COST
COST is the oldest networking tool in the European Research Area (ERA). COST creates opportunities for the free exchange and mobility of ideas, information and researchers. Researchers from all types of institutions can participate in a COST Action.
COST funding is not granted for research as such, but for networking, research coordination and capacity building. The purpose of the funding is to complement national research funding instruments and the activities of other EU programmes. COST Action spin-offs have been very successful in ERA calls, for example.
Currently, there are 324 COST Actions in operation, involving 60,000 researchers. COST especially promotes the career development of early-career researchers (95% of researchers participating in COST Actions have reported that participation has advanced their career).
COST has three main objectives: promoting excellence and disseminating research knowledge; advancing interdisciplinary breakthrough research; and supporting early-career researchers and innovators.
COST is bottom-up, which means that researchers can create a COST Action based on their own research interests and ideas by submitting a proposal to open COST calls. COST organises annual calls and funds some 60 new Actions each year. COST Actions are interdisciplinary. It is easy to join a COST Action even after it has already been launched.
The activities of a COST Action are managed by a Management Committee, and the network’s work is carried out by working groups. The average budget is €150,000 per year, and the funding period is four years.
COST Actions fund the establishment of research networks; research visits; workshops, meetings, seminars and conferences; and the use of research infrastructures.
Researchers can participate in COST Actions in various ways:
- as a member of a Management Committee
- in different working groups
- by participating in the activities of the COST Action.
Finland has participated in COST since 1971.
More information
