1. Bulgarian Participation in COST
Ministry of Education and Science
Science Directorate
Bulgarian Participation in COST
Mrs. Zlatina Karova
COST National Coordinator for Bulgaria

2. COST and Bulgaria Member Observer COST 1999 1998 1971
The national COST Office in Bulgaria is hosted by the Science Directorate, the Ministry of Education and Science
Dear guests and colleagues,
It is a pleasure for me to stand before you and present the Bulgarian participation in COST in the recent years. Founded in the distant 1971, COST has managed to not only survive, but also greatly develop throughout the years. Bulgaria received an “Observer” status back in 1998 and shortly after that became a member – long before becoming a member of the European Union. This fact alone shows us how important the researchers are not only for the European Union, but also for Bulgaria. The opportunity to participate in COST’s Actions has always been appreciated by Bulgarian researchers, which rely very much on joint international and European projects.
They also rely on their personal and institutional networks. COST performs greatly in opening up and internationalizing Bulgarian research. Bulgarian research community is a small, but vital fraction of the European research community and as such it plays an important role in science diplomacy with the Eastern Europe, Western Balkans, the Middle East, Northern Africa, Asia, Australia, Northern America.
COST also provides great career-developing opportunities for young researchers, which are also targeted by the Bulgarian National Strategy for Research. One of the main goals of the Strategy is to prevent the “brain drain” and to attract more young people in the academic career. We have foreseen various measures to achieve this, and thus – improve the economic growth and in the long term – improve the overall quality of the research and innovation system in Bulgaria.

3. Participation in COST Actions
Although not high enough, Bulgaria’s participation in COST has been growing in the recent years. We can observe a steady, sustainable growth in its participation. Although in 2016 Bulgarian researchers have been involved in only 181 Actions, the overall participation rate is just over 55%. Our preliminary data suggest that we can expect even bigger participation in 2017 and we are anxious to receive the official data from COST for 2017.

4. Participation in Networking Activities
On this slide we can observe the number of Bulgarian researchers, which have participated in the various networking activities of COST. Unfortunately 2015 seems to had been a bad year but a quick recovery can be seen in In the last several years the Early Career Investigators represent between 25 and 35 % of all the participators.

5. STSM and Training School involvement
Short-term scientific missions are especially important for future collaborations, sharing techniques and practices and accessing infrastructure, and so are the training schools. And although their importance is recognized by Bulgarian researchers, the actual involvement is quite unsatisfactory, especially in 2016.

6. Networking activities held in Bulgaria
On this graph we can see that more and more meetings are held in Bulgaria. Although the number of meetings held in the country is rising, Bulgaria is far from becoming a popular country to hold meetings in. Unfortunately the same cannot be said for the other networking activities.

7. Bulgarian organizations' participation
In the last several years over half of Bulgarian researchers in COST are affiliated with the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. This should be no surprise for anyone familiar with the Bulgarian research system. The second place belongs to the Sofia University – the biggest Bulgarian research university. It is worth mentioning that the University of National and World Economy, the Agricultural University, Trakia University and New Bulgarian University also have a significant participation in COST, as well as the Ministry of Education and Science.

8. COST Strategic Plan 2018 – 2028 Funding: Priorities: Budget:
Horizon 2020
9. Framework Programme
Priorities:
Spreading excellence and widening participation
Fostering interdisciplinary research for breakthrough science
Empowering and retaining young researchers and innovators
Budget:
Current budgets is around EUR 300 million during Horizon 2020
COST will need at least EUR 600 million during FP9 to implement its three strategic priorities
Under the current framework programme (Horizon 2020) COST is funded with 50% by the programme 'Spreading Excellence and Widening Participation' and has committed to spend 50% of the budget at the benefit of researchers from widening countries, Bulgaria among them. For the future programming period (9th Framework Programme) COST is to be expected to be fully integrated into the successor programme of Spreading Excellence and Widening Participation alongside with other instruments such as Teaming and Twinning. Consequently, 80% of its budget will be devoted to widening actions and 50% of its budget will be invested in widening countries.
Researchers and innovators from all over Europe perceive COST as a unique means for them to jointly develop their own ideas and new initiatives across all fields in science and technology, including social sciences and humanities, through pan-European networking of national or international funded research activities. Involvement in COST Actions both anticipates and complements the activities of the EU collaborative FPs, constituting a “bridge” towards the research and innovation communities in Europe and beyond.
All participants in COST Actions are real beneficiaries, regardless of their career stage, country of origin or areas of interest. COST connects Europe’s “pockets of excellence”, providing structural support to ERA, widening the research and innovation base in Europe and promoting cooperation in science and technology with other countries beyond COST’s current membership. Thus, COST is also instrumental to bridging the research and innovation divide and participations gaps in Europe. It is obvious how small communities in geographically dispersed regions benefit from cooperating with experienced and renowned researchers and innovators from leading academic institutions or SMEs.
Cooperation across disciplines and different areas of science and technology are an essential precondition to achieve real breakthroughs in research and innovation. Interdisciplinary research often results in discoveries, innovations and breakthroughs that are crucial in the ambition to boost jobs, economic growth, investments, and improve the quality of life of Europe’s citizens and the environment. Currently, more than half of the COST Actions have an interdisciplinary nature.
Europe is currently building a next generation of researchers and innovators with great potential to contribute to Europe’s prosperity. It is crucial to take advantage of the pool of talent that exists in the younger generation by offering career perspectives that will enable them to develop and exploit their full potential. Participation in the COST networking activities allows young researchers and innovators to prepare and empower themselves with more self-confidence and motivation to stay in Europe for their next career steps in research and beyond. COST also promotes brain circulation within Europe through its short-term scientific missions (STSMs), limiting brain-drain from peripheral regions to research-intense regions in Europe. The focus of COST on young researchers and innovators also takes into consideration gender balance in order to ensure equal opportunities and gender-friendly career advancement. It is crucial for young researchers and innovators to broaden their scope and knowledge beyond their own scientific discipline, and to acquire transferrable and transversal skills.
In line with the Lamy Report “Lab-Fab-App” and the European Parliament’s recommendations for the next Framework Programme for Research and Innovation, COST will need at least EUR 600 million to cover its activities to successfully implement its three strategic priorities. With an increased budget, COST would be able to offer enhanced networking opportunities to even more researchers and innovators across Europe, and make a tangible contribution to closing the research and innovation divide and participation gaps in Europe.

9. COST Academy Launched in September 2017
Dedicated training and mentoring
Boosting leadership, management, administrative and communications skills
The majority of training takes place at the COST office (Brussels) except for the online training, which will be available through the COST website
Main proposers workshops
Leadership workshops
Grant holder workshops
Science communication and media training
Mentoring for grant holders (online)
Mentoring for Action Chairs and Vice-Chairs (online)
The COST Academy programme covers:
Main proposers workshops – targeted at main proposers of approved COST Action proposals. It presents the COST Programme, gives an overview about the financial and administrative rules as well as a first introduction to e-COST, the COST Action management eTool.
Leadership workshops – for Action secondary proposers (either young or ITCs researchers) who are potential candidates for leadership positions. These workshops will be organised under centralised management activities, between the Action main proposer workshop and the first management committee meeting. This activity involves the COST Administration and experienced Action Chairs, Vice-Chairs, working group leaders, communication managers, short-term scientific mission coordinators and grant holders who provide a training in a ‘best practice’ approach.
Grant holder workshops – hands-on training on e-COST to grant holders elected at the first management committee meeting of the Action. Additional funding could target grant holders of a running Action who may need to improve their management skills.
Science communication and media training – practical training targeted at participants entrusted with dissemination and communication in their Action. Participants will learn how to build a successful communication strategy, how to define messages, how to approach the media and how to handle digital tools to get a message across, among others. 
The COST Association also plans to add mentoring and online courses at a later stage.
These include:
Mentoring for grant holders – additional support enabling grant holders to be more independent and autonomous, while gaining experience in the management of EU funds and in coordinating activities.
Mentoring for Action Chairs and Action Vice-Chairs – mentoring organised in the form of short-term scientific missions for Action Chairs and Action Vice-Chairs from ITCs, to exchange best practice approaches with successful Action’s Chairs.

10. COST National Coordinator for Bulgaria z.karova@mon.bg
Ministry of Education and Science
Science Directorate
Zlatina Karova
COST National Coordinator for Bulgaria