STSM and Conference Grants

Calls for CONFERENCE GRANTS (ITC, YRI and DC) for the 2nd Grant Period

COST-Action EU-MACE is happy to announce the opening of Conference Grant Calls for the 2nd Grant Period (2GP). During 2GP, three types of conference grants are supported. The present call describes the priority research areas and conferences identified by the Grant Award Committee that are in line with the Action’s grand objectives, and in coherence with the planned 2GP actions.

Before submission, all applicants are requested to review the Action’s “Memorandum of Understanding” (available here: https://www.cost.eu/actions/CA22123/) to understand the R&D methodologies and objectives of our Action, as well as the “Annotated Rules For COST Actions” (available here: Funding Documents & Guidelines | COST) to verify the eligibility criteria and requirements. Applications that do not align with the Action objectives, or satisfy the eligibility conditions will be declined.

Action objective:

Our overarching objective is to Create a new form of alliance across the entire innovation value chain of materials for clean energy applications by overcoming the fragmentation of materials research and technology development and via supporting informed decisions by diverse stakeholders. In other words, EU-MACE strives to build a systemic approach around MAPs for accelerated integration and scale-up production of advanced, sustainable functional materials for low-carbon technologies. Please refer to the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) available at https://www.cost.eu/actions/CA22123/ for more detailed description of EU-MACE goals and objectives. The target audience should be found at large-scale international conferences on materials science (with energy application session), on data-science and open science, renewable energy technologies (photovoltaics, batteries,…) etc., as well as at industrial innovation forums to attract manufacturers in the renewable energy sector.

Example research topics include:

  • MAPs (e.g., how to set up software: simulation, operation, etc.) and related materials acceleration approaches
  • Research activities related to the Transversal tasks of the Action
    • Materials data (metadata science, management, etc.)
    • Sustainability
    • Experimental automation
    • High throughput (ML assisted) materials simulation, design and characterization
    • Digital Twin, materials integration, scale-up production, etc.

 

Types of Conference Grants (CGs) supported

  • Inclusiveness Target Country Conference Grant (ITC-CG) funds an oral presentation of their own work in alignment with the grand objectives of EU-MACE by an Action Participant affiliated to a legal entity located in an ITC or a Near Neighbour Country in a high-level conference fully organized by a third party, i.e. not organized nor co-organized by the Action.
  • Young Researchers and Innovators Conference Grants (YRI-CGs) grant funds a presentation (poster/oral presentation) of their own work in alignment with the grand objectives of EU-MACE by a Young Researcher and Innovator (YRI) in a high-level conference fully organized by a third party, i.e. not organized nor co-organized by the Action.
  • Dissemination Conference Grants (DCG) fund an oral presentation by an active Action Participant (no age and geographical restrictions apply) of the work of the Action in a high-level conference fully organized by a third party, i.e. not organized nor co-organized by the Action.

Additional rules specific to EU-MACE COST Action:

  • All eligible conferences must take place before September 30th, 2025 to ensure the timely submission of the report and the grant payment within the 2GP.
  • ITC and YRI CG grantee agrees to include a 1-page Action description and its objectives (to be provided by EU-MACE) for increasing the Action visibility to the conference community
  • ITC and YRI CG grantees must submit a short report, no later than 1 month after the conference is finished. A failure in doing so will effectively cancel the grant. The report may be published on the Action website and on its social media channel.

NB:

  • According to the COST-Action rules, the official abstract acceptance letter/notification from the conference organizer is mandatory for all grant applications.
  • The abstract acceptance does not guarantee the funding.
  • All applications will be reviewed and assessed by the Grant Award Coordination Team.

Special provisions (Priority conferences):

Following international conferences have been identified to be at most beneficial to the EU-MACE community for 2GP. Oral presentations are required to become eligible for these pre-identified conference grants.

  • FEMS 2025 EUROMAT (https://euromat2025.com/areas/). All symposia are considered relevant to EU-MACE, with an exception of Symposium F: Materials for Healthcare. We foresee up to five grants (ITC and YRI combined) to support researchers and investigators from academic institutions and SMEs. The grant recipients must also attend the EU-MACE Forum* on “Device Integration” and “Lab integration” to be held on September 14th at the nearby venue (more information will be communicated directly to the grantee).

*This forum is organized independently of FEMS 2025 EUROMAT.

  • 4th International Workshop on Plasticity, Damage and Fracture of Engineering Materials, 24-26 September 2025, Istanbul (https://iwpdf.metu.edu.tr/). Works related to data-driven analysis/MAPs will be considered for support.
  • 21st European Conference on Thermoelectrics, ECT25, 8-12 September 2025, Nancy, France (https://ect2025.com/). All sessions are relevant, provided that the work presented are in line with the EU-MACE objectives (see example research focus above and the Action MoU).

Please be advised that the unambiguous alignment between the submitted abstract and the Action objectives stated above and further described in the MoU (https://www.cost.eu/actions/CA22123/) is a required condition for ITC, YRI or Dissemination CG approval.

ITC-CG Eligibility (cf. Funding Documents & Guidelines | COST)

Members of EU-MACE affiliated in a legal entity in an Inclusiveness Target Countries and Near Neighbour Countries participating in the Action.  

  • ITC (Inclusiveness Target Countries) – Albania, Armenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Georgia, Greece, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Turkey, and Ukraine*.
  • NNC (Near Neighbour Countries) – Algeria, Azerbaijan, [Belarus]*, Egypt, the Faroe Islands, Jordan, Kosovo, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Palestine, [Russia]*, Syria, and Tunisia.
  • Specific COST measures are taken regarding the participation of researchers/innovators from certain countries. Please consult: Annex-I-level-A-Country-and-Organisations-Table-Version-1.7.pdf (cost.eu)for more information.

Evaluation criteria and procedure:

  • Applications are considered individually on a rolling basis by an ad-hoc evaluation committee of experts.
  • The applications will be evaluated within three weeks from the submission date.
  • The applicants are advised to consult the COST Annotated Rules (Annex 2) for information about COST rules and procedures for ITC Conference Grant applications.
  • All application must be submitted online in e-COST using the dedicated forms available and upload all required documents.
    • Applicant must have a registered and up-to-date e-COST profile https://e-services.cost.eu/ 
    • Encode a new grant application by logging into e-COST and clicking on the Grant Applications/Apply for new grant.  
    • Upload:
      • ITC Conference Grant Application (the application template is available on e-COST), describing the relevance of the conference topic to the Action and the potential for impact on the applicant’s career
      • Copy of the Abstract of the accepted oral or poster presentation and Acceptance Letter from the conference organisers.
      • Letter of Support from the applicant home institution (it can be written by a senior researcher).
  • The ITC-CGs do not necessarily cover all expenses related to participating in a given conference and they are contributions to the registration fee as well as the travel, accommodation and the meal expenses of the grantee.

Additional rules for EU-MACE ITC-CGs:

  • The grantee agrees to include a 1-page Action description and its objectives (to be provided by EU-MACE) for increasing the Action visibility to the conference community
  • ITC-CG reports must be submitted no later than 1 month after the conference is finished. A failure in doing so will effectively cancel the grant.
  • The ITC Conference grantee should write a short summary of his/her report that will be made available on the Action website.
  • The topic of the ITC Conference Grant application should fit into the scope of the EU-MACE (see the priority focus above). Applications that do not satisfy this condition will be declined.

How to acknowledge COST funding?

Contributions of COST Action EU-MACE (CA22123) to the research must be acknowledged in any publication; poster, proceedings, full research paper, etc., that will result from the ITC Conference Grant (ITC-CG). The acknowledgment should be written as “This article/publication is based upon work from COST Action EU-MACE, CA22123, supported by COST (European Cooperation in Science and Technology).”

Important dates:

  • Application submission: From 1st March to 31st August 2025 (funds allocated on a rolling basis)
  • Notification of application outcome: Within 3 to 4 calendar weeks after the submission date
  • Conference attendance period: before 30th September 2025

Grant Award Coordinator: Dr. Peter Tatarko (peter.tatarko@savba.sk)

STSM Grant Coordinator: Peter Tatarko
(peter.tatarko@savba.sk)


The call for STSM grants will be open soon.

What are STSM?

Short-term scientific missions (STSM) are exchange visits between researchers involved in a COST Action, allowing a scientist to visit an institution or laboratory in a country different from the scientist home affiliation. The start and end date of a STSM must be within the active Grant Period of the Action. Their aim is to foster collaboration in excellent research infrastructures and share new techniques that may not be available in a participant’s home institution or laboratory.

STSM Grant priority is given to applicants whose scientific/research collaboration objectives resonates with that of EU-MACE: Create a new form of alliance across the entire innovation value chain of materials for clean energy applications by overcoming the fragmentation of materials research and technology development and via supporting informed decisions by diverse stakeholders. In other words, EU-MACE strives to build a systemic approach around MAPs for accelerated integration and scale-up production of advanced functional materials for low-carbon technologies. STSM promoting cross-border interactions between MAPs and cultivating/discovering of materials acceleration techniques by individual research groups, for example, are strongly encouraged. 

More information on the STSM grants is found in Annexes 2 and 5 of the Annotated Rules for COST Actions. 

How to Apply?

Calls for Short Term Scientific Missions applications are periodically opened and published on our website. The applications must first be submitted on the e-COST website https://e-services.cost.eu/activity/grants/add, and follow the instructions within.

  • The following documents must also be uploaded to e-COST:
    Application form (template available on e-COST)
  • Confirmation of the host on the agreement from the host institution in receiving the application
  • Support letter from the home institution
  • CV, including a list of academic publications if applicable.

Applications must be eligible (see Annexes 2 and 5 of the Annotated Rules for COST Actions) and in line with the Action research topics.

For this grant period, the applications will be evaluated by the Grant Award coordination team on a monthly basis,

  • Scientific quality
  • Relevance and benefit to the Action objective
  • Feasibility and soundness of the approach proposed (where relevant)

The selection will follow the COST policies on inclusiveness (gender, age, geography).

  • The applicants the call will receive the results of the selection from the Grant Award coordinator.
  • A grant amount different from the requested amount may be decided by the Action.
  • The selected researchers should wait for the official invitation from the Grant Holder before booking any travel arrangements.