4th Short Term Scientific Missions (STSM)

The following table shows the scenarios available to eligible STSM applicants:

The full list of Near Neighbour Countries (NNC) is as follows: Algeria, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Egypt, Georgia, Jordan, Kosovo, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, the Palestinian Authority, Russia, Syria, Tunisia, and Ukraine.

Note that both countries, home and host, must have joined the COST Action PURPLEGAIN.   

Participating COST country should have accepted the memorandum of understanding of this Action (see here) and that the home institution and the host institution must be located in two different countries. The nationality of the applicant is not a bar to eligibility.

The calculation of the financial contribution for each STSM shall respect the following criteria:

• Up to a maximum of EUR 3 500 in total can be afforded to each successful applicant.
• Up to a maximum of EUR 160 per day can be afforded for accommodation and meal expenses.

The Action Chair and the STSM Coordinator can approve differentiated country rates to cover accommodation and meal expenses based on the perceived cost of living in the host country.

Specific provisions have been introduced to enable researchers from ITC participating in the COST Action to request a pre-payment of 50% of their STSM Grant when they complete the first day of their STSM. In such case, the representative of the Host Institution shall confirm by e-mail to the Grant Holder that the STSM applicant has officially started the mission on day 1. Only then the Grant Holder can arrange the payment of 50% of the STSM grant. The remaining 50% of the Grant is payable once the administrative requirements have been satisfied after the STSM.

The COST Association and the Grant Holder of the Action cannot be considered as being an STSM grantee’s employer (unless it is in alignment with the Action deliverables in the latter case). STSM grantees shall make their own arrangements for all provisions related to personal security, health, taxation, social security and pension matters.

1. It is essential that the STSM relates to PurpleGain’s objectives. The initiative for an STSM can come from either the host or the visiting scientist. A list of potential host institutions and research topics can be found in the following link:
2. The applicant must obtain the written agreement of the host scientist before submitting the application. It is important that the host and the applicant mutually agree on the content of the planned STSM.
3. 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:
   1. Applicant details
   2. STSM details (work plan)
   3. Bank details (indicate if you are applying for a pre-payment of 50% of the Grant – only for applicants from Inclusiveness Target Countries)
   4. Host details (must be located in a different country than the country of the applicant)
   5. Financial support
   6. Supporting documents: i) STSM grant Application (based on e-COST template: https://www.cost.eu/STSM_GrantApplication), ii) Confirmation of the host on the agreement from the host institution in receiving the applicant, iii) Other documents required by the Action:

• Full work plan (two pages maximum).

1_Lastname_Firstname_workplan.pdf

• A letter of motivation by the applicant with a detailed explanation about how the STSM will contribute to the Action’s aims and the Grantee’s carreer (1 page maximum). Also indicate the working group of the COST Action to which this STSM belongs.

2_Lastname_Firstname_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). Also indicate: Should the grant be transferred to the applicant or the home institution?

3_Lastname_Firstname_Budget.pdf

• Short Bio of the applicant (1 page maximum).

4_Lastname_Firstname_CV applicant.pdf

• Short Bio of the host group (1 page maximum)

5_Lastname_Firstname_CV host group.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.

The STSM coordinator will then propose a ranked list of applications to the management committee: chair and vice-chair, WG leaders, Grant Awarding coordinator, Science Communication Coordinator, Training Schools Coordinator, and Stakeholder Coordinator. In case of rejection, a justification needs to be encoded. The justification will be included in the e-notification to the applicant.

Evaluation will be based on the complementarity of the applicant and host group, the quality and scientific excellence of the research proposal, the relevance of the work plan for the achievement of PURPLEGAIN objectives, the impact on the career of the grantee, the potential to support new collaborations. There should be special considerations with respect to supporting COST policies on promoting gender balance, enabling Early Career Investigators (ECI) and applicants from ITC countries (Inclusiveness-Target-Countries), 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 STSMs proposals within a month after the STSMs call deadline and will inform the grant holder of the successful evaluated proposals. The successful applicants will then receive an e-mail from the grant holder (Grant Letter Notification), stating the official approval of the STSM application, the granted budget and a payment request form which has to be completed after the completion of the STSM for the grant to be transferred. The Grant Letter outlines the rights and duties of the grantee and of 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.

1. A list of all applications (containing an informative summary as well as the names of the home and host institutions) 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 STSM proposal 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.

*-Scientific productivity, training capacity and available infrastructure referred to the last 5 years

**-The home and host institution have not collaborated previously

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. The STSM coordinator will approve the applications selected in the e-cost platform.
7. The applicants are informed about the decision reached.