Short Term Scientific Missions

What is an STSM?

Short Term Scientific Missions (STSM) are exchange visits aimed at supporting individual mobility, strengthening existing networks and fostering collaboration between Researchers. A STSM should specifically contribute to the scientific goal of the COST Action, whilst at the same time allowing those partaking in the missions to learn new techniques, gain access to specific data, instruments and / or methods not available in their own institutions / organisations.

For further details, please consult the COST Vademecum.

Past STSM are listed below: links to abstracts of the reports where the mission is complete will be added shortly.

Who can apply?

STSM applicants must be engaged in an official research programme as a PhD Student or postdoctoral fellow or can be employed by, or affiliated to, an Institution or legal entity which has within its remit a clear association with performing research. The institutions / organisations where applicants pursue their main strand of research are considered as Home institutions. The Host institution is the institution / organization that will host the successful applicant.

STSM must respect the following criteria:

• They must have a minimum duration of 5 days.
• They must have a maximum duration of 90 days.
• STSM need to be carried out in their entirety within a single Grant Period and always within the Action’s lifetime.

Please consult the COST Vademecum

What kind of expenses are covered by STSM funding?

STSM Grants do not necessarily cover all expenses related to performing a given mission. The Grant is a contribution to the overall travel, accommodation and meal expenses of the Grantee.

The calculation of the financial contribution for each STSM must respect the following criteria:

• up to a maximum of EUR 2 500 in total can be afforded to each successful STSM applicant;
• up to a maximum of EUR 160 per day can be afforded for accommodation and meal expenses.

Please consult the COST Vademecum

How to apply

Relation with the Action’s goals

Each STSM call (one expected in each of the four Grant Periods of the Action) will give specific instructions on how to apply. You can refer to the the news section of this website for our most recent call (NB: it usually includes a link to a document with further information regarding the STSM programme and the eligibility criteria).

Please note, priority is given to those applications that proactively address the agendas of the individual Working Groups, available on this website. Action Affiliates, who have access to the Private Forum, will also see what work on the specific agendas has already been carried out, and which points have received little attention so far.

Pre-application

To facilitate this process, potential applicants are invited to contact the Action Chair, Vice-Chair or the relevant Working Group Leaders.  Before making contact, potential applicants should study the Working Group agendas carefully, and consider which ones relate most closely to the research they propose to undertake.  They may also wish to study documentation from the successful applications in 2015, all of which relate to the Working Group agendas in the manner envisaged (unlike the applications for 2014, in which relating to WG agendas was not a selection criterion).

Potential applicants should then draft a brief account of their intentions before making contact and requesting feedback on it.  This process will help ensure that the outcomes and deliverables of the STSMs are devoted to benefitting the Action as a whole.

Potential applicants from East-Central Europe and those with no previous contact with this COST Action are explicitly encouraged to make use of this opportunity.

What does a successful application look like?

A successful application balances emphasis on the candidate’s personal research project with consideration of the way in which it could contribute to the work of the Action. It addresses specific tasks included on one or more Working Group agenda in a very concrete and focused way: a concentrated contribution to advancing one very specific agenda is likely to be more useful to the project than an attempt to address multiple agendas simultaneously.

A successful proposal will develop a realistic work plan resulting in specific deliverables, which very often includes a brief paper, posted in the Action’s Member’s section, making recommendations on how to resolve a particular issue.  Proposals are typically 2-3 pages and should not be more than 5.  They can take the form of a separate document, or be included in the letter of motivation.

For a step-by-step guidance you may want to refer to the most recent STSM call in the news section of this website.

Past STSMs

Grant Period 1 (successful projects)

Grant Period 2 (successful projects)

Grant Period 3 (successful projects)

Final Grant Period (successful projects)