowdfunded PhD in ME research; supported multiple further PhD studentships
- Funded the first dedicated ME research fellowships, including the Luna Nova Fellowship for ME
- Funded what was, until recently, the UK's only clinical trial for ME, conducted at Norwich Research Park
- Advocated for and promoted the Centre of Excellence for ME at Norwich Research Park - the focus of the majority of the charity's research investment
- Organised twenty years of CPD-accredited international ME conferences, biomedical research colloquia, and early-career researcher workshops
Acknowledgements
The charity extends its particular thanks to Luna Nova for their vision and generosity - both in co-funding the specialist consultancy that was essential to the success of this bid, and in funding the Luna Nova Fellowship for ME at Norwich Research Park. This award is, in part, theirs too.
Our warmest thanks go to our supporters who have supported the charity - and to the researchers and clinicians of the European ME Research Group and Young EMERG, - whose collaboration and commitment to rigorous science made this possible. This achievement is a testament to what a determined European community can accomplish together.
Twenty years of Investing in ME Research - now the first major pan-European biomedical research programme dedicated to ME.
Support Our Work
IiMER is a 100% volunteer-run registered charity. The conferences, networks, fellowships and consultancy funding that made this award possible have all been supported by donations to the charity. Every contribution matters and allows us to do more, to move more quickly, to make more progress.