MODENERLANDS

Mobility

Know more about Short
MOBILITY

Short Term Scientific Missions (STSMs)

Short Term Scientific Missions (STSM) are exchange visits aimed at supporting individual mobility, strengthening existing networks and fostering collaboration between researchers. An STSM should specifically contribute to the scientific objectives of the Action whilst at the same time allowing those partaking in the missions to learn new techniques, gain access to specific data or methods not available at their own institutions.

STSMs are open for researchers and innovators employed at institutions in countries participating in the MODENERLANDS action, or at approved institutions. STSMs must be performed between COST countries – researchers cannot apply for an STSM within their country of affiliation. 

You can apply for a short term scientific mission of a minimum duration of 5 calendar days and a maximum duration of 90 days. For ECIs, longer STSMs are possible. Your STSM needs to end on October 31st, 2022, at the latest. The STSM will be a fixed grant to cover part of the travel expenses, accommodation and subsistence expenses. Please note that the awarded grant will be paid only after the STSM has been completed – therefore the applicant must have approval and prior financial support e.g., from their own institution. However, specific provisions have been introduced to enable researchers from Inclusiveness Target Countries (ITCs) participating in the COST Action to request a pre-payment of 50% of their STSM Grant once the mission has started. In such case, the representative of the Host Institution must confirm by e-mail to the Grant Holder (GH) that the STSM applicant has officially started the mission on day 1. Only then can the Grant Holder arrange the payment of 50% of the STSM grant. The remaining 50% of the Grant is payable once the administrative requirements have been satisfied after the STSM. The ITCs are Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Croatia, Hungary, Lithuania, Latvia, Luxembourg, Malta, Moldova, Montenegro, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Republic of North Macedonia, Republic of Serbia and Turkey. The calculation of the financial contribution for each STSM must respect the following criteria: – Up to a maximum of EUR 4 000 in total can be afforded to each successful applicant; – The final amount is decided by the Action Management committee (MC) or Core Group on proposal of the evaluators, based on the request of the applicant and should reflect the duration and location of the STSM. Country rates to cover accommodation and meal expenses may be differentiated based on perceived cost of living in the host country. A list with daily allowance rates per country can be found in https://www.cost.eu/uploads/2020/02/Daily_Allowance_table.pdf, STSM awards may be combined with other funding sources, but these must be acknowledged in the application. In your application, you will have to define the goal of the proposed STSM, the work to be carried out, expected outcomes and description of the contribution to the Action Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) objectives.  Likewise, you will have to submit other details such as your CV, planned start and end dates, the requested budget, a letter of support from your Home Institution and a written agreement from the Host Institution stating that the activities detailed in the work plan can be performed on the agreed dates. Other documents may be required by the Action (e.g. recommendation letter, etc).

For detailed rules regarding eligibility and financial support, please see the relevant sections of the Annotated Rules for COST Actions and the User Guide for STSM.

 

MOBILITY

ITC Conference Grants

Inclusiveness Target Country (ITC) Conference Grants are aimed at supporting Early Career Investigators (ECIs: up to 8 years after completing a PhD degree) and PhD students from Participating ITCs 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.

Inclusiveness Target Country (ITC) Conference Grants are aimed at supporting young researchers and innovators from COST ITCs or Near Neighbour Countries (NNC) to help individuals attend beneficial international conferences that are not organised by COST Actions.

 

Conference Grants are exclusively reserved for young researchers and innovators (of less than 40 years old) affiliated with a legal entity strictly in an ITC or NNC.

 

The ITCs are Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Croatia, Hungary, Lithuania, Latvia, Luxembourg, Malta, Moldova, Montenegro, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Republic of North Macedonia, Republic of Serbia and Turkey.

 

The NNCs are Algeria, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Egypt, Georgia, Jordan, Kosovo, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, the Palestinian Authority, Syria, Tunisia and Ukraine.

 

Your participation must be pre-approved by the Action Management Committee (MC).

Please note that the awarded grant will be paid only after attending the Conference – therefore you must have approval and prior financial support e.g., from you own institution. (The reimbursement can be paid either to a private or to an institutional account, should the institution give prior financial support.)

MOBILITY

Virtual Mobility Grants (VMG)

Virtual Mobility consists of collaboration in a virtual setting among researchers or innovators within Modenerlands, to exchange knowledge and learn new techniques. Grantees could support their role as virtual keynote speakers or trainers in the scope of the COST Action.

Virtual Mobility benefits:

  • COST Action: uses a flexible tool to implement virtual activities inside the network, achieve the MoU objectives and significantly increase their impact and reach. Contributes to European leadership in knowledge creation and increasing its innovation potential;
  • VM grantee: develop(s) capacity in virtual collaboration and networking in a pan-European framework
  • Up to EUR 300 per grant.

 

Any researcher affiliated with a legal entity in a COST Full/Cooperating Member, Near Neighbour Country (NNC) or European RTD can benefit from this grant.

COST Full Members: Albania, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Republic of Moldova, Montenegro, Netherlands, Republic of North Macedonia, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine and United Kingdom

COST Cooperating Member: Israel

COST Near Neighbour Countries: Algeria, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Egypt, Jordan, Kosovo, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Palestine, Syria, and Tunisia.

Please contact the Working Group (WG) leaders, to which the VMG is linked or the Action Chair to express your interest.

After an agreement is reached, complete the application form through e-COST by accessing the “Grant Applications” dashboard on your left menu. Make sure to select CA20109 – Modular Energy Islands for Sustainability and Resilience when the “COST Action” menu is displayed after clicking “Apply for grant”.

Once you have submitted your online application, send the following to the Action’s Grant Awarding Coordinator, Professor Georgios Stavroulakis (gestavr@dpem.tuc.gr):

  1. Short work plan, explaining how your work will benefit from this VMG and how it will contribute to the achievement of the objectives of the WG(s) and this COST Action. Please make sure to reflect the duration, scope and complexity of the task and activities to be covered via the VM grant (1000 words). In the case of keynote speakers, the work plan shall be replaced with a letter specifying the details of the online lecture, such as title, duration and objectives.
  2. Curriculum vitae including a list of relevant publications.

 

The required report/documentation for claiming a Virtual Mobility Grant is a Report to the Action MC on the work developed, main outcomes and achieved outputs of the Virtual Mobility, and a description of the future follow up collaboration. Keynote speakers can send a copy of the given lecture.

Grants are paid by the Grant Holder after the completion of the activity and approval of all required report/documentation.

Refer to the Annotated Rules for COST Actions for further details.

https://www.cost.eu/uploads/2022/02/COST-094-21-Annotated-Rules-for-COST-Actions-Level-C-2022-02-15.pdf