European Cooperation in Science and Technology (COST)

RGP / Research Grants and Projects Office

WEBSITE: Access the COST website.

BACKGROUND: Founded in 1971, COST is an intergovernmental framework for European Co-operation in the field of Scientific and Technical Research, allowing the co-ordination of nationally funded research on a European level. COST does not fund research itself, but rather provides a platform for European scientists to cooperate on a particular project and exchange expertise. These projects are called "Actions". COST Actions cover basic and pre-competitive research, as well as activities of public utility. The goal of COST is to ensure that Europe holds a strong position in the field of scientific and technical research for peaceful purposes, by increasing European co-operation and interaction in this field.

SCIENTIFIC AREAS: COST brings together researchers and experts in different countries working on specific topics. It does NOT fund research itself, but supports networking activities such as meetings, conferences, short-term scientific exchanges and outreach activities. COST invites proposals for actions contributing to the scientific, technological, economic, cultural or societal development of Europe. COST is organised in nine broad domains (Biomedicine and molecular biosciences; Chemistry and molecular sciences and technologies; Earth system science and environmental management; Food and agriculture; Forests, their products and services; Individuals, societies, cultures and health; Information and communi­cation technologies; Materials, physics and nanosciences; Transport and urban development). Inter-disciplinary proposals not fitting readily into a single domain are particularly welcome and will be assessed separately. Proposals playing a precursor role for other European programmes and/or initiated by early-stage researchers are especially welcome.

In keeping with understandings formulated within the Steering Committee for the Israel-EU R&D Agreement, Israel is represented in the COST CSO by 3 national delegates:

Mr Roni Goldberg Ministry of Science and Technology Division for International Relations Tel. +972 2-5411812 Fax +972 153-50-6231412

Dr. Husam Massalha Ministry of Science and Technology Deptartment of Agriculture and Environment Tel. +972 2541 1132/3 Fax +972 2581 0883

Prof. Mina Teicher Bar Ilan University Mathematics Department Tel. +972 3531 8766 Fax +972 3544 2877

ELIGIBILITY: In June 2000, Israel was accepted into COST with a status of "Co-operating State" (the status of Co-operating State implies non-voting membership in horizontal Committees [CSO and Technical Committees] and full member rights on the Action level). Israeli partners have participated in a total of 292 COST actions out of a total of 925 actions. Of the funded actions, Weizmann Institute researchers have participated in over 20 actions (for details regarding Actions including Weizmann participation, please contact Dr. Igal Nevo, tel. 3822).
Proposals should include researchers from a minimum of five COST countries. COST has also signed reciprocal agreements with Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and Argentina.

AMOUNT: Financial support for an action of 19 participating countries is in the range of EUR 130,000.
The funds provided by COST support the coordination costs of the research networks (Actions), while the research is funded nationally. In this way, COST levers approximately €2 billion of research funding through its support, which is less than 1% of this sum. The funding of COST Actions varies depending on size and activity of the Action. This funding is basically used to cover co-ordination costs such as contributions to workshops/conferences, travel costs for meetings, contributions to publications, and short term scientific missions of researchers to visit other laboratories.

NUMBER OF AWARDS: Around 80 full proposals will be invited for final selection of approximately 35 new actions, subject to available budget.

SUPPORT PERIOD: Normally 4 years.

SUBMISSION DATE(S):

• Pre proposals: may be submitted at any time and are reviewed following the two collection dates:
1. 30 March 2012
2. 30 September 2012
• Full proposals: By the end of September 2012.

• Individual scientists, research institutes or industry may propose a new COST action, please peruse the open call for proposals. Proposals must follow the COST guidelines.
• Existing COST Actions are open to participation by scientists who were not part of the original proposing group. The listing of each COST action contains start and closing date, domain (area), as well as a list of participating countries and the Memorandum of Understanding relevant to the particular action.

The national COST contact point handles requests from researchers wishing to join the Management Committees of COST Actions. Scientists interested in information, explanations, and assistance regarding COST are invited to contact Dr. Husam Massalha (see complete contact details above). Dr. Massalha will require a number of documents from both the applicant and the applicant's Research Authority (for the letter you will need from the RGP, please contact Talia Tzahor, tel. 4026), upon receipt of which he will be able to forward a request to the Israeli Embassy in Brussels to nominate the Israeli PI to be a member of the Management Committee of the Action. The Israeli Ambassador will then sign the Memorandum of Understanding for the COST Action, thereby assuring the Israeli PI's membership in the Management Committee. Please make sure to provide the RGP with a copy of your application for review at least one week in advance of the submission deadline, and of the final submitted application for follow-up purposes.

FUNDING SOURCE LOCATION: Europe

AUTHORIZATION: Proposals will be received by the RGP for processing only after the financial statement has been checked and approved by the projects section of the Finance Department and the Internal Form submitted.