The MC meeting that took place in Edinburgh on 7th March 2014 decided on issuing the second call for STSMs (Short Term Scientific Missions) this year with an estimated budget of up to €3650.

The call is now open and the deadline for submission is 1st July 2014 for STSMs taking place from August 1st 2014 to November 30th 2014. Interested individuals must apply on-line and to me by 1st July 2014. Please send this e-mail to any students of yours who wish to apply. Please read carefully this (entire) letter, and HAVE YOUR STUDENTS DO SO AS WELL, BEFORE STSMs are planned (budget, etc.). I remind you that STSM grants are not designed to cover all expenses, but, rather, to contribute to financing of the STSM. As voted at the Edinburgh MC meeting, «STSM applications should follow the general guidelines of this Action: the cheapest transportation and the cheapest accommodation available» (see below for details).

Please, be sure to read the official COST guidelines for STSM, which should give you all of the information you need (but also see below) http://www.ub.edu/tig/GWBNet/Vademecum/COST_Vademecum_Grant_System.pdf .

After filling in the on-line form (direct link to the e-COST website: http://w3.cost.esf.org/index.php?id=91) , a formal STSM application will be generated, which you have to download and send as en e-mail attachment to

1)  the proposed Host institution of the STSM
2)  me, the STSM Coordinator: a.otwinowska@uw.edu.pl

You also need to send to me the following:

3)  A motivation letter, which includes the work plan of the proposed STSM as well as a paragraph (1/2 page maximum) making explicit how the proposed STSM is relevant to the goals of Action IS1306 at this time.
4)  A letter of support from the home institute
5)  A letter from the host confirming intention to host you
6)  A CV
7)  Budget for travel and subsistence.  This must be well prepared (you need to look up ticket and hotel prices, and quote them; prices will be checked).

I remind you that submitted STSMs will be evaluated according to the following guidelines: priority to early stage researchers, priority to projects most directly related to furthering the goals of the action, and only projects whose host is a member of the action. Applications will be attributed points for these criteria and ranked, as agreed at the MC meeting in Edinburgh. Budget will be reduced to fund as many priority projects as possible, without making grants too low to be useful.
It is recommended that travel money does not exceed €300. Daily subsistence allowance (accommodation and/or meals) will be granted for a minimum of 5 and a maximum of 10 working days (your STSM can be longer, but the action will not fund more than 10 days of the proposed stay).

Notification of whether your proposed STSM will be funded and, if so, for what amount, will probably not be sent out before 20th July 2014, and therefore if you plan on beginning your STSM in August, you may have to either risk having ticket prices go up or take a chance on buying your tickets earlier, without knowing the outcome of your application.

Finally, if you do receive an STSM grant, after completion of the STSM, you are expected to submit to the host institution and MC Chair (or the STSM coordinator) a short scientific report on the visit. This report should contain the following information:
• Purpose of the STSM;
• Description of the work carried out during the STSM;
• Description of the main results obtained;
• Future collaboration with host institution (if applicable);
• Foreseen publications/articles resulting or to result from the STSM (if applicable);

Moreover, a confirmation by the host institution of the successful execution of the STSM should be sent to us as well.

Font: Agnieszka Otwinowska-Kasztelani