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“Inclusiveness Target Countries (ITC) Conference Grants”
for the second Grant Period
There will be five calls for “Inclusiveness Target Countries (ITC) Conference Grants” under AERoGELS COST Action CA18125 for the second Grant Period. Please see below relevant dates:
First call for “Inclusiveness Target Countries (ITC) Conference Grants”
Applications: 15.05.2020 – 30.05.2020
Second call for “Inclusiveness Target Countries (ITC) Conference Grants”
Applications: 01.07.2020 – 15.07.2020
Third call for “Inclusiveness Target Countries (ITC) Conference Grants”
Applications: 01.11.2020 – 15.11.2020
Fourth call for “Inclusiveness Target Countries (ITC) Conference Grants”
Applications: 15.04.2021 – 30.04.2021
Conference dates: 15.05.2021 – 31.07.2021
Fifth call for “Inclusiveness Target Countries (ITC) Conference Grants”
Applications: 15.06.2021 – 30.06.2021
Conference dates: 15.07.2021 – 15.10.2021
“Inclusiveness Target Countries (ITC) Conference Grants”
A Conference Grant is a fixed financial contribution which takes into consideration the budget request of the Applicant and the outcome of the evaluation of the application. Conference Grants do not necessarily cover all of the expenses related to participating in a given conference. A Conference Grant is a contribution to the overall travel, accommodation and meal expenses of the selected Grantee (see COST Vademecum Section 9).
The calculation of the financial contribution for each ITC Conference Grant must respect the following criteria:
- Up to a maximum of EUR 950 in total can be afforded to each successful ITC Applicant.
- Up to a maximum of EUR 160 per day can be afforded for accommodation and meal expenses. When meal and accommodation expenses are supported by the hosting institution as part of the provisions offered in their conference package, the amount for subsistence afforded to each eligible participant must be deducted from the Grant.
- Up to a maximum of EUR 500 can be claimed for the conference fees to be incurred by the selected Grantee.
Eligibility criteria
- The applicant must be a PhD Student or an Early Career Investigator (ECI). An ECI is an individual who is within a time span of up to 8 years from the date he/she obtained his/her PhD/doctorate (full-time equivalent).
- The Applicant’s primary affiliation must be in an Institution located in a participating Inclusiveness Target Country (ITC). The ITCs are as follows: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Republic of Moldova, Montenegro, Poland, Portugal, Republic of North Macedonia, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Turkey.
- Attendance at European conferences is preferred. However, conferences held elsewhere can also be considered. Conferences, meetings and other activities organized by the AERoGELS COST Action are not eligible for funding.
- Applications for participation to online conferences are also accepted. In such a case, registration fees will be covered..
- The Applicant must make an oral/poster presentation at the conference in question and must be listed in the official event/conference program. The main subject of the oral/poster presentation at the approved conference must be on the topic of the AERoGELS COST Action and must acknowledge AERoGELS COST Action for support (see COST Vademecum Section 10). For the acknowledgement to COST, the following format should be used at all times: “Work carried out in the frame of the COST-Action “Advanced Engineering of aeroGels for Environment and Life Sciences” (AERoGELS, ref. CA18125) funded by the European Commission.”
- Ideally, the application should be submitted at least 45 days before the conference start date.
- The participation of each applicant must be pre-approved by the Action MC.
How to apply
- Applicants must read carefully the rules detailed in COST Vademecum (Section 9).
- Applicants must register in the AERoGELS Action web page at https://cost-aerogels.eu/join-us/.
- Applicants must register for an e-COST profile at https://e-services.cost.eu/.
- Applicants must fill in and submit the ITC application form in the e-COST platform.
- The following documents are required:
- CV (template available at https://cost-aerogels.eu/activities/itc-conferencegrants/),
- a short description of involvement in the COST Action AERoGELS,
- acceptance letter from the conference organizers stating that the abstract has been accepted as an oral/poster presentation,
- the abstract submitted to the conference,
- invitation letter from the conference organizers (if available).
Evaluation
After the deadline, the applications will be assessed by the ITC Conference Grant Committee, which will perform the scientific and budgetary assessment of the applications against the perceived contribution that the proposed conference participation will make against the scientific objectives outlined in the Action’s Memorandum of Understanding (MoU). All applications will be ranked.
The Applicants will be notified for the outcome of their application within two weeks after the deadline.
Members of the ITC Conference Grant Committee:
Reimbursement
The Grantee has 30 calendar days from the end date of the conference in question to submit a scientific report to e-COST. For the 5th call of ITC Conference Grants, grant reimbursement requests of events held after 01.10.2021 can only be sent within 7 calendar days after the end of the conference.
The scientific report should include a picture of the grantee in front of the poster (in case of poster presentation) or during the talk (if oral presentation) with tacit approval to use the picture in the web page and other dissemination materials from the AERoGELS Action. Payment of the Grant is subject to the submitted scientific report being approved by the ITC Conference Manager. Written approval of the submitted scientific report and a copy of the ID card or passport to the Grant Holder (grantholderca18125@gmail.com) must be sent to the Grant Holder for archiving purposes.
Failure to submit the scientific report within 30 (or 7, for events held after 01.10.2021) calendar days from the end date of the conference will effectively cancel the Grant.
