Conference Grants > Eligibility and General Information

Conference Grants are for PhD students and early stage researchers to attend international science and technology related conferences not specifically organised by the COST Action. They are restricted to students and researchers from Inclusive Target Countries (ITC) that are participating in the COST Action.  

The Inclusiveness Target Countries (ITCs) are:
Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Croatia, Hungary, Lithuania, Latvia, Luxembourg, Malta, Montenegro, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Slovakia, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Republic of Serbia and Turkey.

The list of countries participating in the COST Action can be found here: 
http://www.cost.eu/COST_Actions/ca/CA15210?parties

An early stage researcher, i.e., an 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 following eligibility criteria apply:

1. Conference Grants are exclusively reserved for PhD students and ECI’s with a primary affiliation in an institution located in an ITC. The applicant must be engaged in an official research programme as a PhD Student or postdoctoral fellow.

2. The applicant must make an oral/poster presentation at the conference in question and must be listed in the official event/conference programme. The main subject of the oral presentation / poster presentation / speech at the approved conference must be on the topic of the Action and must acknowledge COST (see Section 9, page 37 of http://www.cost.eu/download/COSTVademecum).

3. The participation of each applicant must be pre-approved (see Application Procedure webpage). Attendance at European conferences is preferred. However, conferences held elsewhere can also be considered.


Amount of Financial Support

Conference Grants do not necessarily cover all of the expenses related to participating in a given conference. A Conference Grant is a contribution to the overall travel, accommodation and meal expenses of the selected Grantee.

The maximum value of the conference grant is €2500, but we expect that most applications will be for substantially less than that. This includes a maximum of 500 euros in conference fees. 

The typical subsistence rate (covering accommodation and meals) that you may apply for should be €60-€100 per day, and should be appropriate in view of typical accommodation costs for the location of the conference (so, Conference Grants are not subject to the much more generous rules for reimbursement for Management Committee meetings).

In addition when meal and accommodation expenses are supported by the hosting institution as part of the provisions offered in their conference package, the amount for subsistence afforded to each eligible participant must be deducted from the Grant. Documentary evidence of the conference fee amount must be provided by the applicant, along with other relevant administrative documents.


Evaluation Criteria

The following criteria will be considered in the evaluation of applications: 

  • relevance of the conference and presentation to kidney exchange
  • potential of the work to contribute to ENCKEP COST Action objectives and deliverables
  • reputation of conference, and how selective it is (regarding accepting papers)
  • career stage of researcher (to ensure a good balance between early stage researchers and established researchers)
  • cost of trip