STSM 7th call
Dear fellow ARBRE-MOBIEU members and their colleagues/students,
The 7th call for the Short Term Scientific Missions (STSMs) is now open. The purpose of these STSMs can be very diverse – ranging from scientific visits to a collaborating laboratory (e.g., measuring data as part of a joint research project), training visits to learn a new technique (e.g., for students, post-docs and early career investigators, technicians…), coordination visits to a joint research partner to optimize and plan further experiments (e.g., benchmarking), up to testing and evaluating new instruments or developing new methods – until now 46 scientists have been awarded (https://arbre-mobieu.eu/awarded-stsms)! Both academic and industrial labs can qualify to host STSMs, so industry-oriented STSMs are welcome as well.
As the new COST Vademecum entered into action in May 2019, the rules for STSM were simplified, too. Firstly, the missions must have a minimum duration of 5 calendar days that includes travel; however, there is no upper limit on duration now. Secondly, up to a maximum of EUR 300 can be afforded for travel costs only; however, the maximum support that can be afforded to each successful applicant has been increased to EUR 3500 in total, and there is no distinction between ECI and non-ECI applicants. The rest of the rules remains mostly unchanged and you may find them within the COST Vademecum (http://www.cost.eu/download/COSTVademecum) on pages 34-35. You may also want to search the trans-national access (TNA) database to find a suitable host (https://arbre-mobieu.eu/transnational-access-search) or search through the project database to find a potential research partner (https://arbre-mobieu.eu/search-project); you have to be registered and logged in to be able to access the databases.
The deadline for the 7th call is 30th November 2019 and missions should be carried out between December 2019 and March 2020. All details about proposal preparation and submission can be found within STSM subsection of our website: https://arbre-mobieu.eu/stsm-statement. Do not forget to fill in the trans-national access (TNA) form, when you submit your application online at: https://arbre-mobieu.eu/stsm-proposals.
Ondřej Vaněk
STSM coordinator