RESTORE Action ITC Conference Grants
Conference Grants (up to 1000 Euro) are aimed at supporting PhD students and ECI researchers from Participating ITC to attend international science and technology related conferences not specifically organized by the COST Action.
Eligibility criteria
- The Applicant is either a PhD student of an Early Career Investigator (ECI). Early Career Investigator (ECI) is an individual who is within a time span of up to 8 years from the date they obtained their PhD/doctorate (full-time equivalent).
- The Applicant’s primary affiliation in an institution located in an ITC (Inclusiveness Target Country). The ITCs are as follows: Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Croatia, Hungary, Lithuania, Latvia, Luxembourg, Malta, Moldova, Montenegro, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Slovakia, Republic of North Macedonia, Republic of Serbia and Turkey.
- The Applicant must make an oral/poster presentation at the conference in question and must be listed in the official event/conference program. The main subject of the oral presentation / poster presentation / speech at the approved conference must be on the topic of the Action RESTORE and must acknowledge COST (see COST Vademecum Section 10, page 39).
- Considering the timeline of GP4, conference for which the Applicant is applying must end latest in February 2021. Conferences with dates in March 2021 and later are not eligible
The participation of each Applicant will be pre-approved by the MC of the COST Action RESTORE. Attendance at European conferences is preferred. However, conferences held elsewhere can also be considered.
Additionally:
- The priority is always given to applications that are related to currently ongoing Working Groups, submitted by the WG members, and endorsed by the WG leaders.
- The submission for ITC GC should be made AFTER the abstract has been approved by the conference organizers.
- In order to ensure proper distribution of funds we never send more than one person to a single conference (especially if those people are from the same institution/country).
Find a conference
In case you don’t know which conference might be worth attending, we are encouraging you to check list of upcoming events at The European Portal for Energy Efficiency in Buildings. Of course, you are not limited to the conferences on this list. Just let us know if there is anything out there worth yours and other RESTORE participants´attention!
Please double check to which Grant Period the conference belongs to. If a conference takes place between May (current year) and April (the next year), it belongs to given Grant Period in that year and should be applied in the ITC CG call announced specifically for given Grant Period.
Examples:
• The conference in April 2019 is funded from the GP2 budget. (ITC GC for GP2).
• The conference in July 2019 is funded from GP3 budget. (ITC GC for GP3).
• The conference in April 2020 is funded from GP3 budget. (ITC GC for GP3).
• The conference in May 2020 is funded from GP4 budget. (ITC GC for GP4).
• Etc.
How to apply?
To apply for a Conference Grant within the RESTORE Cost Action (CA16114), please send the following documents (in a single pdf file) to ITC Conference Grants Manager Jelena Brajković (jelena.brajkovic@arh.bg.ac.rs) before the deadline:
- filled ITC application form (max. 2 pages – see the form on the next page of this document) – Open-Call-for-RESTORE-Action-ITC-Conference-Grants;
- the Applicant’s CV, including recent publications (max. 1 page);
Additionally (if available):
- full paper;
- the most recent conference booklet or leaflet / conference program (especially if the Applicant is listed);
- the invitation from the Organizers (for a keynote presentation, etc.).
Application process
The ITC conference grant evaluation procedure has been approved through e-vote by COST RESTORE Management Committee Members. The procedure is as follows:
- ITC Conference Grants Call is launched by RESTORE ITC Conference Grants Manager (stating all relevant details of application (WG of reference) and deadline). Please note that current call is ongoing and the applications can be submitted at any time.
- After the deadline, a Committee of Reviewers (RESTORE Editorial Committee and ITC Conference Grants Manager) pre-evaluates all submitted applications in the context of their compatibility and relevance with the topic of the Action. The committee also checks if the applicant is a PhD candidate or ECI, and if he/she represents an ITC country.
- The result of the pre-approval is the ranking list and the actual number of applications to be funded is determined by the available budget. The ITC Conference Grants Manager confirms available funding with the Grant Manager, and informs successful Applicants about the result of the pre-approval.
- The Applicants that were successful during the pre-approval must then formally submit their applications via e-COST.
- Action Chair approves the applications that has been successfully pre-approved.
- The Grant Holder sends the grant letter.
Pre-evaluation
Your application will be first evaluated by the Editorial Committee and by the ITC Conference Grants Manager. Then, if the remaining budget allows to provide funding it will be submitted for approval by the Action Chair. Priority will be given to applications that support the objectives of the Working Packages. Please consult the RESTORE website and the RESTORE Memorandum of Understanding for details.
It is expected that each ITC grantee will send a copy of their presentation/poster/paper to the ITC Conference Grants Manager of the RESTORE Action. It will be then disseminated using the official RESTORE website, social media, etc. The material must be submitted to the ITC Conference Grants Manager by email shortly after the conference. Photographic material from the conference (e.g. the Applicant with the RESTORE logo in background) will be requested.
Before filling the application, please consult the ITC Conference Grant rules in the COST Vademecum at Section 9 (page 37). With any further questions please contact ITC Conference Grants Manager Jelena Brajković (jelena.brajkovic@arh.bg.ac.rs).