COST Action CA18207 BOTTOM-UPS

Inclusiveness Target Countries Conference Grants (ITC CG)

Support to Early Career Investigators and PhD students from COST Inclusiveness Target Countries (ITC*) or Near Neighbour Countries (NNC**) to attend meetings of interest, not specifically organized by the COST Action.

* Currently the ITC countries participating to the Action CA18207 BOTTOMS-UP are: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Poland, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia and Turkey.

**NNC counties are: Algeria, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Egypt, Georgia, Jordan, Kosovo [1], Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Palestine[2], [Russia] [3], Syria, Tunisia and Ukraine.

COST BOTTOMS-UP periodically calls for submission of applications for requesting financial support to attend the meetings, symposia and workshops linked to the COST Action CA18207 BOTTOMS-UP.

List of meetings of interest for the COST Action CA18207 in 2022

• IAVS (International Association for Vegetation Science) 64^th Annual Symposium – Madrid 27 June-1 July. Abstract Submission Deadline: April 26^th https://iavsmadrid2022.com/
• World Conference on Climate Change & Sustainability; Frankfurt, Germany; 22-24.08.2022 (deadline for abstracts – 2nd round 10.3. – 4.05.2022); https://climateweek.thepeopleevents.com/
• GREEN 2022 (Zagreb, Croatia, 14th to 16th September 2022.; deadline for abstracts 15.05.2022) https://www.sumins.hr/green2022/
• Balkan Botanical Congress (Athens, Greece; 4-8.7.2022; deadline for abstracts 16.5.) https://bbc2022.org/

Applications may be relative to meetings not reported here.

To be eligible for applying you must meet all the next requirements:

• Be under the age of forty
• Be a PhD student (formally enrolled at the time of the application in a PhD programme in an accredited organisation) or an Early Career Investigator (a period between the date of defense of the PhD thesis e and the date of application for the ITC grant not exceeding 8 years)
• Be affiliated with an institution in an ITC or NNC country that participates in the BOTTOMS-UP Action;
• Have a fully updated e-COST profile.
• to have an acceptance letter from the conference organisers, from which it is evident that the applicant will have an oral or poster presentation at the conference.
• present an abstract that is strictly related to the COST Action BOTTOMS-UP topic, i.e., forest multi-taxon biodiversity, where multi-taxon refers to studies focused on at least three taxonomic groups including Animalia and either Plantae or Fungi.

When can you apply?

Formal applications for a particular conference grant will be available during the appropriate grant period within which the meeting is held.

How to apply?

Applications for BOTTOMS-UP conference grants will only be accepted through the e-COST platform (https://e-services.cost.eu/).

Before filling the application, please consult the ITC Conference Grant rules in the COST Grant Awarding User Guide (https://www.cost.eu/uploads/2021/12/Grant-Awarding-userguide.pdf).

What will the grant cover?

The grant will reimburse scholars for their expenses to attend the specific conference, including travel and subsistence as well as the registration fee, up to a total amount defined by the Action Management Committee.

When will the grant be paid?

The scholars will receive the grant amount after they submit a report from their participation to the Meeting. The grantee must submit a report on the activities in the latest 30 days after its end date. A scientific report template is available on the Supporting documents page or on-line here: http://www.cost.eu/ITC_meeting_grant_report_template.

Other requirements

• Participation at the conference needs pre-approval by the BOTTOMS-UP Management Committee.
• If applicants are interested in attending a “non-listed” conference and they considered it is of interest for the COST Action CA18207, the ITC coordinator and Action Chair should be contacted by an e-mail before submitting an abstract and applying for the ITC grant through the eCOST.
• Only one person per conference and per institution can be funded.
• It is desirable to include other Action participants in the abstract.
• The grantee must acknowledge the funder (BOTTOMS-UP and COST Association) in their oral or poster presentation (logos of COST and BOTTOMS-UP can be easily downloaded from the BOTTOMS-UP website).

Selection criteria

The selection criteria include: a) evaluation of a CV, b) interest of the abstract proposed for the BOTTOMS-UP Action.  Additional criteria will be related to the achievement of a proper of a geographic distribution and gender balance.

Previously approved ITC grants

1. MURAT SARGINCI (Duzce, Turkey) – for the participation at the European Geosciences Union General Assembly, Vienna, Austria, 3 - 8 May 2020 (EGU2020, www.egu2020.eu)

2. CSENGE VERONIKA HORVÁTH (Vácrátót and Budapest, Hungary) - for the participation at the conference “Forestry - Bridge to the Future”, May 5-8. 2021, Sofia, Bulgaria
(https://conf2020.forestry-ideas.info/)

With any further questions please contact ITC Conference Grants Coordinator Božena Mitić ().

[1] This designation is without prejudice to positions on status and is in line with UNSCR 1244/1999 and the ICJ Opinion on the Kosovo declaration of independence.
[2] This designation shall not be construed as recognition of a State of Palestine and is without prejudice to the individual positions of the Member States on this issue.
[3] Subject to confirmation by the EC.