Dr Ronald de Bruin, Director of the COST Association COST Info Day, Bratislava, 7 February 2019

1. COST - Promoting and Spreading Excellence Dr Ronald de Bruin, Director of the COST AssociationCOST Info Day, Bratislava, 7 February 2019

2. COST - 45 years proven track record in research collaboration • 38 COST Members Albania, Austria, Belgium, BosniaandHerzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, CzechRepublic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece,Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Moldova, Montenegro,TheNetherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, UnitedKingdomandtheformerYugoslavRepublicofMacedonia • 1 Cooperating Member Israel • Near Neighbour Countries participation Algeria, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Egypt, Georgia, Jordan, Kosovo*, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, the Palestinian Authority, Russia, Syria, Tunisia and Ukraine *This designation is without prejudice to positions on status, and is in line with UNSCR 1244/1999 and the ICJ Opinion on the Kosovo declaration of independence. • COST Members • COST Members (ITCs) • COST Cooperating member

3. COST key figures of 2017 COST: The networking tool in the ERA and the pre-portal to other ERA funding schemes

4. How it works? COST Action participants nominated by COST National Coordinators Main proposer Secondary proposers

5. Average participation in COST Actions, ITCs and other countries

6. Dedicated measures for active ITC participation • Targeted to ITC • combined with high-level meeting ITC government, including NCP • Eligibility • External experts • Inclusiveness policy • COST Action Leadership • Conference grant for PhD students and young researchers • Pre-payment for STSM • Leadership workshop • Finance/Admin workshop • Science Communication training • Mentoring GH • Mentoring Chair COST Info Days Proposals COST Actions COST Academy

7. Example of COST success stories • COST Action FP1106 • Running from 23/04/2012 -22/04/2016 • STReESS - Studying Tree Responses to extreme Events: a SynthesiS • Lead to establishment of new research facility, the DendroLab Novi Sad, Serbia

8. Examples of COST Success Stories

9. COST Acting as a pre-portal for FP funding

10. Example of COST success stories • Czech Republic and Switzerland provide additional national support to COST Action participants • Budget is available for • Personnel cost of staff assigned to the project (focus on PhD) • Cost of new equipment • Cost of sub-contracting • …

11. Role of COST in the ERA - 3 Strategic Priorities Promoting and spreading excellence 1 Fostering interdisciplinary research for breakthrough science 2 Boosting careers young researchers 3

12. Priority 1. Promoting and spreading excellence Everyone Benefits

13. Priority 1. Promoting and spreading excellence

14. Priority 2. Fostering interdisciplinary research for breakthrough science

15. Boosting careers of young researchers • Bottom-up networking schemes

16. Boosting careers of young researchers

17. Slovakian participation in COST Actions 2012-2018 National participation in running Actions % (total number of running Actions in bracket)

18. Participations in networking activities by Early Career Investigators 2012-2018 ECI share among participants in Actions’ networking activities

19. Leadership positions held by Slovakian participants 2013-2018

20. Implementing COST’s strategic priorities COST Actions Meetings, workshops and conferences, and conference grant Training schools Dissemination activities Short-term Scientific Missions

21. Thank you! Contact and engage with us! @COST.Programme @COSTprogramme COST Association COST (European Cooperation in Science and Technology)