ITC Conference Grant – October 2020

Final application deadline: November 30th, 2020

Call ITC Conference Grant – October 2020

Conference Grants are aimed at supporting PhD students and Early Career Investigators (ECI), i.e. researchers up to 8 years after their PhD completion, from ITC participating in the COST Action 18213 to attend international conferences on Rural NEETs related topics not specifically organised by the COST Action.
Conference Grants are exclusively reserved for PhD students and ECIs with a primary affiliation in an institution located in an ITC (Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Croatia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, and the Republic of Serbia).
The grants are exclusively reserved for applicants making an oral conference presentation listed in the official event/conference programme. The main subject of the oral presentation/ speech at the approved conference needs to be closely related to the topic of the Action and to acknowledge COST.

WHAT ARE THE SPECIFIC TOPICS ITC CONFERENCES GRANTS TARGETED BY CA 18213?

In CA 18213, each call for ITC Conference Grants will be aligned with annual thematic priorities. This means that targeted conferences are preferably those that are related to these topics. The topics for the current grant period are: education and mobility. These means that education and mobility will be considered of interest during a given grant period.

List of international research and networking initiatives

FINANCIAL SUPPORT:

The following funding conditions apply and must be respected:

Up to a maximum of EUR 1000 in total can be afforded to each successful ITC applicant, of which:
1.Up to a maximum of EUR 300 in total can be afforded for travel expenses;
2.Up to a maximum of EUR 160 per day can be afforded for accommodation and meal expenses;
3. Up to a maximum of EUR 500 can be afforded for conference fees to be incurred by the selected grantee.

A conference grant is a fixed financial contribution which takes into consideration the budget request of the applicant and the outcome of the evaluation of the application by the delegated person(s). Conference grants do not necessarily cover all of 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.

In addition, when meal and accommodation expenses are supported by the hosting institution as part of the provisions offered in their conference package, the amount for subsistence afforded to each eligible participant must be deducted from the grant.

DEADLINE: Interested researchers can apply by 30th of November by following the instructions below.

APPLICATION PROCEDURE:

  1. Applicants should read carefully the funding rules detailed in Section 9 (pp. 36-37) of the COST Vademecum.
  2. Applicants need to have their e-COST profile at https://e-services.cost.eu/ and submit their application via the “Create Conference Grant Request“ link.
  3. The applicant is required to send their ITC application form submitted to e-COST (pdf)
The list of supporting documents (in pdf format) to be submitted for the evaluation are:

Ø The submitted ITC application form (downloadable when the online application is submitted – see points 2 & 3 above);

Ø A short description of their involvement in the COST Action (max. 1 page);

Ø Acceptance letter/email confirmation from the conference organisers (confirming either your speaking slot or your poster presentation) or conference programme showing the applicants’ participation;

Ø A copy of the abstract or poster submitted to the conference;

Ø A full C.V. (including a list of academic publications – if applicable, max. 5 pages).

EVALUATION PROCESS:

The applications will be assessed by the ITC Grants assessment committee of Rural NEETs team and successful applicants will be notified by email, by the ITC conference grants coordinator. The grants assessment team will evaluate applications according to budget, possible contribution that the proposed conference participation will make against the scientific objectives outlined in the Action’s MANUAL OF INTERNAL RULES & PROCEDURES, and the individual candidate’s career. For more information about the evaluation criteria for selection of the ITC Conference Grantees in CA 18213, please check p. 34-35 from the MANUAL OF INTERNAL RULES & PROCEDURES or follow the link :  manual of norms and procedures – April 2020 – final version.pdf

REQUIREMENTS:

Successful grantees are required to submit a scientific report and supporting documents. Payment of the grant is subject to the submitted scientific report and supporting documents being approved by the Action Chair (or Vice-Chair if the Action Chair is affiliated to the Grant Holder Institution).

The scientific report should be sent to: The Action Chair (or Vice-Chair if the Action Chair is affiliated to the Grant Holder Institution), the ITC coordinator and the Action’s Grant Manager within 15 calendar days from the end date of the conference. Written approval of the submitted scientific reports must be sent to the Grant Manager for archiving purposes.

Short scientific reports should cover a short description of involvement in the COST Action, a description of the oral presentation/poster presentation and the outcome/results, expected publications that may arise from the ITC (if applicable).

The applicant is also responsible for acquiring an official acceptance letter/email confirmation of acceptance from the conference organisers.

In addition to the scientific report, successful applicants should submit to the Grant Manager (by mail) the following supporting documents:

  1. One original certificate of taxpayer status e. residence form from his/her country of residence. Each country has a slightly different form to confirm your residence/taxpayer status but it is usually issued both in English and in the official language of the country. Please ask for an English or bilingual version. The original of the form should be signed and stamped by the respective authority in your country (e.g. local Public Revenue Office, Tax Inspectorate or Ministry).
  2. A full-colour scan of the main page of the passport which exhibits his/her name and surname and passport number.
  3. Scanned copy of invoices, receipts, bills, tickets and other proofs of payments for all types of costs, including for hotel accommodation, travel, meals, and paid conference fees.

Failure to submit the scientific report and the supporting documents within 15 days from the end date of the conference will effectively cancel the grant.

The grant is payable up to 30 days after the grantee report and supporting documents have been approved by the Action Vice-Chair.

Please note that the COST Association and Action’s Grant holder can request additional information to substantiate the information contained within the documents submitted by ITC applicants.

Useful link: https://www.rnyobservatory.eu

 Please contact the ITC conference grants coordinator, Vladislava Lendzhova, via email if any queries relating to ITCs conference grants occur at: vlendzhova@gmail.com