Open Call for Applications
Call for applications for Short Term Scientific Mission (STSM), ITC Conference and Dissemination Conference Grants in the framework of the COST Action CA22165 Depolarising EU
- Deadline for applications: 20th July 2024
- STSMs, ITC Conferences and Dissemination Conferences must be completed by 30th September 2024
- Reports must be submitted by 10th October 2024
Action Overview
Cost Action 22165 Depolarising EU is aimed at creating an interdisciplinary network that will advance common understanding of radical polarisation and identify successful interventions to de-escalate uncivil partisanship. It will engage with civil and media organisations in order to ensure de-escalation, depolarisation, and pluralism, through a multifaceted approach to strengthening democratic values in Europe.
Grant Period Scientific Objectives
- To advance common understanding of social (de)polarisation by reviewing and putting together academic and relevant academic and grey literature to conceptualise and differentiate the range of experiences and understandings of the problem and its consequences.
- To identify how (de)polarisation can be theoretically understood and provide training on theoretical approaches to the problem for WG members, in particular, young researchers, strengthening links between them and the established experts in the field.
- To explore the methods used to investigate (de)polarisation.
- To work collectively to identify representations in digital media that are constitutive of and undermine Europe’s liberal democratic culture through polarising media sentiments and activities.
- To work collaboratively with civil and media organisations, which are the main stakeholders of the Action, to coproduce knowledge about social polarisation and the strategies needed to respond to polarising representations.
General Eligibility Criteria
- Candidates should be a WG member of the COST Action CA 22165.
- Candidates must present a proposal pertaining to the Action’s overarching theme, connected to at least one of the WG focus areas, and to the scientific objectives of the current grant period.
Grants
Short Term Scientific Mission (STSM)
According to COST Glossary, a Short-Term Scientific Missions (STSM) is “a grant awarded by the Management Committee to an individual for supporting physical mobility aiming at capacity building and transfer of knowledge through bilateral/multilateral collaborations during a research stay in a different country.”
The aim of an STSM is to contribute to the scientific objectives of the COST Action. These Missions aim at strengthening the existing COST Actions by allowing scientists to go to an institution or laboratory in another COST country to foster collaboration, to learn a new technique, or methods of conducting an experiment using tools / instruments / procedures not available in their own institution/laboratory.
Application Procedure
Note: An applicant must have a profile on the e-COST platform. After that, it is necessary to follow the steps detailed below:
- Obtain the written invitation / agreement letter of the host institution before applying.
- Complete and submit the online application form that you can find at the e-COST platform [Grant applications section] (Go to Grant applications -> Apply for grant, and choose the appropriate grant).
These are the documents you will need to include:
- Grant application form: This form includes details on the (i) goals of the STSM; (ii) associated workplan; and (iii) expected outputs and contribution to the grant period scientific objectives.
- Invitation/Agreement Letter: An Invitation Letter signed by a researcher affiliated to the Host institution.
- Motivation Letter: A brief letter summarising the main scientific goals and need for the STSM, as well as its relevance for the applicant, home/host institutions, the DepolarisingEU Action, etc.
- Applicant’s CV: A full CV including a list of academic publications, if applicable (max. 2 pages).
- Requested budget and justification (total expected cost for travel, accommodation and daily allowance, additional financial support must be reported when available, max. half page).
You are highly encouraged to read the Annotated Rules of the COST Action and the Grant Awarding User Guide prior to submission of an application. If any doubts remain, you can always contact either the Action Chair or the Grant Awarding Coordinator.
Remember, a clear connection to the grant period scientific objectives and current activities must be pointed out in the Application form.
When planning the STSM, pay attention to the fact that the COST Office requests some period for administrative procedures between the selection committee approval and STSM start. Also, the STSM should end at least 3 weeks before the end of the Grant Period (31st October 2024 for the first Action year).
Important!
Please read the requirements within the specific STSM calls when available, as some may change depending on the call.
STSM Approval
After the deadlines indicated in the call, the Grant Awarding Coordinator will make sure that the submitted applications are correct, and organise the evaluation of the applications, jointly with a COST Action selection committee.
For a positive evaluation, the application must contribute to the goals of the current grant period.
The selection committee will make a list of approved applications and perform the budgetary assessment of the applications. Every STSM successful applicant will receive a Grant Letter generated from the e-COST system, which is coordinated by a Grant Holder Manager.
During the STSM
While you fulfil your Work Plan and the STSM goals, please document your STSM, take notes as well as photos or videos. Please also keep your receipts to document your expenses.
After the STSM
The grantee is required to submit a short scientific report for approval within 30 days (please be aware of the updated deadlines for the current open call) after the end date of the STSM containing:
- Purpose of the STSM.
- Description of the work carried out during the STSM.
- Description of the main results obtained.
- Foreseen publications/articles resulting from the STSM (if applicable).
- Confirmation by the host person of the successful execution of the STSM.
The STSM report template can be downloaded here. It must be submitted through the e-COST platform.
Failure to submit the scientific report within 30 days (please be aware of the updated deadlines for the current open call) will effectively cancel the grant.
The grantee is also required to submit supporting documents of travel and accommodation expenses.
The payment of the grant will be executed after approval of the scientific report and documented expenses by the Grant Holder Manager.
At the end of your STSM, please prepare a blog post about your experience.
Evaluation Criteria
Applications will be assessed on the basis of the following criteria:
Criteria | Total points |
a) Before any further criteria are considered (grant awarding coordinator) | |
Application is complete and fulfils all formal requirements | pass/no pass |
The application will be ranked last if the applicant was granted in previous ITC Conference Grant calls | pass/no pass |
b) Evaluation of the grant application (selection committee) | |
1. Qualifications and motivation of the applicant | 30 |
2. Quality of the STSM proposal | 30 |
3. Scientific networking and integration of the applicant within the research environment of the host organisation | 20 |
4. Relevance to the Action theme and connection with the scientific objectives of the grant period | 20 |
A minimum mark of 70 points is required.
Grant applicants are invited to address these four criteria and the following indicative list of questions:
1. Qualifications and motivation:
- CV of the Applicant
- * Applications of PhD students are given priority.
- COST policies
- Is the applicant’s current affiliation from an Inclusive Target Country (ITC)?
- Is the host from an Inclusive Target Country (ITC)?
- Motivation:
- Which of your key achievements in research best match your proposed research stay?
- Which of your key merits in teamwork and leadership best match your proposed research stay?
- Which of your key achievements in societal impact best match your proposed research stay?
2. Quality of the STSM proposal
- Work Plan & Schedule
- Is the work plan well defined and structured?
- Is the schedule of activities realistic?
- Expected outcome(s)
- Which WGs of the DepolarisingEU action are potentially interested in the results of this STSM?
- Is the STSM focused on a specific scientific objective(s) of DepolarisingEU?
- What are the expected outcomes of the STSM (publications, generation of datasets, new knowledge and experience relevant for the Action …)?
- Financial Plan
- Consider an average of 60 to 80 EUR per night reasonable, in addition to travel costs. Of course, the costs will depend on the country, but please try to keep the expenses rationale. If this is not the case, you will be asked to provide an explanation/justification.
3. Scientific networking and integration of the applicant within the research environment of the host organisation
- What is the support offered by the Host Institution to the applicant?
- Could the work described in the STSM be performed without researcher mobility?
- Is it expected that the STSM provides new networking activities among the Home and Host Institutions (e.g., exchanges, new knowledge regarding data collection, experiment setup, data analyses, or even setup/joint participation in other collaborative projects)?
Grants
ITC Conference Grants
ITC Conference Grants financially support a presentation of the own work given by Young Researchers and Innovators affiliated with an Inclusiveness Target Country / Near Neighbour Country for their participation in high-level conferences fully organised by a third party, i.e., not organised nor co-organised by the COST Action.
About ITC Conference Grants
ITC Conference Grants financially support a presentation of the own work given by Young Researchers and Innovators affiliated with an Inclusiveness Target Country / Near Neighbour Country for their participation in high-level conferences fully organised by a third party, i.e., not organised nor co-organised by the COST Action.
Young Researchers are any participant under the age of 40.
ITC Conference Grants:
- Serve COST Excellence and Inclusiveness Policy
- Support Young Researchers and Innovators affiliated with a legal entity in an Inclusiveness Target Countries/ Near Neighbour Countries to establish a strong network and increase their visibility in the research community by sharing their work and gaining knowledge
- Can contribute to increasing the visibility of the Action
ITC Conference Grantees will receive support for attending and presenting their work (poster/oral presentation/keynote) at a conference and can establish new contacts for future collaborations.
For further information on applicants and the complete list of ITCs click here.
Financial Support
ITC conference Grants provide contribution for travelling, accommodation and subsistence expenses, registration fees, the printing of scientific posters and overall effort. The grants will amount to up to 2000 € per grant for face-to-face conferences (excluding conference fees).
Application Procedure
The applicant encodes a grant application by logging into e-COST and clicking on the Grant Applications tab. Any already existing applications are available for consultation in the Grant Applications Monitoring. To encode a new application, the applicant clicks on ‘Apply for grant’. The application page contains:
- Applicant details
- Title of the presentation
- Conference title, date (within the active Grant Period) and location (city, country)
- Budget requested
- Bank details
Supporting documents
- ITC Conference grant application form. Click here to download the template.
- Copy of the abstract/proceeding of the accepted keynote, oral presentation, or poster.
- Acceptance letter from the conference organisers.
- Other documents required by the Action:
- Description of the quality and excellence of the conference, highlighting the relevance of the conference to the Action’s current Grant Period Objectives (0.5 page maximum). 1_Lastname_Conference.pdf
- A letter of motivation by the applicant with a detailed explanation about how the attendance to this conference will contribute to the Grantee’s career (0.5 page maximum). In addition, please indicate the working group of the COST Action to which the work presented belongs. 2_Lastname_ Letter_of_motivation.pdf
- Requested budget and its justification on half a page (total expected cost for travel, accommodation and daily allowance, additional financial support must be reported when available). 3_Lastname__Budget.pdf
- Short CV of the applicant (1 page maximum). 4_Lastname_ CV applicant.pdf
- Scanned copy of passport (if the applicant does not have a passport, a scanned copy of the national ID card) 5_Lastname_ passport/ID card.pdf
After adding the supporting documents, the applicant can submit the grant application. The application status will change from draft to submitted. Prior to approval of the application, if need be, the applicant will be able to revise the application.
Evaluation Process
When the Grant application is submitted, the Grant Awarding Coordinator is notified. The applicant, Action Chair and Vice Chair also receive a copy of the notification. The Grant Awarding Coordinator will be able to review and approve/reject the Grant application on behalf of the Management Committee (MC). A minimum mark of 70 points is required. See the table below for detailed information on the evaluation of grant applications.
The Grant Awarding coordinator will then propose a ranked list of applications to a selection committee. In case of rejection, a justification needs to be encoded. The justification will be included in the e-notification to the applicant. The decision by the Action MC on the proposal of the Grant Awarding coordinator should reflect the duration and location of the Conference and the actual conference fee.
Evaluation Procedure
Evaluation will be based on the quality and scientific excellence of the conference, the relevance of the conference for the achievement of CA22165 DepolarisingEU objectives, the impact on the career of the grantee, applicant CV and the type of contribution. There should be special considerations with respect to supporting COST policies on promoting gender balance, while broadening geographical inclusiveness.
The selection committee, composed of the Action Chair, the Grant Awarding coordinator and a representative of each WG, will evaluate the ITC Conference Grants applications within a month after the call deadline and will inform the grant holder of the successfully evaluated proposals.
The successful applicants will then receive an email from the grant holder (Grant Letter Notification), stating the official approval of the ITC Conference Grant application, the granted budget and a payment request form which has to be completed after the completion of the Conference for the grant to be transferred. The Grant Letter outlines the rights and duties of the grantee and the Grant Holder.
If the amount of funding by all applications within a call does not exceed the available budget, the applications are handled by the Grant Awarding coordinator only. The Grant Awarding coordinator then presents the list to the selection committee, which must accept the funding of every application.
If there are more applications than funding is available, the following procedure takes place:
- A list of all applications is distributed to all members of the selection committee in the form of a table, in which every evaluator can mark which applications he or she can evaluate according to their field of expertise.
- To guarantee a fair and objective evaluation, an evaluator should have no affiliation with the home institution of the ITC Conference Grant proposal.
- All applications are evaluated by two members of the selection committee. The Grant Awarding coordinator distributes the proposals to the individual evaluators.
- The criteria given in the table below shall be applied for evaluation. The first criterion (a) is assessed by the Grant Awarding coordinator prior to the evaluation process.
- The evaluators report their evaluations to the Grant Awarding Coordinator.
- The Grant Awarding Coordinator ranks all evaluations and then reports the final result to the selection committee to be discussed and accepted. The coordinator will approve the applications selected in the e-cost platform.
- The applicants are informed about the decision reached.
Evaluation Criteria
Criteria | Total Points |
|---|---|
| a) Before any further criteria are considered (grant awarding coordinator) | |
| Application is complete and fulfils all formal requirements | pass/no pass |
| The application will be ranked last if the applicant was granted in previous ITC Conference Grant calls | pass/no pass |
| b) Evaluation of the grant application (selection committee) | |
| Quality and Scientific Excellence of the Conference | 30 |
| Keynote presentation | 20 |
| Oral presentation | 20 |
| Poster presentation | 10 |
| Impact on the career of the applicant | 10 |
| CV of the applicant | 10 |
| Relevance of the Conference to the objectives of the Action | 30 |
At the Conference
Please keep your receipts to document your expenses.
After the Conference
1 day and 10 days after the end of the grant, the grantee receives a reminder to upload the report.
The deadline to submit the report is 30 days from the end of the activity, within 15 days from the end date of the Grant Period or within a shorter timeframe as per Grant Holder/ Grant Awarding Coordinator’s request to meet reporting deadlines. The grantee receives an e-notification to submit the report and other supporting documents on e-COST, the GH manager and the Grant Awarding Coordinator will be in a copy of the notification.
The supporting information requested after the conference is:
- Report template
- Programme of the conference or book of abstracts/proceedings indicating the presentation
- Copy of the given presentation
- Receipts documenting your expenses.
The status of the application changes from the Grant letter sent to the Report submitted.
The Grant Awarding Coordinator, Action Chair and Vice Chair are notified when the grantee submitted the report and must verify the validity and content of the report by clicking the link in the notification. After review of the report by the procedures agreed by the MC, the Grant Awarding Coordinator needs to encode its approval or rejection on behalf of the MC. Upon the recording of the payment, an e-notification is sent to the grantee, with a copy to the Grant Holder manager.
Acknowledgement of CA22165 in proceedings and presentations
All presentations and proceedings of conferences supported by the CA22165 ITC and Dissemination Conference Grant programmes must contain the following acknowledgement: The attendance to this conference was supported by the COST Action “Redressing Radical Polarisation: Strengthening European Civil Spheres facing Illiberal Digital Media (DEPOLARISING_EU)-CA22165”.
The COST and Action CA22165 logos must also be displayed in the presentation, please find here.
More Information
- Website COST Action
- Online application form
- Annotated Rules for COST actions and Grant Awarding User Guide
For further information, you may contact the Grant Awarding coordinator Teresa Gil López (tgil@hum.uc3m.es).
Grants
Dissemination Conference Grants
Dissemination Conferences Grants (DCGs) are awarded by the Management Committee to an individual to present the COST Action’s work and results at an international well recognised conference organised by third parties. They contribute to increasing the visibility of the Action.
Grantees will receive support for attending and presenting their work (poster/oral presentation/keynote) at a conference and can establish new contacts for future collaborations.
Financial Support
DCGs provide contribution for travelling, accommodation and subsistence expenses, registration fees, the printing of scientific posters and overall effort. The grants will amount to up to 2000 € per grant for face to-face conferences (excluding conference fees).
Application Procedure
The applicant encodes a grant application by logging into e-COST and clicking on the Grant Applications tab. Any already existing applications are available for consultation in the Grant Applications Monitoring. To encode a new application, the applicant clicks on ‘Apply for grant’. The application page contains:
- Applicant details
- Title of the presentation
- Conference title, date (within the active Grant Period) and location (city, country)
- Budget requested
- Bank details
Supporting documents
- Dissemination Conference grant application form. Click here to download the template.
- Copy of the abstract/proceeding of the accepted keynote, oral presentation, or poster.
- Acceptance letter from the conference organisers.
- Other documents required by the Action:
- Description of the quality and excellence of the conference, highlighting the relevance of the conference to the Action’s current Grant Period Objectives (0.5 page maximum). 1_Lastname_Conference.pdf
- A letter of motivation by the applicant with a detailed explanation about how the attendance to this conference will contribute to the Grantee’s career (0.5 page maximum). In addition, please indicate the working group of the COST Action to which the work presented belongs. 2_Lastname_ Letter_of_motivation.pdf
- Requested budget and its justification on half a page (total expected cost for travel, accommodation and daily allowance, additional financial support must be reported when available). 3_Lastname__Budget.pdf
- Short CV of the applicant (1 page maximum). 4_Lastname_ CV applicant.pdf
- Scanned copy of passport (if the applicant does not have a passport, a scanned copy of the national ID card) 5_Lastname_ passport/ID card.pdf
After adding the supporting document(s), the applicant can submit the grant application. The application status will change from draft to submitted. Prior to approval of the application, if need be, the applicant will be able to revise the application.
Evaluation Process
When the Grant application is submitted, the Grant Awarding Coordinator is notified. The applicant, Action Chair and Vice Chair also receive a copy of the notification. The Grant Awarding Coordinator will be able to review and approve/reject the Grant application on behalf of the Management Committee (MC). A minimum mark of 70 points is required. See the table below for detailed information on the evaluation of grant applications.
The Grant Awarding coordinator will then propose a ranked list of applications to a selection committee. In case of rejection, a justification needs to be encoded. The justification will be included in the e-notification to the applicant. The decision by the Action MC on the proposal of the Grant Awarding coordinator should reflect the duration and location of the Conference and the actual conference fee.
Evaluation Procedure
Evaluation will be based on the quality and scientific excellence of the conference, the relevance of the conference for the achievement of CA22165 DepolarisingEU objectives, the impact on the career of the grantee, applicant CV and the type of contribution. There should be special considerations with respect to supporting COST policies on promoting gender balance, while broadening geographical inclusiveness.
The selection committee, composed of the Action Chair, the Grant Awarding coordinator and a representative of each WG, will evaluate the Dissemination Conference Grant applications within a month after the call deadline and will inform the grant holder of the successfully evaluated proposals. The successful applicants will then receive an email from the grant holder (Grant Letter Notification), stating the official approval of the Dissemination Conference Grant application, the granted budget and a payment request form which has to be completed after the completion of the Conference for the grant to be transferred. The Grant Letter outlines the rights and duties of the grantee and the Grant Holder.
If the amount of funding by all applications within a call does not exceed the available budget, the applications are handled by the Grant Awarding coordinator only. The Grant Awarding coordinator then presents the list to the selection committee, which must accept the funding of every application.
If there are more applications than funding is available, the following procedure takes place.
- A list of all applications is distributed to all members of the selection committee in the form of a table, in which every evaluator can mark which applications he or she can evaluate according to their field of expertise.
- To guarantee a fair and objective evaluation, an evaluator should have no affiliation with the home institution of the Dissemination Conference Grant proposal.
- All applications are evaluated by two members of the selection committee. The Grant Awarding coordinator distributes the proposals to the individual evaluators.
- The criteria given in the table below shall be applied for evaluation. The first criterion (a) is assessed by the Grant Awarding coordinator prior to the evaluation process.
- The evaluators report their evaluations to the Grant Awarding coordinator.
- The Grant Awarding coordinator ranks all evaluations and then reports the final result to the selection committee to be discussed and accepted. The coordinator will approve the applications selected in the e-cost platform.
- The applicants are informed about the decision reached.
Evaluation Criteria
| Criteria | Weighting |
| a) Before any further criteria are considered | |
| Application is complete and fulfils all formal requirements | pass/no pass |
| The application will be ranked last if the applicant was granted in previous Dissemination Conference Grant calls | pass/no pass |
| b) Evaluation of the grant application | |
| Quality and Scientific Excellence of the Conference | 30 |
| Keynote / oral presentation | 20 |
| Oral presentation | 20 |
| Impact on the career of the applicant | 10 |
| CV of the applicant | 10 |
| Relevance of the Conference to the objectives of the Action | 30 |
At the Conference
Please keep your receipts to document your expenses.
After the Conference
1 day and 10 days after the end of the grant, the grantee receives a reminder to upload the report.
The deadline to submit the report is 30 days from the end of the activity, within 15 days from the end date of the Grant Period or within a shorter timeframe as per Grant Holder/ Grant Awarding Coordinator’s request to meet reporting deadlines. The grantee receives an e-notification to submit the report and other supporting documents on e-COST, the GH manager and the Grant Awarding Coordinator will be in a copy of the notification.
The supporting information requested after the conference is:
- Report template
- Programme of the conference or book of abstracts/proceedings indicating the presentation
- Copy of the given presentation
- Receipts documenting your expenses.
The status of the application changes from the Grant letter sent to the Report submitted.
The Grant Awarding Coordinator, Action Chair and Vice Chair are notified when the grantee submitted the report and must verify the validity and content of the report by clicking the link in the notification. After review of the report by the procedures agreed by the MC, the Grant Awarding Coordinator needs to encode its approval or rejection on behalf of the MC. Upon the recording of the payment, an e-notification is sent to the grantee, with a copy to the Grant Holder manager.
Acknowledgement of CA22165 in proceedings and presentations
All presentations and proceedings of conferences supported by the CA22165 Dissemination Conference Grant program must contain the following acknowledgement: The attendance to this conference was supported by the COST Action “Redressing Radical Polarisation: Strengthening European Civil Spheres facing Illiberal Digital Media (DEPOLARISING_EU)-CA22165”.
The COST and Action CA22165 logos must also be displayed in the presentation, please find here.
More Information
- Website COST Action
- Online application portal
- Annotated Rules for COST actions and Grant Awarding User Guide
For further information, you may contact the Grant Awarding coordinator Teresa Gil López (tgil@hum.uc3m.es).