COST - Promoting and Spreading Excellence Dr Ronald de Bruin, Director of the COST Association COST Info Day, Bratislava, 7 February 2019

COST - 45 years proven track record in research collaboration 38 COST Members Albania, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Moldova, Montenegro, The Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, United Kingdom and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia 1 Cooperating Member Israel Near Neighbour Countries participation Algeria, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Egypt, Georgia, Jordan, Kosovo*, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, the Palestinian Authority, Russia, Syria, Tunisia and Ukraine *This designation is without prejudice to positions on status, and is in line with UNSCR 1244/1999 and the ICJ Opinion on the Kosovo declaration of independence. COST Members COST Members (ITCs) COST Cooperating member

COST key figures of 2017 COST: The networking tool in the ERA and the pre-portal to other ERA funding schemes

How it works? COST Action participants nominated by COST National Coordinators Secondary proposers Main proposer

Average participation in COST Actions, ITCs and other countries

COST Info Days Proposals COST Actions COST Academy Dedicated measures for active ITC participation COST Info Days Targeted to ITC combined with high-level meeting ITC government, including NCP Proposals Eligibility External experts Inclusiveness policy COST Actions COST Action Leadership Conference grant for PhD students and young researchers Pre-payment for STSM COST Academy Leadership workshop Finance/Admin workshop Science Communication training Mentoring GH Mentoring Chair

Example of COST success stories COST Action FP1106 Running from 23/04/2012 - 22/04/2016 STReESS - Studying Tree Responses to extreme Events: a SynthesiS Lead to establishment of new research facility, the DendroLab Novi Sad, Serbia

Examples of COST Success Stories

COST Acting as a pre-portal for FP funding

Example of COST success stories Czech Republic and Switzerland provide additional national support to COST Action participants Budget is available for Personnel cost of staff assigned to the project (focus on PhD) Cost of new equipment Cost of sub-contracting …

1 2 3 Promoting and spreading excellence Role of COST in the ERA - 3 Strategic Priorities Promoting and spreading excellence 1 Fostering interdisciplinary research for breakthrough science 2 Boosting careers young researchers 3

Priority 1. Promoting and spreading excellence Everyone Benefits Absolute/relative participation (2% non-ITC vs. 10% ITC)

Priority 1. Promoting and spreading excellence

Priority 2. Fostering interdisciplinary research for breakthrough science

Boosting careers of young researchers Bottom-up networking schemes

Boosting careers of young researchers Overall participation in COST Actions

Slovakian participation in COST Actions 2012-2018 National participation in running Actions % (total number of running Actions in bracket)

Participations in networking activities by Early Career Investigators 2012-2018 ECI share among participants in Actions’ networking activities

Leadership positions held by Slovakian participants 2013-2018

Implementing COST’s strategic priorities COST Innovators Grant COST Academy COST global networking COST Connect COST science-informed policy advice Meetings, workshops and conferences, and conference grant Training schools Short-term Scientific Missions Dissemination activities COST Actions

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