Short Term Scientific Missions – Call for STSM Applications

We are pleased to announce the first calls for applications for Short Term Scientific Missions (STSM) under the COST Action MiCropBiomes.

Short-Term Scientific Missions consist in a visit to a host organization located in a different country than the country of affiliation by a researcher or innovator for specific work to be carried out and for a determined period of time. The institution / organization or legal entity where applicants pursue their main strand of research is considered as the Home institution. The Host institution is the institution / organization that will host the successful applicant.

Short-Term Scientific Missions benefit to:

• STSM Grantee: receives funding for implementing a project with an international team and gains new knowledge or access to equipment or techniques not available in the home institution;
• STSM Host: receives an international partner in their institution and can develop long lasting collaboration.

For more information, please consult the Annotated Rules for COST Actions at the Documents page.

We apply two procedures for STSMs:

(1) Interested host institutions are invited to propose STSM projects, which will then be published on our website. Interested scientists from a country other than the host institution will then have the opportunity to apply for one of these STSM projects. The corresponding call for proposing projects is published here: https://micropbiomes.eu/grants/short-term-scientific-missions-stsm/stsm-call-2-projects

(2) If contacts already exist between the home and host institutions, interested visiting scientists can apply directly for an STSM grant. The corresponding call for applications is published here: https://micropbiomes.eu/grants/short-term-scientific-missions-stsm/stsm_call_1

The evaluation of all STSM applications is coordinated by the Grant Awarding Coordinator and performed by the Grant Awarding Committee consisting of the Chair of the COST Action, the Vice Chair, the five Working Group Leaders (or Vice Leaders if a Leader devolves this duty).

The evaluation criteria consider

• Scientific quality of the application;
• Relevance of the participation for the Action;
• Diversity and representativeness of the contributions with respect to the COST Action;
• Gender balance, Country and Career stage, with specific encouragement for Young Researchers and Innovators (YRI) and applicants from Inclusiveness Target Countries (ITC).

Further information can be found on the Website.

With kind regards,
Ralf Koebnik (WG5 Vice Leader)
Ivan Nikolić (Grant Awarding Coordinator)