Call for STSM Grants

Carefully read all the information below before applying.

COST Action CA19105

CALL FOR SHORT TERM SCIENTIFIC MISSION (STSM) GRANTS

What is STSM?

STSMs are exchange visits aimed at supporting individual mobility, strengthening existing networks, and fostering collaboration between COST Action Participants.

STSMs should specifically contribute to the scientific objectives of the Action (detailed in the Memorandum of Understanding MoU), whilst at the same time allowing you to learn new techniques, gain access to specific data, instruments and/or methods not available in your own institutions/organisations. You can visit an institution or laboratory located in a different country than the country of your affiliation.

Who can apply?

This networking activity offers a valuable experience for Young Researchers and Innovators as well as for the already established researchers in supporting their career development: STSM is available for PhD students (engaged in an official research program), or a postdoctoral fellow or anyone employed by or affiliated to an institution, organisation or legal entity that has within its remit a clear association with performing research.
Applications submitted by Young Researchers and Innovators (under 40 years of age) and applicants from the Inclusiveness Target Countries (ITC)* will be prioritised.
*Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Cyprus, Estonia, Greece, Hungary, Latvia, Malta, North Macedonia, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia, Slovakia, and Turkey. Your Home institution must be located in a Participating COST Full Member, COST Cooperating Member, Near Neighbour Country, or a recognised European R&D Organisation. STSM Host Institution must be located in another participating COST Full Member, COST Cooperating Member, Partner Member, Near Neighbour Country, IPC/Third State. For definitions of the COST countries, please visit the COST Country and Organisations Table.

Applicants from universities maintained by public interest trusts established under Hungarian Act IX of 2021 and concerned by the Council Implementation Decision 2022/2056 are allowed to participate in COST activities without receiving financial support from the COST Association (either grants or reimbursements). Individuals from the flagged institutions can apply to get funded via the Guarantee Fund established by the Hungarian government. For more information please see the Communication on issuing commitment letters for model-changing higher education institutions to participate in Horizon Europe programme and in science & RDI funding programmes of the EU under direct and indirect management.

What can you apply for?

The STSM is a fixed grant and covers travelling, accommodation and subsistence expenses, implementation of the project, delivery of the report to the COST Action MD and overall effort. Remember: STSM does not cover the cost of your research materials.

You can apply for a maximum of 4000 €, with the average amount per grant being 2500 €. Please use the budget template to prepare and justify the requested amount.

Note that if your grant is awarded, it will be paid only after you complete your STSM. Therefore, you must have approval and prior financial support, e.g., from your home institution.

The pre-payment of up to 50% of the approved STSM grant can be requested under certain circumstances. The exact amount of the pre-payment depends on the available funds’ and must be approved by the Grant Holder. Please contact the STSM Coordinator or Grant Awarding Coordinator for further information.

When can you apply?

Calls for STSM applications will be opened four times during this grant year, providing approximately four grants per call:

  • 1st call deadline: TBA
  • 2nd call deadline: 8th January 2024
  • 3rd call deadline: 16th April 2024
  • 4th call deadline: 9th July 2024

However, if you find a possibility for an STSM that must be carried out immediately, you can apply outside the dates of the regular calls. Please make sure you clearly explain the situation in the presented documents. The application will be evaluated within one week from its submission. Upon acceptance, positively evaluated applications will be supported within the available budget.

Please follow us on our social media channels to be kept up to date.
Webpage: https://www.epilipid.net
https://www.cost.eu/actions/CA19105
Twitter: @EpiLipidNet

How can you apply?

STEP 1

You must carefully read the funding rules detailed in Annex 2 of the Annotated rules for COST Actions

STEP 2

You must create an account at https://eservices.cost.eu. This will require providing the details of the bank account where the grant will be lodged if your STSM application is approved and the STSM is completed.

STEP 3

Create your application online at the https://eservices.cost.eu by clicking on the Grant Applications tab. Then, select Short-Term Scientific Mission grant from the “Apply for new grant” page and click “Continue”.

STEP 4

You must contact the Host institution where your research is planned to be conducted and obtain the written agreement (letter of support host institution template) you can perform the activities detailed in the STSM work plan on the agreed dates and that a Host supervisor will support you. This letter must be submitted on the e-COST platform by the applicant but also sent directly by the supervisor to Julia Kuligowski, your STSM Coordinator: julia.kuligowski@uv.es and Joanna Godzien, Grant Awarding Coordinator: joanna.godzien@umb.edu.pl.

STEP 5

The following information is encoded in the online form:

  1. Applicant name
  2. Primary affiliation:
  3. Type: Please type Short-Term Scientific Mission.
  4. COST Action: Please select from the list CA19105 – Pan-European Network in Lipidomics and EpiLipidomics.
  5. Grant period: Please select “AGA-CA-19105-4 (01/11/2023-12/10/2024)”
  6. Title: Please provide the title of your STSM
  7. Amount: Please provide the amount you are applying for based on your estimated budget.
  8. Bank account
  9. Start date: Start and end date within the active Grant Period 01/11/2023-12/10/2024
  10. End date: The STSM visit should finish before the MID OF SEPTEMBER. If your visit cannot be completed before these dates, please contact your STSM Coordinator to consult the dates and ensure that the reporting requirements will be met.
  11. Host institution name
  12. Host institution city
  13. Host institution country
  14. Host institution URL
  15. Host contact person name
  16. Host contact person email

After encoding the form by filling all the sections mentioned above, you also need to upload the completed application template, which shall be previously downloaded from the application page.

You need to upload additional supporting documentation, which is listed below.

STEP 6

DOWNLOAD from the e-COST platform the Grant application template.

The application form includes such information as:

  1. Applicant name
  2. Details of the STSM: Title and Start and end date
  3. Goals of the STSM: Purpose and summary of the STSM (max. 200 words)
  4. Working plan: Description of the work to be carried out by the applicant (max. 500 words)
  5. Expected outputs and contribution to the Action MoU objectives and deliverables: Main expected results and their contribution to the progress towards the Action objectives (either research coordination and/or capacity building objectives) and deliverables (max. 500 words)

STEP 7

You need to upload supporting documentation:

  1. STSM grant Application (based on the e-COST template from STEP 6)
  2. Confirmation of the Host on the agreement from the host institution in receiving the applicant. The template of the letter of invitation from a senior Researcher at the Host institution is available here (letter of support host institution template).
  3. Letter of Support from your Home institution (letter of support home institution template). This letter must be submitted on the e-COST platform by the applicant but also sent directly by the supervisor to Julia Kuligowski, your STSM Coordinator: julia.kuligowski@uv.es and Joanna Godzien, Grant Awarding Coordinator: joanna.godzien@umb.edu.pl.
  4. Budget (budget template); Please note that double funding is not permitted.
  5. Letter of motivation with a detailed explanation about how the STSM will contribute to the Action CA19105 aims (the objectives are outlined in the Action’s Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) and how the STSM will impact your career (template-letter-of-motivation).

All submitted forms and documents should be downloaded and sent to Julia Kuligowski, your STSM Coordinator: julia.kuligowski@uv.es and Joanna Godzien, Grant Awarding Coordinator: joanna.godzien@umb.edu.pl

How are applications evaluated?

The STSM Coordinator, together with members of the Committee, will evaluate applications according to the COST principles of Excellence, Inclusivity and Balance.

Results will be revealed within two weeks from the call closure, and each applicant will be informed about the evaluation outcome via email.

The Committee constitutes of:

  • Prof Agnieszka BARTOSZEK – Poland
  • Dr Gerasimos SYKIOTIS – Switzerland
  • Dr Eduarda SILVA – Portugal
  • Prof Maria Isabel MEDINA MENDEZ – Spain
  • Dr Ahmet Tarık BAYKAL – Turkey
  • Prof Johan SWINNEN – Belgium
  • Prof Zoran TODOROVIC – Serbia
  • Prof Ines DRENJANCEVIC – Croatia
  • Prof Simon HAMMANN – Germany
  • Prof Graciela Lidia BOCCACCIO – Argentina

The Committee will evaluate each application according to its:

  1. Contribution to the EpiLipid Net Goals (the objectives are outlined in the Action’s Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) [0-3 points];
  2. Relevance to advancing the current state of the field [0-3 points];
  3. Feasibility of the proposed project (including the budget) [0-3 points];
  4. Impact of the visit for the applicant’s career [0-3 points];

Applications will be ranked according to the score obtained. In the case of equal scoring, geographic and/or gender balance will be considered.

What next?

The Grant Holder sends you a grant letter. To start your STSM you must first receive the grant letter.

Please note, that once your application was approved, any changes to your STSM duration, dates or the activities planned are not permitted. Otherwise, we cannot guarantee the successful refunding afterword. Therefore, if you have to make any changes, please contact us in advance, before the STSM starts.

Then you start your STSM: you go abroad, learn a lot at the Host institution, gain new experience, meet other researchers and establish long-lasting collaborations.

What happens after the STSM?

You must submit your scientific report within 30 days from the end of your STSM or before mid of September, whichever date comes first.

One day and ten days after your STSM end, you receive a reminder to upload the report. This email will contain the link to the template report you must follow.

The report form includes such information as:

  1. Applicant name
  2. Details of the STSM: Title and Start and end date
  3. Description of the work carried out during STSM: Description of the activities carried out during the STSM. Any deviations from the initial working plan shall also be described in this section (max. 500 words).
  4. Description of the STSM main achievements and planned follow-up activities: Description and assessment of whether the STSM achieved its planned goals and expected outcomes, including specific contribution to Action objectives and deliverables or publications resulting from the STSM. This section will also describe agreed plans for future follow-up collaborations (max. 500 words).

Apart from the report, you must submit a confirmation letter of successful STSM by the Host (letter of confirmation template).

STSM Coordinator and Action Chair approve your final report, and then the Grant Holder executes payment to you.

For detailed information, please see the relevant sections of the Annotated rules for COST Actions, which is replacing the former Vademecum or contact Julia Kuligowski, your STSM Coordinator: julia.kuligowski@uv.es

Contact persons

Julia Kuligowski (julia.kuligowski@uv.es)

STSM Coordinator

Joanna Godzien (joanna.godzien@umb.edu.pl)

Grant Awarding Coordinator

CA19105 – Pan-European Network in Lipidomics and EpiLipidomics

CSO Approval Date: 24 March 2020
Start Date: 13 October 2020
End Date: 12 October 2024
EpiLipidNET aims to build and maintain a multidisciplinary pan-European network of researchers, clinicians and enterprises working in the field of lipidomics and epilipidomics to boost a hub of research excellence, advanced knowledge and technology transfer, to promote high level of training for young researchers and facilitate clinical translation.