COST is an intergovernmental framework for European Cooperation in Science and Technology established to initiate networking and coordination of nationally funded research activities on a European level. It facilitates bringing good scientists together under light strategic guidance based on networks, called COST Actions, centred around research projects in fields that are of interest to COST countries and cooperating countries.

Laboratory of Environmental Biotechnology INRAE-LBE

Address: 102 Avenue des Étangs, 11100 Narbonne, France

Location code: 5X4V+MX Narbonne

INRAE-LBE can be access by car: 10-minute ride from the center of Narbonne. Parking available on site.

It can also be easily reached from the center of Narbonne by public transport (bus):

• Line C: 18-minute ride; bus stop (Quatourze) right in front of the venue
• Line E: 12-minute ride; bus stop (Cinémas) 15 minutes walking from the venue

More information on bus schedule: https://www.citibus.fr/se-deplacer/lignes/ligne-bus-c

Getting to Narbonne

There is no airport in the city, but Narbonne can be easily reached by train from Carcassone (30min), Toulouse (1h10min), Montpellier (1h2min), or Barcelona (2h9min). Carcassone airport is the closest one, but there are not many flight options. Toulouse and Barcelona are well connected airports.

The selection criteria for participants that will be eligible for reimbursement will comply with the COST Excellence and Inclusiveness Policy, in the implementation of the Action and will encourage attendance by a diverse selection of participants in consideration of:

1. Underrepresented groups, including those with disabilities. Priority will be given to underrepresented groups, including those with disabilities.

2. Gender balance.

3. The level of involvement of Inclusiveness Target Countries (ITCs). Priority will be given to participants form Inclusiveness Target Countries. The current list of ITCs include: Albania, Armenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Croatia, Georgia, Greece, Hungary, Lithuania, Latvia, Malta, Moldova, Montenegro, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Slovakia, Republic of North Macedonia, Republic of Serbia, Turkey and Ukraine.

4. The level of involvement of Early Career Investigators (ECIs). Priority will be given to PhD students and young post-doctoral researchers, followed by senior post-doctoral researchers and professors.

5. In addition, workshop organizers may also consider other special attributes such as:

i) type, or level of expertise in the field of the Workshop based on the curriculum vitae,

ii) appropriate core knowledge and understanding

iii) willingness to participate based on the motivation letter,

iv) demonstrated interest based on the motivation letter,

v) the positive impact that the participation will have on applicant’s future carrier and

vi) willingness to make a presentation in the Workshop session.

Financial support through reimbursement does not necessarily cover all expenses. A fixed daily allowance of EUR 200 is available for participants. In addition, for travel:

• Up to a maximum of EUR 600 in total can be afforded to each successful applicant from ITC country.
• Up to a maximum of EUR 450 in total can be afforded to each successful applicant from non-ITC country.
• Up to a maximum of EUR 200 in total can be afforded to each successful applicant from France (for travel over a distance of 100 km).

Note that locals (from Narbonne) cannot claim travel reimbursement. This financial contribution must be understood as financial aid aimed to help applicants to cover the expenses of their participation in the Workshop. This financial aid does not aim to cover 100% of the expenses. When claiming costs in e-COST, please consider that claims higher than the values provided above will be asked for modifications, so please make your claim as accurate as possible to avoid unnecessary delays in the payment.

If the amount of reimbursement by all applications within a call does not exceed the available budget, the applications are handled by the selection committee. If there are more applications than funding is available, the following procedure takes place.

1. A list of all applications (containing an informative summary) is distributed to all members of the selection committee in form of a table in which every evaluator can mark which applications he or she can evaluate according to their field of expertise.
2. To guarantee a fair and objective evaluation, an evaluator should have no affiliation with neither the home nor the host institution of the application in question.
3. All applications are evaluated by two members of the selection committee. The Grant Awarding coordinator distributes the proposals to the individual evaluators.
4. 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.

5. The evaluators report their evaluations to the Grant Awarding coordinator.
6. The Grant Awarding coordinator ranks all evaluations and then reports the final result to the selection committee to be discussed and accepted.
7. The applicants are informed about the decision reached.