Short‑Term Scientific Missions

Short-Term Scientific Missions (STSMs) are visits of a researcher coming from a research institution in a COST country to a research institution in another COST country, which usually last a few weeks and have the purpose of initiating a joint scientific paper or project proposal. The COST action offers grants for such short-term scientific missions. Before you proceed to apply for an STSM, please read the Rules and Regulations below.

Application

In order to apply for an Short-Term Scientific Mission, please visit the

e-COST STSM Application page.

If you are not yet registered in the e-COST system, register at

e-COST Login and Registration.

Please make sure that the email address you use to register in e-COST is the same email address you use to file your online application. If you use different email addresses, the system will not work properly.

Rules and Regulations

• The applicant should be engaged in a program of research as a post-graduate student or postdoctoral fellow or be employed in an institution actively participating in the COST Action IC0702.
• Preference will given to researchers at the beginning of their career (PhD students and Postdoctoral students who obtained their PhD only recently).
• The home and the host institution can be public or private, but must be in a COST Member State that signed the Memorandum of Understanding of COST Action IC0702.
• Short-term scientific missions (STSMs) should last at least one week and at most 3 months. Stays up to 6 months are possible on special application for young and starting researchers.
• Since a COST year runs from July to June and the action budget for a COST year has to be spent in such a year (no transfer of funds to the next year is possible), a short-term scientific mission must not cover the transition point between two COST years (end of a year: June 31, start of next year: July 1). In order for the grant holder to be able to finalize all accounting and all payments before the financial report has to be sent to the COST office, an STSM must end at least one week (better two weeks) before June 31.
• In the last year of the Action (2012), a short-term scientific mission must be completed at least one week before March 31, 2012.
• The accomodation costs per day must not exceed 90 Euro. However, this is an absolute upper limit. The amounts recommended by the STSM Assessment Committee of COST Action IC0702 are (for accommodation alone, travel costs are handled separately) 1000-1200 Euro per month for longer stays and 300-350 Euro per week for shorter stays. Costs exceeding these values should be specially justified.
• The total COST funding (accommodation and travel combined) of a short-term scientific mission must not exceed 2500 Euro. An exception are young and starting researchers who apply for an STSM of at least 3 month and up to 6 months. For such cases the limit is 3500 Euro.
• Accepted applications are offered a grant, the amount of which may coincide with the amount applied for or may be less, depending on the assessment of the STSM Assessment Committee. The applicant may then decide whether to accept the grant or not. Note that there is no requirement that the grant covers the actual costs of the STSM. It is rather meant as a contribution to the costs, which may (have to) be supplemented by the home and/or host institution.
• The grant is paid after the STSM, on delivery of the STSM Scientific Report and the filled Payment Request Form to the grant holder of COST Action IC0702. Details will be given in the acceptance letter.