COST: newly approved international networks – opportunity to participate

The international programme COST (European Cooperation in Scientific and Technical Research) has published 60 newly approved COST Actions – international networks that connect researchers from both the academic and private sector and focus on a particular research topic. These networks are open – new participants can join already approved COST Actions.

Researchers from Czech institutions can also participate in new COST Action proposals.
Faculty news about the current COST open call

Contact point at the Faculty of Science for the Czech national procedure of joining a COST Action:
Romana Hogenová (romana.hogenova@natur.cuni.cz).
See also Czech national procedure of joining a COST Action.

Contact point at the Faculty of Science for the international programme COST:
Ludmila Součková.

• List of newly approved Actions and their detailed descriptions (source).
• Database of all COST Actions.
• Online COST Info Day 2024 (27. 3. 2024): recording, presentation, Q&A.
• About COST (in Czech) by the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports (MŠMT) including a description of the Czech national procedure of joining a COST Action (see “Procedura přijímání projektu COST v ČR”).

COST supports international collaboration in science and technology. It encourages interdisciplinarity and participation of young researchers. COST Actions funds only “networking” activities (e.g. meetings, workshops and conferences, short-term scientific missions, training schools, virtual mobility...), but not research itself. It is possible to join an approved Action from publication of the Action’s Memorandum of Understanding in the database of COST Actions until the end of the Action (duration of an Action is usually 4 years).

COST Actions are often recommended as an excellent tool for building international research contacts.

Ways how to participate in an ongoing COST Action

As a Management Committee Member

• For each Action, there can be maximally 2 Management Committee Members nominated from one COST member country.
• Management Committee Members are nominated by the COST National Coordinator, who needs a tacit validation by the Action’s management. The Czech COST National Coordinator is affiliated to the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports (MEYS).
• A researcher from a Czech institution who wants to be nominated as a Management Committee Member must go through the Czech national procedure of joining a COST Action – they must describe, how exactly they will participate in the Action activities in a document “PROJECT PROPOSAL, JOIN AN EXISTING COST ACTION” that must be confirmed by the legal representative of their institution; and their intended participation in the Action must be approved, via a document “COST MC Letter”, by the head of the respective COST Action (Main Proposer in case of a newly approved Action, or Action Chair in case of a running Action). Both documents must be sent to MEYS.
• Based on these two documents, the Czech COST National Coordinator nominates the researcher to the Management Committee of the respective Action.
• After going through this national procedure, the researcher becomes eligible to apply for funding from Czech programme Inter-Excellence II, sub-programme Inter-COST.

As a Working Group Member

• A researcher can ask the management of the Action to join the Action as a Working Group Member. Such an application is submitted via the e-COST portal. It might be advisable to contact beforehand the management of the Action, e.g., the Leader of the particular Working Group, and discuss possibilities of participation of the applying researcher. Contact details of the members of the Action management are available in the database of COST Actions.
• If the researcher (from a Czech institution) wants to become eligible to apply for funding from Czech programme Inter-Excellence II, sub-programme Inter-COST, they must also go through the Czech national procedure of joining a COST Action – see above.

As an ad-hoc participant of an event or activity organised by the Action

• Participation as an ad-hoc participant is subject to invitation by the Action’s management.
• When such an opportunity is open to those interested, it is usually announced by the Action on its website (in case of already running Actions, the link to their website is often available in the database of COST Actions) or in the news on COST website.

About COST programme on faculty website

Examples of newly approved COST Actions (there are 60 new Actions in total)

Actions without Czech participation in the Network of Proposers are given in bold.

• CA23104 Mainstreaming water reuse into the circular economy paradigm
• CA23106 An Evolutionary View to Understanding Affective States across Species
• CA23107 Network for Evidence Synthesis in The Agri-Food Sector
• CA23108 Seasonal-to-decadal climate predictability in the Mediterranean: process understanding and services
• CA23110 International networking on in vitro colon models simulating gut microbiota mediated interactions
• CA23111 Searching for Nanostructured or pOre fOrming Peptides for therapY
• CA23113 Climate change impacts on mental health in Europe
• CA23116 Open Palaeoecological Data - analysing the past building foresight
• CA23118 Futures-oriented Governance of Outer Space: Towards Peace, Equity, and Environmental Integrity
• CA23119 SENESCENCE2030: Targeting Cell Senescence to Prevent Age-Related Diseases
• CA23121 Genetic Nature Observation and Action
• CA23122 Utilizing 10,000 genomes of European Lepdioptera
• CA23123 Non-chemical weed management in medicinal and aromatic plants (MAPs)
• CA23124 Social, biological and climatic impacts of salt ages
• CA23126 AlertHub: Warning Communication Knowledge Network
• CA23127 Group on Insect Nutrition: To Open Nutritional Innovative Challenges
• CA23131 ISO compatible, efficient and reproducible protocols/equipment for mICro-nanoPLASTIC detection through machine-learning
• CA23133 Large-scale Interdisciplinary Alliance on Nature-based SoLutions and Health: Indicators, InequalitY and Innovation
• CA23135 Bringing Digital Data and Reality Together - Augmented Reality in Forestry
• CA23139 Network for Indoor Air Cleaning
• CA23144 Europe's Representations of India: Texts, Images, and Encounters
• CA23145 Architectural and Urban Ambiances of European Cities
• CA23148 European Network for the Integrative Approach of Urban Forestry
• CA23150 pan-EUROpean BIoGeodynamics network
• CA23152 Building Consensus on Biofilm Regulatory Decision Making
• CA23154 Environmental impact of anthelmintics in livestock and alternatives to minimize their use
• CA23156 European Network for Sigma-1 Receptor as a Therapeutic Opportunity
• CA23157 European Network for Multiple View Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment
• CA23160 Effective Lake management: reducing cyanobacteria by actions in the catchment

News published by Ludmila Součková on 14. 6. 2024.

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