Short Term Scientific Mission

Objectives

The aim of a Short-Term Scientific Mission (STSM) shall be to contribute to the scientific objectives of a COST Action.

These Missions (Exchange Visits) are aimed at strengthening the existing networks by allowing scientists to go to an institution or laboratory in another COST Country to foster collaboration, to learn a new technique or to take measurements using instruments and/or methods not available in their own institution/laboratory. They are particularly intended for young scientists.

An Action should normally set up at least 4 STSMs per year.

The Applicant

The selection of the applicant is the responsibility of the Management Committee (MC) of the Action.

The Applicant should normally be engaged in a programme of research as a post graduate student or postdoctoral fellow or be employed in an institution of a COST Country having accepted the MoU of the Action. This institution should be actively participating in the COST Action.

For the period of the STSM neither the MC of the COST Action nor the COST Office may be considered as the employer and grantees must make their own arrangements for all health, social, personal security and pension matters.

Home and Host institution

The home and the host institution can be public or private, and should be in a COST Country having accepted the MoU and participating in the COST Action.

A STSM may be approved from a home institution in a COST participating country to a host Institution in a non-COST country which is part of the Action but not the other way round.

In exceptional cases, the COST Office reserves the right to analyse the possibilty of reimbursement of any person designated by itself or by the Management Committee (MC) of an Action or by a Domain Committee (DC) to further the interests and aims of COST.

Short-Term Scientific Missions between different Actions may be considered by the Management Committees of both Actions.

The Applicant is responsible for obtaining the agreement of the host institution, before submitting his application.

Duration

Short-Term Scientific Missions, minimum one week (5 working days), maximum 3 months, shall be made within the time frame of the operation identified in the proposal and within the period of the respective COST Action.

For Early Stage Researchers (less than PhD + 10 years) the COST Office may approve an extension to a duration beyond 3 months, but normally not more than 6 months in total. In these cases, financial support can be increased to normally maximum EUR 3 500.

Finance

The financial support is a contribution to the costs of a STSM and may not necessarily cover all the costs in each case. The grant should normally cover only travel and subsistence.
The financial contribution for a STSM will be a fixed grant based on the Applicant’s budget request and the evaluation of the application by the STSM assessment committee. An amount of EUR 60 to 90 for the daily allowance in particular for longer stays and EUR 300 for the travel is recommended but not obligatory. The total of a STSM shall normally not exceed EUR 2 500 (EUR 3 500 for Early Stage Researchers – see 3.4). Any exception needs special justification and prior approval from the COST Office.
In any case the costs associated with the STSM must not exceed the limits set in the “rules for reimbursement by COST of expenses for experts eligible for reimbursement” (see 1. – Travel and subsistence).
An advance payment may be made in exceptional circumstances, which will require additional special justification.

Registration and deadlines

The Applicant must use the online registration tool. (see 3.10 – How to submit an application).
Applications may be submitted according to the schedules stipulated by the MC of the relevant Action, bearing in mind that delays must be taken into account for the assessment and administrative procedures.
The application together with the MC approval should arrive at the COST Office at least 4 weeks before the mission starts.

The Assessment

a) The Management Committee (MC) of the Action will make the scientific and budgetary assessment and decision of the application.
The MC may formally delegate these tasks to :

STSM coordinators or,
a sub-group of its members (assessment panel), which may vary from time to time and from scheme to scheme, to assess proposals and to agree on those which may be funded.

It is recommended that this assessment panel consists of more than two people in order to avoid a conflict of interest, in addition to one person who is authorised to take the decision (normally the Chair).
External advice may be sought.
MC members and other assessors should not involve themselves in the assessment of proposals in which they have a personal or financial interest. In exceptional circumstances (e.g. uniqueness of expertise), such a bar may be waived with the agreement of the other members involved, if the interest is declared and considered not to compromise the potential decision.

b) The MC should agree the criteria for assessing applications in line with the Actions objectives. Wherever possible, these criteria should be made known in advance to potential applicants. It is expected that every care will be taken to avoid any bias on the grounds of gender, age or nationality.

Approval

The MC Chair or the Action’s STSM coordinator is responsible for circulating the application for decision to the assessment panel.
The MC Chair or the Action’s STSM coordinator has to inform the COST-Office Science Officer or the grant holder (in case of an annual grant) about the decision. After checking the application for the compatibility with the existing rules and procedures the Science Officer will inform the Applicant about the outcome of the assessment and will arrange the necessary formalities for the issue of the grant in case of a positive result and availability of funding.
The decisions and assessments regarding all STSM applications should be reported to the next MC meeting and recorded in the minutes of the meeting.

* Any deviations and exceptions from this procedure which contributes to the scientific objectives of the Action require the approval of the COST Office

Quick Guide to Apply