Inclusiveness Target Countries (ITC) Conference Grants consist in grants awarded to Young Researchers and Innovators affiliated in an Inclusiveness Target Country (ITC) / Near Neighbour Country (NNC) to present their own work at an international well-recognized conferences. Presentations must be related to topics of the NOAR COST Action CA19114 and conferences should not be organized or co-organized by the COST Action. For further details, please read the Grant Awarding Userguide.

Eligibility rules for ITC Conference grants

1. Conference Grants are exclusively reserved to Young Researchers and Innovators (PhD students, PhD candidates and ECIs below 40 years) with a primary affiliation at an institution located in an ITC/NNC member of the NOAR COST Action CA19114.
2. The applicant must make an oral or poster presentation at the conference in question and must be listed in the official event/conference programme. The main subject of the presentation at the approved conference must be on or closely related to the topic of the NOAR COST Action CA19114 and must acknowledge COST as recommended in COST visual identity. Specifically, for NOAR COST Action CA19114 acknowledgements, please contact the Science Communication Manager of our action Prof. Emilija Janevik-Ivanovska (emilija.janevik@ugd.edu.mk) for additional information. The relatedness of the topic to the Action must be addressed in the application. 
3. The participation of each applicant must be pre-approved by the Action MC. Attendance at European conferences is preferred. However, conferences held elsewhere can also be considered.
4. ITC grantees should make their own arrangements for all provisions related to personal security, health, taxation, social security and pension matters.
5. Detailed information on participants’ eligibility, evaluation and selection, financial support, and grant payment procedures can be found in the Grant Awarding Userguide.

Funding

An ITC Conference Grant is a fixed financial contribution which takes into consideration the budget request by the applicant and the outcome of the evaluation of the application by the Grant Awarding Coordinator together with Grant Evaluation Committee. ITC Conference Grants do not necessarily cover all the expenses related to participating in a given conference. An ITC Conference Grant is a contribution to the overall travel, accommodation and meal expenses of the selected Grantee.

The contribution for each ITC Conference Grant will be up to a maximum of 2000 EUR per face-to-face conferences and up to 500 EUR for virtual conferences. Multiple applications to several Actions by the same person to attend the same conference is strictly forbidden and may lead to the cancellation of the grant.

The amount granted to each individual ITC will be determined during the evaluation process by Grant Awarding Coordinator together with Grant Evaluation Committee and may be subjected to negotiation with the applicant(s) before approval.

Find a conference

ITC Granted Conferences are only those strictly related to NOAR’s aims and scopes. Suitability of Conference will be unquestionably judged by the Grant Awarding Coordinator together with Grant Evaluation Committee.

Conferences must necessarily take place before October 15^th, 2023.

Example of upcoming conferences:

• ISRS
• EANM
• WTC

How to apply

1. Applicants must register for an e-COST profile.
2. The applicant encodes an ITC Conference Grant application by logging into e-COST and clicking on the ITC Conference Grants tab.

The following documents are required:

• Application form available here.
• CV (Europass, including a list of academic publications, if applicable).
• A short description of involvement in the NOAR COST Action.
• Acceptance letter from the conference organizers (confirming either applicant’s oral or poster presentation).
• A copy of the submitted abstract.

Additionally (if available):

• Full paper about the presentation.
• The most recent conference booklet or leaflet / conference program.
• The invitation from the organizers (for a keynote presentation, etc.).

More details can be found in the Grant Awarding Userguide.

Applications may be submitted at any time. 

Evaluation of applications is done by Grant Awarding Coordinator together with Grant Evaluation Committee. If needed Grant Awarding Coordinator will negotiate the Grant. Action Chair gives the final approval. The Grant Holder manager sends the applicant the Grant Notification Letter.

Reporting

1 day and 10 days after the end of the participation to the conference, the grantee receives a reminder to upload the scientific report together with other supporting documents – Grant Awarding Userguide.

A scientific report template is available here. The grantee must complete this template and save it in pdf before uploading it in e-COST.

The deadline to submit all supporting documents is 15 days from the end of the participation to the conference.

It is expected that each ITC grantee will send a copy of its presentation/poster/paper to both the Grant Awarding Coordinator (Dr. Penelope Bouziotis: bouzioti@rrp.demokritos.gr) and the Science Communication Manager of the NOAR COST (Prof. Emilija Janevik-Ivanovska: emilija.janevik@ugd.edu.mk). It will be then disseminated using the official NOAR website, social media, etc. The material must be submitted by email shortly after the conference to upload a report to the e-COST platform.

Photographic material from the conference (e.g. the Applicant with the NOAR logo in background) will be requested. In particular, the grantee must also submit a picture of her/him taken at the poster session or during the lecture, with the conference banner in the background, and accompanied by one or two short sentences about the research presented at the conference, to be used for the dissemination purposes in social media.

The submission of both the report and communication/dissemination material is mandatory to receive the Grant. Late submission, beyond the deadline, can also lead to the cancellation of the Grant.

Please note that the COST Association can request additional information to substantiate the information contained within the documents submitted by ITC Conference Grant applicants.