Research Management
The quality of research funded by Fondazione Telethon, as well as that carried out within our institutes, is guaranteed by a rigorous peer-review process, in line with the highest international standards.
We identify the most deserving projects with the greatest potential impact on patients’ lives through a competitive selection process that involves two key actors with complementary roles: the Research Program Managers and the Scientific Committee.
Research Program Managers
The Research Program Managers, part of our Research Office, oversee the entire process: from designing competitive calls for proposals to coordinating the evaluation and submitting the final assessment report. They identify independent external reviewers—scientists with recognized expertise in specific research areas—who support the Scientific Committee in assessing project proposals. By ensuring a clear separation between applicants and evaluators, the Research Program Managers play a crucial role in safeguarding rigor, transparency, and objectivity.
Scientific Committee
The Scientific Committee Members are central to the evaluation process. With the input of external reviewers selected for each proposal, they ensure that projects are assessed not only for scientific excellence but also for their potential to advance therapeutic development. Researchers are encouraged to define concrete, short-term objectives, and projects at the same stage of development compete directly with one another. This approach promotes commitment, feasibility, and a stronger focus on translational impact.
Research as a collective good
Sustained funding of both basic and translational research is essential to drive innovation and to identify the most promising therapeutic pathways. At Fondazione Telethon, we believe research is a collective good: we are committed to sharing data and results to advance science in the broadest sense, particularly in the field of rare genetic diseases. To this end, we make clinical, genetic, and biological data available to the scientific community through dedicated resources such as biobanks and the support of disease registries.
Discover the different initiatives through which we fund scientific research:
- Fondazione Telethon Multi-round Call
- Fondazione Telethon-Fondazione Cariplo Joint Call for application
- Fondazione Telethon-UILDM Call (in partnership with Unione Italiana Lotta alla Distrofia Muscolare)
- Seed Grant (in partnership with Patients Organisations)
- European Rare Disease Research Alliance (ERDERA)
- AriSLA – an agency focused on Amyiotrophic Lateral Sclerosis
