European COoperation in Science and Technology COST is

European COoperation in Science and Technology COST is supported by the EU RTD Framework Programme ESF provides the COST Office through an EC contract 1

What is COST? • Inter-Governmental Organisation • longest running European instrument for scientific cooperation • founded in 1971, Ministerial Conference (Brussels), by 19 states • covering all scientific areas • Europe & beyond • European Commission (FP 7 ‘Cooperation’: 210 M€ - 250 M€) • 34 COST Member States & 1 Associate State (Israel) • International Organisations & Research Institutes in non-COST Countries (i. e. USA, Russia, Australia, New Zealand, India…) • Funding instrument: "COST Actions“ (=projects) • 200 running COST Actions, duration 4 years, 50 new actions p. a. COST Actions consist in networking ongoing or starting R&D operations, each financed at national level! 2

COST Member States The 27 EU Member States 1 EFTA Member States AELE Iceland Norway Switzerland Candidate Countries Turkey Croatia FYR of Macedonia (FYROM)2 Other Countries Serbia and Montenegro 2 COST Co-operating States Israel 1 - from 1 January 2007 2 - Not Associated to FP 3

Why is COST of interest for researchers? l l l l Ø funding of new, innovative and interdisciplinary scientific networks open to all researchers of a signatory country ‘bottom-up’ principle (no pre-defined priorities, no work program) - flexible new reciprocal support schemes facilitate exchanges between COST and non-COST countries contacts: 30, 000 researchers involved in COST Actions research itself financed by member states leverage effect: networked research projects value: ~2 billion € annual COST Actions frequently translate into FP projects, or even influence priorities of EC programs! 4

COST activities structured in Scientific Domains • Biomedicine and Molecular Biosciences • Food and Agriculture • Forests, their Products and Services FPS • Materials, Physical & Nanosciences MPNS • Chemistry and Molecular Sciences & Technologies • Earth System Science & Environmental Management ESSEM • Information & Communication Technologies • Transport & Urban Development TUD • Individuals, Society, Culture & Health ISCH BMB F&A CMST ICT + Plus: Trains Domain Committee for proposals that do not fit in any of these domains 5

How is COST organised? COST Governance CSO: 2 representatives per MS (usually persons from Ministries) main governing body CNC -nominates Action MC members 1 representative per Domain per MS + 2 experts (pool) responsible for selection of new actions and quality control MS = COST Member State 6

Who manages the Actions? l Action’s Management Committees l A committee set up for each Action § § l l l 2 representatives by signatory state – scientists nominated by the COST National Coordinators (upon request) EU Commission representative as observer Observers from other organisations Supervision and coordination of Action course Scientific coordination at national level Concrete organisation of Action development, budget planning 7

How is COST Office organised? Council COST Secretariat COMMITTEE OF SENIOR OFFICIALS (CSO) COST National Coordinators COST OFFICE COST Domain Committees & Science Officers COST Actions (224) …. . F&A …… ……. MC Action WGs WORKING GROUPS (NETWORKS) …… ~30. 000 researchers Scientific Domain MC = Management Committee 8

What does COST fund if not research? l ‘Eligible’ activities of COST Actions: l l l l Science management meetings (MC), working group meetings (WG) Scientific workshops and seminars Short Term Scientific Missions (STSMs) Training Schools and Research Conferences (!!!) Evaluations and Studies Printing of Proceedings, final reports, brochures Dissemination, Web site, etc 9

Science management meetings & Scientific workshops and seminars l COST covers: l l organisational costs (room rental, meals etc. ) ‘workshop support’ Travel, accommodation and meals of eligible participants l Rule: max. 2 participants per country per Working Group (WG) and Management Committee (MC) § § Example: COST Action with 15 signatory countries, Management Committee + 4 Working Groups 150 participants can be reimbursed! invited experts 10

Short Term Scientific Missions l l l Aim: promote researchers mobility within an Action’s scientific objectives Means: by allowing a scientist to go to a laboratory in another COST country to learn a new technique or to make measurements using instruments and/or methods not available in their own laboratory Target group: junior researchers, but also others Mobility: from one COST country to another within the Action (add. agreements with Australia, New Zealand. . ) Duration: between 5 days and 3 months (financial contribution will normally not exceed 2, 500 €) 11

Training Schools and Research Conferences l l l Aim: dissemination of the scientific and technical results from COST Actions activities and intensive training in a new emerging subject in one of the laboratories of the Action with unique equipment or know how Means: by supporting the organisation of training schools and conferences Duration: 3 -5 days up to a maximum of 2 weeks, Lecturers: max. 5, reimbursement under usual COST rules (travel, accommodation, meals) Students: max. 30 students get some financial support 12

Example COST Action budget 1 year l l l Meeting travel costs Workshop support STSM Publication Sub-total Secretariat max. 15 % of expenses 70. 000 EUR 3. 000 EUR 4. 000 EUR 80. 000 EUR 1 (each Action has to choose one institution as Grant Holder to take care of administrative issues) l TOTAL 90. 000 EUR 13

COST Open Call l l call continuously open, 1 -2 “Collection Dates” per year 2 stage selection process l 1. pre-proposals are first collected l 2. about 75 full proposals are invited assessment of pre-proposals by the Domain Committee (1 expert of the scientific domain concerned per country) assessment of full proposals by an External Experts Panel (peer review) ca. 50 projects will be selected per year 25 projects per collection date Next collection date: 28 March 2008, 17: 00 !! 14

Preliminary proposals l l Short: approx. 1, 500 words, language: English Online submission process (rules on COST web) Indicate Domain (see COST web) / Trans Domain Minimum criteria for eligibility: l l l Proposal conform to template 5 or more COST member states interested Proposal seeks funding for research? (yes – reject) Obvious duplication with currently or recently supported COST Actions or other funding schemes (yes – reject) Anonymous – evaluators do not get information on participating institutions (different to FP!) 15

Pre-proposal preparation (1) A. Background: l l l WHY: Current state of the art, relevant research in FP, comparison of European situation to USA, Canada… REASONS for COOPERATION: objectives, expected results and means to achieve them, including practical applications (so that non-expert in the field pictures), COMPLEMENTARITY with ongoing or planned research in FP, EUREKA, ESF… 16

Pre-proposal preparation (2) B. Benefits: l Benefits of research – social, scientific, technologic C. Objectives, deliverables and expected scientific impact: l l l Expected impact of the action, identify possible ‘users’ of the results Distinguish ‘aims’ and means how to achieve them Do not specify scientific problems here 17

Pre-proposal preparation (3) D. Scientific Programme and Innovation: l l l Main research tasks – structure of work plan How they will to achieving the objectives Innovative elements of the proposal Open and flexible framework (other countries and scientists can enter the action) Organisational matters (working groups etc) in the next section 18

Pre-proposal preparation (4) D. Organisation: l l l How the action will be coordinated / arranged Why is COST the best framework (compared to EC, EUREKA…) Advantages of obtaining COST support for research coordination 19

How to win the first round? l Keep always in mind that you have to demonstrate the advantages of using COST funding for coordinating the research efforts of several countries, investigating in your area (research funded by member state)!! l Hint: in the pre-proposal stage, convince the Domain Committee!! – each participant should contact DC delegate from his country and brief on the proposal (contacts on website) 20

Full proposal selection process l l While pre-proposal should convince Domain Committee, full proposal requires sound scientific approach Use template provided at COST website (length of proposal ca. 15 -20 pages) Assessment by External Expert Panel (5 experts from COST pool (database) of experts or other institutions), consensus meeting – list of recommended proposals Proposers invited to present full proposals in front of the Domain Committee 21

Timeline: from proposal to the end of an Action Pre proposal (2 months) Full Proposal Implementation Dissemination (4 years) (4 months) Assessment Call deadline DCs assess pre proposals EEPs assess Full proposals Monitoring Evaluation DCs finalize list of selected projects CSO approves draft Mo. Us of selected projects 1 st MC Meeting time 5 countries sign Mo. U 22

What is the chance of winning a COST Action? Sept. 2007 March 2007 Number of proposals Eligible proposals Approved proposals Eligible Proposals Approved proposals 406 25 (= 16 %) 475 ? (25) 23

How can you participate in running COST activities? l First of all visit the COST website and search for the Domain and Actions of your interest www. cost. esf. org l Depending on your own situation, on the status (signatory or not to this Action) of your country, and on the situation and ‘age’ of the Action there are different ways of joining COST 24

How to join running Actions? l If Croatia has NOT signed the Memorandum of Understanding (Mo. U) / or only 1 MC member is nominated l contact the COST National Coordinator (contacts on website) § § l Croatia: Professor Bozidar BIONDIC Faculty of Geotechnical Sciences, University of Zagreb expect nomination to the Management Committee (MC) If Spain signed the (Mo. U) for the particular Action l l contact the MC Chair or Spanish MC member, cc COST Scientific Officer in charge (all details on website) if already 2 Spanish MC members, you can participate in Working Groups or as invited expert to conferences 25

How to join a running Action? l Info on running Actions: www. cost. esf. org 26

¡Thank you for your attention! l Para mas información acerca de COST: www. cost. esf. org And remember: next collection date is close! 28 March 2008, 17: 00 27

COST- 6 th and 7 th Framework Programme 28

Timeline proposal evaluation 1 week “CD 2” “CD 3” 30 -03 -2007 30 -09 -2007 FA FPS ISCH ICT MPNS TUD 3 weeks 16 -04 -2007 11 -10 -2007 Invitation of top 75 for Full Proposals ESSEM Normalisation of the ranking of the DCs CMST Automatic Ranking BMBS Electronic Rating Allocation to Domains anonymised distribution Eligibility Check Collection Date Preliminary Proposals: 3 days 07 -05 -2007 05 -11 -2007 18 -05 -2007 16 -11 -2007 29

“CD 2” “CD 3” 10 weeks 27 -07 -2007 1 -02 -2008 2 weeks 07 -09 -2007 29 -02 -2008 2 weeks 27 -09 -2007 14 -03 -2008 2 weeks 16 -10 -2007 16 -04 -2008 Start of the new Action Approval by the CSO JAF Final List for approval Meeting of DC chairs Ranking by DCs Presentation of proposals Rating by EEP in panel meetings in Brussels Dead Line Full Proposals Establishment of External Expert Panels Timeline proposal evaluation Full Proposals: 4 weeks 15 -11 -2007 15 -05 -2008 30

l Action’s Management Committees l A committee set up for each Action § § l l l 2 representatives by signatory state – scientists/researchers nominated by the COST National Coordinators (upon request) EU Commission representative as observer Observers from other organisations Supervision and coordination of Action course Scientific coordination at national level Concrete organisation of Action development 31