Virtual Mobility (VM) Grants

Virtual Mobility (VM) Grants

We invite participants of the Action to apply for one of the new virtual mobility grants which have been authorised by COST. We hope to make up to six awards of €1500 each during the current grant period. The funded activity would have to take place, and funds be claimed, before the end of October 2021.

There is no closing date for applications. Grants are open to all Action participants with a primary affiliation to an institution located in a COST Full or Cooperating Member country and to MC Observers from a COST Near Neighbour Country.

These grants are to help build capacity and improve virtual collaborations, in ways that help us deliver the overall objectives of the Action (these are described in full in the Action Memorandum of Understanding here).

COST has suggested examples of the sorts of virtual activities that can be supported, and some of these are listed below, but this is not an exhaustive list and we welcome other creative suggestions.

  1. supporting the harmonisation and standardisation of methods and procedures within the Action networking activities, for example by:
    1. setting up a survey amongst all Action members to collect different results and outcomes from experiments done in their respective research groups,
    2. coordinating discussions to create common protocols to be used by the network afterwards,
    3. preparing questionnaires and response scales to be used by the Action members as part of virtual networking activities;
  2. supporting the implementation of research related activities that do not necessarily require in-person presence, for example:
    1. computational or modelling activities,
    2. data analysis of the Action for a specific report or activity;
  3. content preparation and coordination of science communication activities, for example:
    1. Massive Online Open Courses (MOOC);
    2. online workshops like ‘webinar series’;
    3. online COST Action workshops in external international conferences or events, that could help in the promotion of the Action activities.

Full details of the grant including non-eligible expenses can be found in the COST Vademecum (sections 10.2 and 10.3), and in the FAQs document.

Please ensure you read these before applying for one of these grants. Applications must be made via eCOST, and detailed instructions on how to do this can be found here.

Applications will be assessed in the first instance by the Action Chair in consultation with the Action Core Group. Later applications may be assessed by a virtual networking committee. The criteria to be used in assessing applications are as follows:

  1. How clear is the statement of the main objective of the Virtual Mobility Grant?
  2. How clear is the description of the planned collaborative activity?
  3. Are all the participants listed and is their expertise and contribution clear and relevant?
  4. How well will the planned initiative contribute to the MoU objectives (either research coordination and/or capacity building objectives can be tackled) and their delivery?
  5. How well does the planned activity contribute to the COST Excellence and Inclusiveness Policy and to plans for stakeholder engagement and promoting participation of researchers from Near-Neighbour Countries (NNCs) and International Partner Countries (IPCs) (COST Global Networking) and to the approved virtual networking strategy, if available.