VIRTUAL NETWORKING TOOLS: CALL FOR CANDIDATES FOR TWO NEW GRANTS

News

COST has recently developed two new types of Grants to respond to the rising need of digital tools in the context of the pandemic and to ensure continuity in COST Actions’ work activities. These are proposed as a pilot scheme until 31 October 2021 to build capacity and spread the uptake of virtual collaboration. All Action participants with a primary affiliation to an institution located in a COST Full Member country or Cooperating Member, or MC Observers from a COST Near Neighbour Country are eligible to apply for the grants.

The MD-GAS COST Action is now looking for candidates for these two grants:

1. Call for Virtual Networking Support Manager.

The Virtual Networking Support (VNS) Grant aims at promoting virtual collaboration to complement traditional ways of collaborating within the research and innovation communities. This grant intends to stimulate virtual collaboration among the members of the Action by appointing a Virtual Networking Support Manager. The successful applicant will promote virtual collaboration, such as developing a virtual networking strategy for the Action, taking overall responsibility for Virtual Mobility Grants (see below) and supporting the MC in the discussions and planning of virtual events and collaboration activities. The Virtual Networking Support (VNS) Grant is a personal grant for performing the virtual networking coordination role and is set to a maximum of EUR 4.000 per grant period.

How to apply

The application shall be submitted in e-COST (https://e-services.cost.eu/ ), see below for a link to the step-by-step user guide. The following information should be included using the supporting documents option in e-COST:

  • The VNS grant application form (see below) that includes <
    • A description of how the COST Action can benefit from developing virtual networking activities
    • A proposal for the strategy outline on virtual networking
  • A brief motivation letter (maximum one page)
  • A short CV (maximum 4 pages)

Deadlines

The application deadline is Aug 1, 2021. The VNS report (see the template below) needs to be submitted for approval no later than October 13, 2021, for the Grant Holder Institution to have time to manage the payment to the VNS grantee before the end of the grant period.

Selection of candidates

  • The selection of successful grantee will be based on contributions to the overall objectives of the Action(see the MOU) and the implementation of the COST Excellence and Inclusiveness Policy.
  • Priority will be given to young applicants (PhD students and Early-Career Investigators).
  • Priority will be given to applicants from ITC countries.
  • When grant applications from both female and male applicants have been assessed to be equal, or essentially equal, the female applicant is to be considered as first choice.

For more information about the VNS grant, see the following documents:

2. Call for Virtual Mobility (VM) Grants

The VM Grants aim at strengthening the existing networks by allowing scientists to foster collaboration in virtual settings, to exchange knowledge, learn new techniques, disseminate Action results, etc. The activities expected to be performed by the successful applicant, but not limited to, are:

  • To support the harmonisation and standardisation of methods and procedures within the Action networking activities, e.g.
    • setting up a survey amongst all Action members to collect different results and outcomes from experiments done in their respective labs and research groups.
    • coordinating the discussions to create common protocols to be used by the network afterwards.
    • preparing questionnaires and response scales to be used by the Action members as part of virtual networking activities.
  • To support the implementation of research related activities that do not necessarily require in-person presence, e.g.
    • computational or modelling activities.
    • data analysis of the Action for a specific report or activity.
  • Virtual mentoring scheme, with special focus on activities and exchanges that can generate capacity building and new skills, particularly for ECIs researchers (e.g. managerial skills, methodological skills, communication skills, etc)
  • Content preparation and coordination of science communication activities, e.g.
    • Massive Online Open Courses (MOOC).
    • Online workshops like 'webinar series' or 'tv series'-like format.
    • Online COST Action workshops in external international conferences or events, when the applicant can demonstrate a role in the organising committee, that could help in the promotion of the Action activities.


The maximum amount per VM Grant is EUR 1.500, with a maximum of 6 VM Grants per Grant Period.

How to apply
The application shall be submitted in e-COST (https://e-services.cost.eu/ ), see below for a link to the step-by-step user guide. The following information should be included using the supporting documents option in e-COST:

  • The VM grant application form (see below) that includes
    • The main objective of the Virtual Mobility Grant
    • A working Plan (description of the collaborative initiative to be implemented)
    • A plan for Participation
    • Main expected outputs
    • Contribution to the COST Action Strategy
  • A brief motivation letter (maximum one page)
  • A short CV (maximum 4 pages)


Deadlines
Applicants are encouraged to submit their applications as soon as practical. The final date for submitting applications is September 12, 2021. The VM report (see the template below) needs to be submitted no later than October 13, 2021, for the Grant Holder Institution to have time to manage the payment to the VM grantee before the end of the grant period.

Selection of candidates

  • The selection of successful grantee will be based on contributions to the overall objectives of the Action (see the MOU) and the implementation of the COST Excellence and Inclusiveness Policy.
  • Priority will be given to young applicants (PhD students and Early-Career Investigators).
  • Priority will be given to applicants from ITC countries.
  • When grant applications from both female and male applicants have been assessed to be equal, or essentially equal, the female applicant is to be considered as first choice.
  • A lower priority will be given to Action members that have already been awarded with a VM grant during the grant period.

For more information about the VM grants, see the following documents:

If you have further questions regarding these grants, please contact the Chair (chair@mdgas.eu) and/or the Vice-Chair (domaracka@ganil.fr) of the Action.