Inclusiveness Target Country (ITC) Conference Grants
ITC Conference Grants provide financial support for participation in high-level conferences organised by third parties.
Grant Applicants are Action participants under the age of 40 affiliated in an Inclusiveness Target Country or a Near Neighbour Country.
Aims
Present the Applicant’s own work (poster/oral presentation) related to the Action, and establish new contacts for future collaborations.
The maximum amount per grant is EUR 2000 for face-to-face conferences and EUR 500 for virtual conferences.
Covered costs: contribution for travelling, accommodation and subsistence expenses, registration fees, the printing of scientific poster and overall effort.
Procedure for ITC Conference Grant application
Applicants are encouraged before starting the procedure to carefully read the rules detailed in Annotated Rules for COST Actions and the Grant Awarding user guide.
The Applicants create an application by logging into e-cost, clicking on the Grant Applications tab and selecting “ITC Conference grant”.
After encoding the Grant application form by filling all the sections, the applicant will need to upload the required supporting documentation in the e-COST:
- Dissemination conference grant application based on e-COST template. The application form should indicate conference title, date and venue; requested budget and describe the potential impact on the applicant’s career.
- Acceptance (or invitation) letter from the conference organisers.
- Copy of the abstract of the accepted presentation.
- Master students shall provide the approved research programme enrolment form signed by the University.
The application will be assessed after the collection date indicated in the open call by the Grant Awarding Coordinator and Committee on behalf of the MC and according to the following criteria related to the proposed participation:
- Connection to the objectives of ParAqua (see MoU) of the presented work.
- Realistic budget planning.
- Scientific quality of the proposed presentation abstract.
- Expected outcome/chance for establishing new contacts and collaborations.
- Career stage, gender balance.
Important
All the communication tools (e.g. oral/poster presentation) granted by the Action need to acknowledge COST as the funding source by using the logos of ParAqua, EU and COST. Wrong or incomplete acknowledgement of the funding source may entail not eligibility for a refund.
Funding should be acknowledged as follows: Participation in this conference has been funded by the EU COST Action CA20125 – “Applications for zoosporic parasites in aquatic systems” through an ITC Conference Grant”.
Grantees will be required to write a short report of their experience to be published in the newsletter and to contribute with content (posts, pictures, short videos…) for the Action social media.
Affter the Conference
The grantee submits the required documentation in e-COST within 30 days after the end date of the activity or 15 days after the end of the Grant Period. To facilitate the administration of the grant payment, we strongly recommend finishing the activities within 30 days of the end of the Grant Period.
Supporting documentation to be uploaded in the e-COST:
- ITC Conference Report according COST template (https://www.cost.eu/ITCConference_Report)The report should clearly describe the outcome of the presentation in terms of grantee’s visibility, including the establishment of new contacts for future collaborations.
- The certificate of conference attendance.
- The programme of the conference or book of abstracts / proceedings indicating the presentation (oral or poster) of the grantee.
- Copy of the given presentation (oral or poster).
- Invoices of covered costs, travel tickets, conference registration fees.
Failure in submitting the required documents within the set timeframe may cancel the Grant.
Payment of the Grant
The Grant Awarding Coordinator will verify the validity and content of the report and all the required documents. The Grant Awarding Committee will review and approve/reject the report on behalf of the MC.
If rejected, a justification is required and its content will be included in the e-notification to the grantee, who is asked to revise and re-submit the report.
Once the report is approved and all supporting documents are submitted the Grant Holder pays the Grant.
The complete Grant Awarding System Action document is consultable on the website repository.