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a-STEP OPEN CALL for ITC Grant

The COST ‘Advancing Social inclusion through Technology and EmPowerment’ (CA19104) encourages and supports PhD students and Early Carrier Investigator researchers (ECI = PhD + up to 8 years) from participating Inclusiveness Target Countries (ITC’s) to attend international science and technology related conferences. We have 2 ITC grants available where up to EUR 1,000 can granted to each successful applicant.

Please note that conference grant should specifically contribute to the scientific objectives of the COST Action: https://www.cost.eu/actions/CA19104/#tabs|Name:overview 

The applicant must make an oral/poster presentation at the conference and must be listed in the official event/conference programme.

The 1st grant period is between 6 May 2021 – 1 October 2021

Who Can Apply?

Conference Grants are exclusively reserved for PhD students and ECIs with a primary affiliation in an institution located in an ITC. 

Inclusiveness Target Countries (ITC) are:

Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Croatia, Hungary, Lithuania, Latvia, Luxembourg, Malta, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Slovakia, Republic of Serbia and Turkey.

An applicant can be considered as being an ECI when the time that has elapsed between the award date of the applicants PhD and the date of the applicants first involvement in the COST Action 19104 does not exceed 8 years.  The application must be submitted at least 45 days before the conference start date. 

The topic of the action includes the following aspects:

  • Assistive Technology
  • Autism Spectrum Disorder 
  • Intellectual Disability
  • Social inclusion
  • Education
  • Employment

Other topics will individually be evaluated whether it fits the Cost Action.

WHAT IS A CONFERENCE GRANT?

A conference grant is a fixed financial contribution application by the delegated person(s). Conference Grants do not necessarily cover all the expenses related to participating in a given conference. A Conference Grant is a contribution to the overall travel, accommodation and meal expenses of the selected Grantee. 

The calculation of the financial contribution for each Conference Grant must respect the following criteria: 

We have 2 ITC grants available in this grant period where up to EUR 1,000 can awarded to each successful applicant.

Up to a maximum of EUR 160 per day can be afforded for accommodation and meal expenses. 

Up to a maximum of EUR 500 can be claimed for the conference fees to be incurred by the selected Grantee. 

(see Section 9 of COST Vademecum: https://www.cost.eu/funding/how-to-get-funding/documents-and-guidelines/).

HOW TO APPLY?

Please send statement of purpose (1 page) at least 45 days before the event referring to

Geraldine LEADER, professor, National University of Ireland Galway, 

e-mail: geraldine.leader@nuigalway.ie

or

Cecilia SIK-LANYI, associate professor, University of Pannonia, 

e-mail: lanyi@almos.uni-pannon.hu

In your application please include:

Conference title

Conference start and end date

Conference attendance start and end date

Co-funding sources, if any

Funding requested split into accommodation and meal expenses, conference fees and travel expenses

The scientific scope of the proposed participation and how it will support autism and assistive technology for people with autism and intellectual disability.

EVALUATION

The application will be assessed by the ITC conference grant manager, against the scientific objectives outlined in the Action’s Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) https://www.cost.eu/actions/CA19104/ .

The successful candidate will be chosen and approved by the management committee (MC).

AFTER THE CONFERENCE

The Grantee has 30 calendar days from the end date of the Conference in question to submit a scientific report to the Action Chair (or Vice-Chair if the Action Chair is affiliated to the Grant Holder Institution) and the Action’s Grant Holder.

The report should not be less than 1 page and include the following:

Please specify the session, title(s) and type of contribution(s) and describe in detail both sections i) Activities during your attendance at the conference and ii) Impact on your research and future collaborations

Contact:

For more general information on conference grants, please contact ITC conference grant manager: Cecilia SIK-LANYI (lanyi@almos.uni-pannon.hu) associate professor, University of Pannonia, Veszprem, Hungary

CONTACT ME VIA E-MAIL

info@a-step-action.eu

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COST
COST (European Cooperation in Science and Technology) is a funding agency for research and innovation networks. Our Actions help connect research initiatives across Europe and enable scientists to grow their ideas by sharing them with their peers. This boosts their research, career and innovation

www.cost.eu

www.cost.eu/ca19104

COST ACTION 19104
Funded by the Horizon 2020 Framework Programme of the European Union