COST at the 6th European Space Weather Week Dr. Carine Petit ESSEM Science Officer Brussels, 16 November 2009

What is COST? The first and still the widest EU intergovernmental framework for R&D cooperation was created in 1971 to coordinate nationally funded research activities Still a member state initiative, COST is now funded via the EU's Framework Programs (FP7 – 210 M€) and delivered via the European Science Foundation In 2009, ~ 230 on-going Actions 60 new Actions per year selected from 2 Collecting Dates (end of March and of September)

COST does NOT fund R&D directly, but networking activities! What is the objective of COST? COST aims at building international networks of nationally-funded research projects in 9 scientific domains, that work together to resolve clearly-defined scientific challenges, and to deliver: new knowledge, position papers, standards (inter-comparison, cross cal/val), harmonisation, new systems of reference or cooperation to develop new technologies. COST does NOT fund R&D directly, but networking activities!

COST main characteristics “Bottom-up” – no fixed programmes / priorities À la carte participation Focus on multidisciplinary cooperation Enabling agent – Promotion of Early Stage Researchers Pan-European dimension Open to global cooperation in the mutual interest Coordination through cooperation in networks “Non-competitive” (pre-normative; public utility) Networks based on funded (research) projects – national responsibility Equal access / Open Call Building bridges

36 COST Countries  The 27 EU Member States  EFTA Member States  Iceland  Norway  Switzerland  Acceding & Candidate Countries  Croatia  FYR of Macedonia (FYROM)  Turkey  Potential Candidate Countries  Bosnia and Herzegovina  Republic of Serbia  COST Co-operating States Israel

COST and the Neighbouring Countries COST countries COST neighbouring countries Special budget line in the COST system to facilitate collaborations Specific exchange activities (Short Term Scientific Missions, focus on Early Stage Researchers) Belarus (1) Russia (41) Ukraine (17) Moldova (5) Georgia (5) GEORGIA Albania (1) Armenia (2) Azerbaijan (1) Lebanon (1) Morocco (2) Tunisia (7) TUNISIA Palestinian auth. (1) Algeria (3) Egypt (4) In 2009: 90 participations in 45 Actions

COST Actions: global participation (status: May 2009) BELARUS EGYPT ALGERIA TUNISIA GEORGIA SRI LANKA MALAYSIA PAPUA NEW GUINEA Australia (42) Japan (14) Canada (19) New Zealand (26) Russia (41) USA (22) Rep of Korea (6) Algeria (3) India (3) Hong Kong (2) South Africa (4) Cuba (1) Argentina (4) Brazil (3) Vietnam (1) Malaysia (1) Colombia (1) Morocco (2) Palestinian auth. (1) Andorra (1) Egypt (4) Georgia (5) Azerbaijan (1) Ukraine (17) Moldova (5) China (4) Armenia (2) Albania (1) Lebanon (1) Belarus (1) Mexico (1) Pakistan (1) Singapore (1) UAE (1) Tunisia (7) COST countries Neighbouring countries Reciprocal agreements countries 251 participations in 103 Actions (36 countries)

9 COST Scientific and Technical Domains Biomedicine and Molecular Biosciences (BMBS) Chemistry and Molecular Sciences & Technologies (CMST) Earth System Science & Environmental Management (ESSEM) Food & Agriculture (FA) Forests, their Products and Services (FPS) Individuals, Society, Culture & Health (ISCH) Information & Communication Technologies (ICT) Materials, Physical & Nanosciences (MPNS) Transport & Urban Development (TUD) + Trans-Disciplinary Proposals can be submitted to Open Calls

ESSEM studies major Earth compartments and how they interact with human activities Science and technology to better understand, observe, model and predict the Earth System and thereby to improve the Management of Environment and Natural Resources Key aspect is to assess natural and human-induced trends, hazards and impacts on: Earth System Natural Resources ESSEM scientific fields Biodiversity Climate Change Instrumentation networks and technologies Hazards forecasting and detection Hydrology Meteorology and meteorological operational capacities Oceanography Soil processes and land degradation Water, air and soil pollution

Why is ESSEM interested in Space Weather ? Today, disturbances generated by mankind affect all compartments of the Earth System We have reached the carrying capacity of our Planet: For some non-renewable resources, scarcity exists already and will increase => Exploration of Mars and the Moon, but by robots or humans? The physical environment, terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems are threatened and must be monitored by EO satellite constellations supported by robust telecommunication systems and global navigation systems

What do we need ? Among others, we need better knowledge, continuous monitoring, improved forecasting and modeling of space weather for anticipating the impacts of solar-terrestrial interactions on health, materials, global navigation satellite systems, telecommunications and signal propagation, troposphere weather (interaction with Global Climate Change?) Mitigating these impacts require reliable space weather data

Need to inform the stakeholders and the public at large on Status of early warning systems, forecasting and nowcasting of space weather events Existing techniques to mitigate the impacts of space weather on the Earth system, humans and human activities Infrastructure needed to develop a permanent SW service (hosted by a European agency or by WMO?) Is there any common European policy to contribute in GEOSS with any SW data archiving? Is there a common approach on quality assurance of SW data?

COST in Space … ICT 284 (2002-2006) Innovative Antennas for Emerging Terrestrial and Space-based Applications 296 (2005-2009) MIERS – Mitigation of Ionospheric Effects on Radio Systems IC0802 (2008-2012) Propagation Tools and Data for Integrated Telecommunication, Navigation and Earth Observation Systems MPNS MP0905 (2009-2013) Black Holes in a Violent Universe CMST D27 (2001-2007) Prebiotic Chemistry and Early Evolution CM0805 (2008-2012) The Chemical Cosmos: Understanding Chemistry in Astronomical Environments

COST in Space … ESSEM 724 (2002-2007) Developing the Basis for Monitoring, Modelling and Predicting Space Weather Among other results, COST 724 initiated the European Space Weather Week … which has been continuously supported by ES0803 ES0803 (2008-2012) Developing Space Weather Products and Services in Europe Thank you to ES0803 for the support in the organisation of the 6th ESWW!

ESSEM team Mr Kent Hung Senior Administrative Officer - Cluster khung@cost.esf.org Ms Aranzazu Sanchez Administrative Officer - ESSEM asanchez@cost.esf .org Ms Chandrasa Sjamsudin csjamsudin@cost.esf.org Dr Stefan Stückrad Junior Science Officer - ESSEM sstueckrad@cost.esf.org Dr Carine Petit Science Officer – ESSEM Senior SO – Natural Sciences Cluster cpetit@cost.esf.org