The aim of STSMs in COSY is to promote the exchange of knowledge, and to support the Action’s scientific objectives. STSMs allow scientists, especially Young Researchers and Innovators (YRIs, up to 40 years of age), to visit an active research group in another country to foster collaboration, share knowledge, learn a new technique, and undertake research of common interest, provided that the planned activity contributes to the scientific objectives of COSY. Any approved research organization anywhere in the world may be chosen as a Host. The applicant must be registered as working group members of COSY and engaged in an official research programme as a PhD student, postdoctoral fellow or employee of a research institution. Master students proving their affiliation to a research programme may also be eligible. In this case, an approved research programme enrolment form signed by the research institution needs to be submitted in the application.

Financial requests are expected to be limited up to 600 EUR for travel expenses. The daily subsistence rate should be up to 210 EUR per day, depending on the host country (see below for a list of recommended daily rates). The maximum duration is not limited; however, both the start and end dates of an STSM need to be in the same Grant Period (the current GP is 01/11/2024 – 31/10/2025). The maximum amount which can be requested is 4000 EUR. The Review Committee reserves the right to cut the amount requested according to their own assessment, which also takes into account the available budget. Please note that grants are paid by the Grant Holder after the completion of the activity and approval of the final report. Applicants from an Inclusiveness Targeted Countries (ITC) can request a pre-payment of 50% of the total grant.

Applications may be submitted throughout the year and will be reviewed as soon as possible; the process should be started in such a way that the review will take place 3-4 weeks before the STSM is supposed to start, in order to allow for changes requested by the reviewers, which may require resubmission of the application.

An important criterium on which the evaluation of the application will depend is the compatibility of the objectives of the planned STSM with the objectives of COSY itself as well as with the goals of the working groups (WGs) in the running Grant Period, as published at the COSY website. Applicants should mention in their application, as well as in the final report, both the (main) WG to which their STSM belongs, as well as the scientific objectives their STSM is supposed to address; for ease of reference, the objectives of COSY and the WGs for the current Grant period (01/11/2024 – 31/10/2025) can be found at the links: https://cost-cosy.eu/objectives/third-grant-period-goals/, https://cost-cosy.eu/objectives/general-objectives-of-cosy, https://cost-cosy.eu/objectives/deliverables.

In the case of several applicants of comparable qualification, preference will be given to members of ITC countries, young researchers (YRIs) and female researchers.

Application procedure. To apply for a STSM grant within COSY, please go through the following procedure:

Step 1 – Contact the STSM Coordinator (Dr. Heribert Reis: ) with a CC to the Grant Awarding Coordinator, Dr. Marina Šekutor () to inquire about the availability of funding.

Step 2 – If funding is available, login to the on-line registration tool to register the request for an STSM (https://e-services.cost.eu/activity/grants). You may need to register and to upload your CV.

Information required on the on-line registration form:

• The Action number (CA21101);
• The title of the planned STSM;
• Start and end date (both inside the active Grant Period);
• Budget requested for travel and subsistence;
• Bank details;
• Information about the host institution and contact person;
• Upload the application form (template available on the site), which describes the goals, work plan, expected outcomes, contributions to the objectives of the COSY action;
• Letter of acceptance by the host institution.
• For Master’s students: Approved research programme enrolment form signed by the Home institution

Step 3 – The application is assessed by the Grant Holding Coordinator and the STSM Coordinator.

Step 4 – The STSM Coordinator seeks approval regarding his decision from the STSM Review Committee (RC). The RC consists of the STSM Coordinator (Dr. Heribert Reis), Dr. Miroslav Medved (Matej Bel University in Banska Bystrica, Slovakia and Palacky University in Olomouc, Czech Republic), Dr. Aggelos Avramopoulos (University of Lamia, Greece), Dr. Anna Kaczmarek-Kędziera (University of Torun, Poland) and the appropriate WG leader.

Step 5 – Cost Office Acceptance Letter (Grant Letter)

If the application is successful, the Grant Awarding Coordinator (GAC) performs the on-line pre-approval and the Grant Holder (GH) sends an Acceptance letter to the Applicant, in which the Applicant is informed about the approval of the STSM and the level of financial support awarded.

After the STSM

Within 4 weeks after the completion of the STSM, or 15 days after the end of the running grant period (31/10/2025), whichever date comes first, the grantee is required to submit to the host institution and, through the online e-cost service, to the Grant Awarding Coordinator a scientific report about the purpose, main achievements, future plans and any foreseen publications of the STSM, using the report template provided by COST (https://www.cost.eu/STSM_Report), as well as a confirmation of successful completion of the STSM by the Host. After approval of the final report by the STSM Coordinator and the STSM RC, the Grant Holder will transfer the outstanding amount of the grant. It is important that on all documents (application, letter of acceptance, report) the dates of the STSM coincide.

The grantee must acknowledge support received from COSY in all publications resulting from the STSM. Any publications are strongly encouraged to be Open Access, for example in ‘Open Research Europe’, for which the publication costs can be covered by COST.

For further details please contact the STSM Coordinator (Dr. Heribert Reis: ). You may also consult the official guide at https://www.cost.eu/uploads/2021/12/Grant-Awarding-userguide.pdf 

Recommended daily allowance rates for the calculation of travel grants for STSMs