European CO operation in S cience and T echnology

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

2. 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 (FP7 ‘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!

3. The 27 EU Member States1 EFTA Member States AELEIceland Norway  Switzerland  Candidate Countries Turkey Croatia  FYR of Macedonia (FYROM)2  Other Countries Serbia and Montenegro2 COST Co-operating States Israel COST Member States 1 - from 1 January 2007 2 - Not Associated to FP

4. Why is COST of interest for researchers? • 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!

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

6. 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

7. Who manages the Actions? • Action’s Management Committees • A committee set up for each Action • 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

8. MC = Management Committee How is COST Office organised? CouncilCOST Secretariat COST National Coordinators COMMITTEE OF SENIOR OFFICIALS (CSO) COST OFFICE COST Domain Committees & Science Officers …….. ……. …… ….. F&A COST Actions (224) MC Action WGs WORKING GROUPS (NETWORKS) …… ~30.000 researchers Scientific Domain

9. What does COST fund if not research? • ‘Eligible’ activities of COST Actions: • 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

10. Science management meetings & Scientific workshops and seminars • COST covers: • organisational costs (room rental, meals etc.) ‘workshop support’ • Travel, accommodation and meals of eligible participants • 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

11. Short Term Scientific Missions • 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 €)

12. Training Schools and Research Conferences • 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

13. Example COST Action budget 1 year • Meeting travel costs 70.000 EUR • Workshop support 3.000 EUR • STSM 3.000 EUR • Publication 4.000 EUR • Sub-total 80.000 EUR • Secretariat max. 15 % of expenses 10.000 EUR1 (each Action has to choose one institution as Grant Holder to take care of administrative issues) • TOTAL 90.000 EUR

14. COST Open Call • call continuously open, 1-2 “Collection Dates” per year • 2 stage selection process • 1. pre-proposals are first collected • 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 !!

15. Preliminary proposals • 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: • 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!)

16. Pre-proposal preparation (1) A. Background: • 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…

17. Pre-proposal preparation (2) B. Benefits: • Benefits of research – social, scientific, technologic C. Objectives, deliverables and expected scientific impact: • 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

18. Pre-proposal preparation (3) D. Scientific Programme and Innovation: • 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

19. Pre-proposal preparation (4) D. Organisation: • 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

20. How to win the first round? • 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)!! • 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)

21. Full proposal selection process • 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

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

23. What is the chance of winning a COST Action? March 2007 Sept. 2007

24. How can you participate in running COST activities? • First of all visit the COST website and search for the Domain and Actions of your interest www.cost.esf.org • 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

25. How to join running Actions? • If Croatia has NOT signed the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) / or only 1 MC member is nominated • contact the COST National Coordinator (contacts on website) • Croatia: Professor Bozidar BIONDICFaculty of Geotechnical Sciences, University of Zagreb • expect nomination to the Management Committee (MC) • If Spain signed the (MoU) for the particular Action • 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

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

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

28. COST- 6th and 7th Framework Programme

29. BMBS CMST ESSEM FA Allocation to Domains anonymised distribution Normalisation of the ranking of the DCs Invitation of top 75 forFull Proposals Collection Date Eligibility Check Electronic Rating Automatic Ranking FPS ISCH ICT MPNS TUD 1 week 3 weeks 3 days Timeline proposal evaluation Preliminary Proposals: “CD2” 30-03-2007 16-04-2007 07-05-2007 18-05-2007“CD3”30-09-2007 11-10-200705-11-200716-11-2007

30. Presentation of proposals Ranking by DCs Establishment of External Expert Panels Rating by EEP in panel meetings in Brussels Start of the new Action Final List for approval JAF Approval by the CSO Dead Line Full Proposals Meeting of DC chairs 4 weeks 2 weeks 2 weeks 2 weeks 10 weeks Timeline proposal evaluation Full Proposals: “CD2” 27-07-2007 07-09-2007 27-09-2007 16-10-2007 15-11-2007“CD3”1-02-2008 29-02-2008 14-03-2008 16-04-2008 15-05-2008

31. Action’s Management Committees • A committee set up for each Action • 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