ITC Conference Grants provide financial support for Action participants affiliated in an Inclusiveness Target Country / Near Neighbour Country for their participation in high-level conferences. The grantee receives support for attending and presenting their work (oral presentation) at a conference and can establish new contacts for future collaborations.
ITC list: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Greece, North Macedonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Moldova, Montenegro, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Turkey
NNC list: Algeria, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Egypt, Georgia, Jordan, Kosovo, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, the Palestinian Authority, Russia, Syria, Tunisia and Ukraine.
Eligibility criteria
All applications will be assessed by the Grant Awarding Coordinator. Grant applications need to meet the following criteria:
- The applicant must be an Action participant with a primary affiliation in an institution located in a participating ITC or NNC.
- The applicant must make an oral presentation at the conference.
- The applicant must be listed in the official event/conference programme.
- The application should preferably be submitted 45 days before the start date of the conference, and no later than 21 days before the start date.
- The main subject of the oral presentation at the approved conference must be within the scope of the Action and must acknowledge COST.
For more details regarding the regulations related to ITC conference grants, please refer to the COST Annotated Rules.
Financial support
Financial support provides a contribution for traveling, accommodation and subsistence expenses, registration fee, printing of scientific posters and overall effort.
The ITC Conference Grant is paid in the form of a grant. The maximum grant amount is 1500 EUR for face-to face conferences or 500 EUR for online conferences.
Final report of ITC Conference Grant
After the ITC Conference Grant activity is finished, the grantee is required to submit the following documents:
- short scientific report,
- certificate of attendance,
- programme of the conference or book of abstracts / proceedings indicating the oral presentation of the grantee,
- copy of the given oral presentation.
The documents should be submitted no later than 30 days after the end date of the ITC Conference Grant activity, or 15 days after the end of the Grant Period, whichever date comes first.
The template can be downloaded here.
Failure to submit the scientific report within 30 days will effectively cancel the grant. The Action Chair or Grant Awarding Coordinator is responsible for approving the scientific report and informing the Grant Holder that the ITC Conference Grant has been successfully accomplished. After receipt of the approval, the Grant Holder will execute the payment of the grant.
Please note that the reimbursement of ITC Conference grantees will be done after the activity is over and the final report is submitted by the ITC Conference grantee. Exceptions to this rule cannot be granted.
How to apply for an ITC conference grant
1. All applicants must carefully read the funding and eligibility rules detailed in the COST Annotated Rules.
2. All applicants must register for an e-COST profile at https://e-services.cost.eu — adding their bank account details and a recent CV to their profile.
3. Applications need to be submitted through e-COST via Grant Applications → Apply for a Grant.
The following information will need to be filled in:
- Title of the presentation
- Conference title, date (within the active Grant Period, i.e. no overlap across two consecutive Grant Periods) and country
- Budget requested
- Attendance Type (face to face or online)
- Conference country and an url
The following documents will need to be uploaded:
- Application form describing: Relevance of the conference topic to the Action and Motivation describing the potential for impact on the applicant’s career; you can download the template here
- Copy of the abstract of the accepted oral presentation
- Acceptance (or invitation) letter from the conference organizers
Detailed instructions on how to submit your application can be found in the Grant Awarding user guide.
4. The application will be assessed by the Grant Awarding Coordinator (Eva Pavlinušić Vilus) and the Action Chair and Vice Chair (Lena Jäger and Ana Matić Škorić) against the perceived contribution that the proposed visit will make against the scientific objectives outlined in the Action’s Memorandum of Understanding (MoU).
5. The applicant will be formally notified of the outcome of their ITC Conference Grant application by the Grant Awarding Coordinator no more than 20 days after the application was received.
6. Successful applicants need to complete and submit a ITC Conference Grant report, within 30 days from the end date of the activity, or 15 days after the end of the Grant Period, whichever date comes first.
Please note that COST can request additional information to substantiate the information contained within the documents submitted by ITC Conference Grant applicants.