MISSION
ITC Conference Grants are aimed at supporting ECI and PhD students from Participating ITC to attend international science and technology related conferences, event or activity on the topic of the Action that are not organised by the COST Action.
Eligibility
- Conference Grants are exclusively reserved for PhD students, PhD candidates and ECI’s with a primary affiliation in an institution located in an ITC participating in the Action.
- Current ITCs (Inclusiveness Target Countries) according to COST Vademecum: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Croatia, Hungary, Lithuania, Latvia, Luxembourg, Malta, Moldova, Montenegro, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Slovakia, Republic of North Macedonia, Republic of Serbia and Turkey.
- The applicant must make an oral/poster presentation at the conference in question and must be listed in the official event/conference programme. The main subject of the oral presentation / poster presentation / speech at the approved conference must be on the topic of the Action and must acknowledge COST.
Evaluation Committee
As approved by the MC, the committee will be composed by the ITC Grants Coordinator, the Chair, the Vice Chair, and the STSM Coordinator.
Evaluation Criteria
- General (to be rated as No/Yes by the ITC Grants Coordinator on the e-cost system):
1. Is the applicant PhD student or ECI (up to 8 years after PhD) from ITC country?
“Conference Grants are exclusively reserved for PhD students, PhD candidates and ECI’s with a primary affiliation in an institution located in an ITC participating in the Action."
2. The applicant has an approved oral/poster presentation.
"The applicant must make an oral/poster presentation at the conference in question and must be listed in the official event/conference programme. The main subject of the oral presentation / poster presentation / speech at the approved conference must be on the topic of the Action and must acknowledge COST.”
3. Is the participation pre-approved by the ITC Grants Coordinator & Committee?
“The participation of each applicant must be pre-approved by the Action MC”
If any of the previous 3 is ''NO'' - do not proceed with the application assessment - decision is "NO"
- Specific (from 0 to 10 points are ascribed by the evaluation committee):
1. Relevance of the congress/conference: The congress is recognized within the academic/professional community forum for presenting and discussing relevant to the WG of the Action topics.
2. Relevance of the proposal: The topic and full content of the presentation is relevant to the WG of the Action topic: based on solid theoretical background in regard with acknowledged theoretical frame of the Action; design and methodological ground; the level of novelty of the material presented.
3. Additional 3 points will be granted if application meets the following criteria: There are clear links of the selected conference/congress to practice and policy OR strategic importance for voicing up relevant to the Action messages to the professional community.
Applications eligible to grants should be ascribed a minimum of 16 points.
Evaluation Process
- The evaluation criteria defined by the Action’s MC are promptly communicated to all potential applicants on the website of the Action.
- Deadlines for applications and for evaluation are clearly set and communicated via the website of the Action.
- For each call:
- The ITC Grants Coordinator will evaluate if the applications meet the general criteria for eligibility, and if documents required are part of the application. The ITC Grants Coordinator will send the eligible applications by email to the rest of the committee giving reasons for non-eligible applications (if applicable).
- The committee will grade each applicant’s proposal based on a ranking point from 1-10.
- The ITC Grants Coordinator will formulate a list of applicants ranked from the highest to the lowest points.
- Starting from the raking, COST policies on excellence and inclusiveness and available budget will be considered by the committee for a final decision.
- Upon completion of evaluation, inter-rate reliability is calculated (if insufficient - proceed with election procedure but re-work criteria on the next MC meeting).
List of documents for the application
For the application to be eligible, applicants need to submit the following supporting documents:
1. A complete proposal which includes(maximum 5 pages):
A. Relevance of the conference/congress at European level and for the WG of the Action topics.
B. Relevance of the proposal for the WG of the Action topics.
C. Links to practice and policy or OR strategic importance for voicing up relevant to the Action messages to the professional community.
D. Costs justification.
2. An updated Europass CV (dates of degrees obtained, current position, past experience and a list of academic publications, if applicable).
3. Acceptance letter from the conference organisers confirming the poster/presentation.
4. A copy of the abstract or poster submitted to the conference.
ITC Template for Complete Proposal
Interested applicants should sign in to e-COST profile (or sign up if they do not have a profile) and apply online on the webpage: http://www.cost.eu/
ITC Conference Grants Financial Support
- Conference Grants do not necessarily cover all the expenses related to participating in a given conference. A Conference Grant is a contribution to the overall travel, accommodation and meal expenses of the selected Grantee.
- The calculation of the financial contribution for each Conference Grant must respect the following criteria:
- Up to a maximum of EUR 2 500 in total can be afforded to each successful applicant;
- Up to a maximum of EUR 160 per day can be afforded for accommodation and meal expenses.
- Up to a maximum of EUR 500 can be claimed for the conference fees to be incurred by the selected Grantee.
- In addition, when meal and accommodation expenses are supported by the hosting institution as part of the provisions offered in their conference package, the amount for subsistence afforded to each eligible participant must be deducted from the Grant. Documentary evidence of the conference fee amount must be provided by the applicant and in kind, must be archived by the Grant Holder along with the relevant administrative documents.
- Differentiated country rates to cover accommodation and meal expenses based on the perceived cost of living in the country will apply.
Approving ITC Conference Grants for Payment
The grantee within 30 calendar days from the end date of the mission will submit via e-cost the following documents:
1. A short scientific report including the following sections: (a) Summary of the poster/presentation given during the conference; (b) If an interesting project/researcher/practitioner for the purpose of the Action has been reached during the conference, provide details.
2. A certificate of attendance to the conference/congress.
3. A short summary (maximum 500 words) for the website page including: affiliation, field of research interest, possibly including a photo, a quote about the experience in the conference, and the poster/presentation given during the conference (if this is not possible, the abstract instead).
The ITC Conference Grants Coordinator and the Vice Chair are responsible for approving the scientific report and informing the Grant Holder for archiving purposes.
ITC Template for Scientific Report ITC Template for Webpage Summary
Deadlines
During the course of the Action, the deadlines will apply as following:
- Application period I: 1-15th May, Evaluation 16-31st May
- Application period II: 1-15th August, Evaluation 16-31st August
- Application III: 1-15th November, Evaluation 16-30th November
- Application period IV: 1-15th February, Evaluation 16-28th February
Further information on the COST Action CA 18123 and Working Groups is available on the website: https://www.cost.eu/actions/CA18123
Further details can be consulted at the COST Vademecum: https://www.cost.eu/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Vademecum-May-2019.pdf