This presentation is from the EPA's FP7 Environment National Information Day 2010. For further information, see http://www.fp7ireland.com/

1. European COoperation in Science
operation
and Technology
echnology
Rita Ward
National Coordinator
FP7-Environment National Information Day
Environment
6th October 2010
Hilton Dublin Airport Hotel
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2. What is COST?
• European COoperation in Science and Technology
cience
(2010 name change)
– 1971 - Ministerial Conference, Brussels: COST Framework for
COST-
coordinating nationally funded research in Europe for peaceful purposes
through the support of cooperation and interaction between European
researchers :- European COoperation in the field of Scientific and
Technical Research
• Participation
– 35 COST Member States and 1 cooperating state
– International organisations and research institutions from non
non-COST
countries
– The European Commission through the Framework Programme
• COST Actions
– Networked research projects (basic & pre
pre-competitive research)
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3. COST characteristics
• Co-ordination through • “Bottom-up” –
cooperation in networks no fixed programme
• Pan-European • Flexible participation –
• Multi-disciplinary join in if you are interested
• National financing of • “Interdisciplinary Exploratoria”
researchers and projects • Enabling agent –
– national responsibility focus on younger researchers
• Equal access / Open Call • Open to global cooperation
• Building bridges
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4. COST Countries
The 27 EU Member States
EFTA Member States
Iceland
Norway
Switzerland
Acceding & Candidate Countries
Croatia
FYR of Macedonia (FYROM)
Turkey
Potential Candidate Countries
Republic of Serbia
COST Co-operating States
Israel
Bosnia & Herzegovina ( May 2009)
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5. Organisations from non
non-COST countries
May participate on an “Action by Action” basis given:
h there is mutual S&T benefit
h the CSO approves (following MC and DC approval)
h participation is confirmed by an exchange of letters between
the organisation and the CSO
h non-COST institutions may not vote in the MC
non-
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6. COST Actions: global participation (Status June 2010)
Canada (19) Belarus (4) Russia (44)
Ukraine (18)
Albania (3) Moldova (4)
Georgia (7)
Andorra (1) GEORGIA
Japan (11)
USA (42) Lebanon (5) Armenia (3) China (4)
Morocco (6) Rep of Korea (4)
Tunisia (9) Palestinian auth. (1)
EGYPT
Pakistan (1)
Algeria (1)
UAE (1) Hong Kong (2)
Mexico (2) Egypt (7) Saudi Arabia (1)
Sudan (1)
India (5)SRI
LANKA
MALAYSIA
Colombia (2)
Singapore (2)
PAPUA
NEW GUINEA
Mauritius (1)
Brazil (4)
COST countries
Chile (1) Uruguay (1) Australia (68)
Neighbouring South Africa (23)
countries Argentina (7)
New Zealand (41)
Reciprocal
agreements
countries
356 participations in 129 Actions (36 countries)
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7. COST Financing
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8. What is funded by COST?
COST Actions: Nationally funded projects (min. 5 participating
countries) with a joint work programme receive finance for:
• Science management meetings
• Scientific workshops and seminars
• Short Term Scientific Missions (STSMs)
• Training Schools and Research Conferences
• Dissemination
• Average funding about €100 000 per year per Action,
100
(typically for four years)
Strategic Workshops: to explore future scientific or societal needs,
Workshops:
support policy developments or initiate new activities
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9. COST Structure
Council COMMITTEE OF SENIOR OFFICIALS (CSO) COST National
COST
Coordinators
Secretariat
COST OFFICE
10 COST
Domain
….. F&A …… …….. …….
Committees
COST Actions
MC
(~240)
Action
WGs
WORKING GROUPS (NETWORKS) …… ~30.000 researchers
Scientific Domain
MC = Management Committee
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10. COST Scientific & Technical Domains (1)
(June 2010 – May 2014)
10 Domain Committees
Biomedicine and Molecular Biosciences (BMBS) Dr Ian Marison, DCU
Chemistry and Molecular Sciences & Technologies (CMST)
Prof. Patrick Guiry, UCD
Earth System Science & Environmental Management (ESSEM)
Dr John Sweeney, NUI-Maynooth
Food & Agriculture (FA) Dr Charles M Spillane, UCC
Forests, their Products and Services (FPS) Dr Alistair Pfeifer, COFORD
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11. COST Scientific & Technical Domains (2)
(June 2010 – May 2014)
10 Domain Committees (cont)
Individuals, Society, Culture & Health (ISCH) Dr Marc Caball, UCD (Chair)
Ms Dipti Pandya, IRCHSS
Information & Communication Technologies (ICT) Dr Miguel Ponce de Leon, WIT
Materials, Physical & Nanosciences (MPNS) Dr Denis Dowling, UCD
Transport & Urban Development (TUD) Dr. Henk van der Kamp, DIT
Transdomain (TD) Dr Daniel Kelly, TCD
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12. The role of the Domain Committees (DCs)
• Assessment of preliminary proposals in the Open Call
• Monitoring of Actions in progress
• Evaluation of completed Actions
The role of the Management Committees (MCs)
• Supervises and coordinates the implementation of the Action
• Each signatory has one vote, Composed of:
– Maximum 2 representatives of each signatory Country
– One representative of any non-COST institution admitted to participate
COST
– Representatives of the COST Office and Invited experts
• Managing the Action‘s budget
• Submit the annual “work and budget plan”
• Progress Report within a given deadline
• Contribute to the Domains Annual Review Meeting to be organised
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13. The “Open Call” System
• “Open Call” = Thematically open (introduced in March 2006)
– Encourages interdisciplinary proposals
– Improves transparency
– Ensures quality
– Furthers competitiveness
• Emphasis on Early Stage researchers: their joint efforts bring
improved recognition
• Selection criteria are public
• Specific collection dates (i.e. 25 March & 23 September 2011)
• 2-stage process / peer reviewed
stage
• Successful COST Actions proposals can expect to start activities
within 9 months after the collection date
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14. COST Open Calls
Collection Date Applications Full Approved New
Proposals Actions
31st May 2006 707 (824) 79 CSO Nov ’06 39
28th Feb 2007 406 (411) 75 CSO Nov ’07 25
30th Sep 2007 475 76 CSO Jun ’08 25
28th Mar 2008 386 (415) 79 CSO Nov ’08 30
26th Sep 2008 378 79 CSO May ‘09 30
27th Mar 2009 481 77 CSO Dec ’09 30
25th Sep 2009 468 81 CSO May ’10 30
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15. COST Action Life Cycle
Open Call Two Stage Implementation Dissemination
Collection Date
Process (4 years) (x years)
(6 months)
Assessment
DC Monitoring
assesses DC adopts
proposals draft MoU
Evaluation
1st MC Meeting time
CSO approves draft MOU
5 countries sign MOU
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16. COST Open Call process
COST Open Call process
Selection process – Preliminary Proposals:
Preliminary Proposals:
“CD5” 26-09-2008 (378, 5) 09-10-2008 07-11-2008 14-11-2008
“CD6” 27-03-2009 (481,12) 15-04-2009 13-05-2009 15-05-2009
“CD7” 25-09-2009 (469,15)) 12-10-2009 06-11-2009 13-11-2009
“CD8” 26-03-2010 (468) 13-04-2010 11-05-2010 14-05-2010
Filtering of the Proposals
BMBS
BMBS
anonymised distribution
Invitation of top 80 for
Allocation to Domains
Automatic Ranking
CMST
ranked by the DCs
Electronic Rating
Eligibility Check
Collection Date
ESSEM
Full Proposals
FA
FA
FPS
FPS
FPS
FPS
ICT
ISCH
ISCH
MPNS
TUD
TUD
TDP - SAB
TDP - SAB
1 week 3 weeks 3 days Minimum time span
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17. COST Open Call process
COST Open Call process
Selection process – Full Proposals:
Full Proposals:
Presentation of proposals
Deadline Full Proposals
Start of the new Action
External Expert Panels
Rating by EEP in panel
Final List for approval
meetings in Brussels
Approval by the CSO
Meeting of DC chairs
Establishment of
Ranking by DCs
JAF
10 weeks 2 weeks 2 weeks 2 weeks 4 weeks Minimum time span
“CD5” 16-01-2009 27-02-2009 20-03-2009 03-05-2009 29-05-2009 Dates
“CD6” 31-07-2009 11-09-2009 02-10-2009 08-10-2009 02-12-2009
“CD7” 15-01-2010 12-02-2010 19-03-2010 25-03-2010 24-05-2010
“CD8” 30-07-2010 02-09-2010 01-10-2010 07-10-2010 01-12-2010
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18. Life Natural Science
Sciences Sciences in Society
BMBS FA FPS CMST ESSEM MPNS ICT ISCH TUD
Trans Domain Proposals
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19. Natural Sciences Cluster
CMST
Earth Systems
(Modelling and Observation)
Biochemistry &
Medical Applications Meteorological Sciences
Nanochemistry & Functional Environment
Materials
Materials
Molecular systems
Nano-Sciences
Sciences ESSEM
Physics
MPNS
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20. Natural Sciences Cluster – New Actions at a glance
CMST
• Functional Materials
• Nanosciences
• Cultural Heritage CM1001
CM1003 • Pollution Hazards
• Green Chemistry
CM1002 • Ecology, Xenobiotics
Environmental Monitoring
Bioremediation, Hydrodynamic
Cavitation TD1003
Sustainable Energy • Meteorology
ES1001 • Climatology
MP1001 • Space technology
ES1002
MP1002 • Remote Sensing
ES1003
MPNS MP1003 ESSEM
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21. New Actions in ESSEM
ES1001 - SMOS Mission Oceanographic Data
Exploitation
– To define common, standardized protocols for
the production of high-level salinity maps and
related products through the exploitation of
the European Space Agency Soil Moisture and
Ocean Salinity (SMOS) mission data
• ES1003 - Development and implementation of a
pan-European Marine Biodiversity Observatory
System (EMBOS)
– To install a permanent international pan-
European large-scale network of marine
biodiversity observatories with an
optimized and standardized methodology,
ES1002 - Weather Intelligence for Renewable Energies to assess long-term changes in marine
(WIRE) biodiversity and their possible causes
– to enhance the methodologies of forecasting
wind and solar power production in the time
domain of a few minutes up to several days
ahead
– to establish a common understanding between
wind and solar meteorologists, energy
engineers, and grid managers to optimise the
integration of these renewable energies into
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22. ESSEM Domain – Actions Portfolio
Sun-Earth
ES1003 - Development and Interaction
implementation of a pan- Risk
3 Actions
European Marine Biodiversity Asst -
Observatory System (EMBOS) 1 Action
Health
Biodiversity
Natural Resource
Management
Global Changes 8 Actions
Biogeochemical cycles
ES1002 - Weather
Meteorology Satellite and Ground- Intelligence for
Renewable Energies
8 Actions Climate System based Remote (WIRE)
Sensing
ES1001 - SMOS Mission Bio-Meteorology
Oceanographic Data Observing technologies 4 Actions
Exploitation Atmospheric Chemistry and Networks
Ice Monitoring Geology
4 Actions Soils Sciences
Hydrology
Marine Sciences Geodesy Soil Erosion
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23. Examples of COST Actions
Developing space weather products and services in Europe –
COST Action ES0803
In Europe, a better coordination between the national research
programmes, and warning system developers and operators is needed
to develop European reliable Space Weather observational and
forecasting products and services.
The Action will validate and demonstrate prototypes of near
near-real time
Space Weather information services for operational use
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24. Examples of COST Actions
European procedures for flood frequency estimation (FloodFreq)
– COST Action ES0901
Pan-European comparison and evaluation of
European
methods for flood frequency estimation
under the various climatologic and
geographic conditions found in Europe, and
different levels of data availability.
Goals
• Compile dataset and inventories of existing data and methods
• Use of statistical methods for flood frequency estimation
• Flood frequency analysis using rainfall--runoff methods
• Flood frequency estimation methods and environmental change
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25. Examples of COST Actions
Sunshine makes water safer to drink:-
-
COST Action P9
One in five people on earth have no safe drinking water
and are at serious risk from water-borne diseases. Solar
borne
Disinfection (SODIS) is a technique for making microbially
contaminated drinking water safe. Transparent bottles are
filled with contaminated water and placed indirect sunlight
for 6 hours. The combined action of solar UVA ionising
radiation and the induced heating effect reduces microbial
contamination levels from 1 million bacteria per ml to zero
in < 1.5 hours and is completely effective against the
pathogens responsible for cholera, salmonella,
gastroenteritis, and other diseases.
COST contributes to meet the EU's commitments under
the Millennium Development Goals (MDG), the EU Water
Initiative (EUWI), the Plan of Implementation of the World
Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD)
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26. COST in FP7
• FP7 (2007-2013) In May 2010, mid
2013) mid-term evaluation report
(Annexe II Cooperation) recommended to increase budget to
EUR 250 million from EUR 210 million. (Max was €80 million from FP6)
– funding of 30 million EUR a year
– > 30,000 European based researchers
– their projects represent a total value exceeding 2 billion EUR per year
• Increased involvement in existing COST Activities:
- Pilot schemes extended to June 2014 (Australia 12 visits and New Zealand 10/yr)
- Pilot scheme with South Africa to June 2014 (20 visits/year)
- Pilot scheme with Argentina started in June 2010
• Joint activities (COST-ESF)
High Level Research Conference ; Frontiers of Science Workshops; Strategic/Exploratory
Workshops and Interdisciplinary Science Initiatives
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27. Current COST Actions - with Irish participation
ICT 21 ISCH 14
BMBS 12 CMST 18
ESSEM 23 FA 20
FFP 14 MPNS 19
TUD 9 TD 11
Total 161 (67%) (to 20th August 2010)
Approx 240 Actions ongoing
(Possibly increase the number of Actions to 260)
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28. COST funded activities
In 2009 COST supported:-
• 242 COST Actions
• 900 scientific workshops and meetings (4.3 per working day
over the year) with more than 29 500 participants
• 1200 STSMs with an average duration of 3 weeks (5.6
STSMs starting every working day over the year)
• 90 Training Schools with more than 2000 funded
• participants
• 101 high ranking publications
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29. COST Open Call for proposals
COST invites researchers throughout Europe to submit
proposals for research networks and use this unique
opportunity to exchange knowledge and to embark on new
European perspectives.
www.cost.eu/opencall
This continuous call is thematically open. Proposals from all
Scientific Domains are welcome. The next collection date for
preliminary proposals is 25 March 2011
2011.
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30. Contacts
COST Office
149 avenue Louise, 1050 Brussels, Belgium
Tel: +32 (0)2 533 3800
Fax: +32 (0)2 533 3890
E-mail: office@cost.eu
Website: http://www.cost.eu
COST National Coordinator
Rita Ward – Enterprise Ireland
Tel: 01-7272767
E-mail: rita.ward@enterprise-ireland.com
ireland.com
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