COST

COST – European Cooperation in Science and Technology –  was established in 1971 and is the first European intergovernmental framework for the coordination of nationally or regionally funded research. As of today COST has 38 Members and 1 Cooperating Member.

COST plays an important role in the development of the European Research Area. COST's mission is to strengthen Europe in scientific and technological research through the support of European cooperation and interaction between European researchers.

COST is a EU funded programme* that provides funding for research networks, the so called COST actions. These networks can be in any scientific field, are open to all type of actors (academia, public institutions, SMEs, Companies, etc.) and career stages (young and experienced). A COST action runs for four year with an average budget of 134.000 EUR per year. More concrete, COST only provides funding for networking activities (meetings, conferences, seminars, workshops) and the organisation of exchange activities (scientific exchanges of short duration, training schools, publications and dissemination activities). The actual research is funded via other (national or regional) channels.

*Under Horizon Europe the COST Programme will be fully funded by the Widening Work Programme.

Each COST member state has a representative in the COST Committee of Senior Officials (CSO), the main decision body responsible for the strategic development of COST and a COST National Coordinator (CNC) that appoints the national participants to COST actions. In Belgium, both mandates have been entrusted to POD Science Policy (Belspo). In addition to that, Belgian contact points have been appointed within the various regions and communities.

For Flanders, the FWO acts as the first contact point for COST. FWO is responsible for information dissemination, questions and assistance to all actors in Flanders (applications from research institutes, universities, higher education institutes, industry and SMEs). The FWO is also responsible for the follow up of nominations in the management committees of COST actions from actors based in Flanders. More information on how to join a new or ongoing COST action can be found here.

Individual researcher or research group of an institution from one of the COST member states.

Applications can be submitted at any time. COST works with a continuous ‘open call’, aiming for two collection dates per year: one in spring and one in autumn. Proposals submitted after a collection date are retained for the next collection date.

An application is a one-stage submission to be electronically submitted via the COST website.

The proposal is submitted by a Main Proposer on behalf of a network of proposers ( at least 7 COST Countries of which minimum 50% from Inclusiveness Target Countries).

The complete procedure, from collection date to start of the action, takes, as a rule, up to nine months.

For general enquiries about the procedure and technical problems you can contact opencall@cost.eu.

More information on the application procedure can also be found here.

Proposals are evaluated on the basis of the following evaluation criteria:

Only proposals that have passed the overall threshold will be considered for funding

There are several ways to participate in a new or an ongoing COST action. An overview of the COST actions can be found on the COST website. Applications for participation to a COST action can be in principle submitted at any moment but preferably at the beginning of the COST action.

All COST member states are part of the COST actions once approved by the COST Committee of Senior Officials (CSO). The approval of the CSO is considered as the MoU signature. All individuals affiliated to a legal entity from a COST member state can immediately join the COST action either through the management committee which follows a national application procedure or through the working groups which participation is decided on action level or through other COST activities. Hereafter you will find more information on the different ways to participate in a COST action.

Each COST action has a management committee (MC), which is composed of the officially nominated representatives of the COST member states. The management committee supervises and coordinates the proper implementation and management of the relevant COST action.

Each COST country may appoint up to 2 representatives in the management committee. When nominating the national representatives we aim to strive for a regional and institutional balance.

If you are interested in participating in the management committee of a COST action, please fill out the application form and send it electronically to cost@fwo.be. It is highly advised that individuals who are interested in participating in the management committee contact the Action Chair or Main Proposer to discuss their participation in the COST action before submitting their application.

More information on the role and responsibilities of the management committee can be found on page 5 of this document.

The implementation of a COST action involves different working groups (usually 3 to 5) composed of a group of researchers working on specific tasks to fulfil the objectives of the COST action.

They include the members of the management committee, but also other researchers of the COST member states can participate in the working groups.

For participation to the working groups you can contact the Action Chair or the Working Group Leader directly and is subject to the approval of the management committee. From now on, participation in the Action’s working groups is already possible even when no national representative is appointed in the management committee (yet).