Reinforced funding for research networks: statement from COST’s Scientific Committee

In a statement published today, COST’s Scientific Committee urges the European Commission, European Parliament, and Member States to increase the budget allocated to COST in order to fund at least 50% more new Actions per year and reinforce COST’s role as a capacity builder.  

COST’S Scientific Committee is an independent body comprising high-level experts appointed by their Member State. As prominent members of the scientific community, their role is to advise the COST Association on how the programme can best achieve excellent implementation and impact.

The Scientific Committee statement highlights the growing demand for participation in ongoing and funding of new COST Actions.

“The recent COST Open Call received a record number of proposals, an astonishing 62% increase in submissions. The reality is that increasing numbers of excellent proposals cannot be funded due to insufficient budget. For COST to successfully serve the research and innovation community it is key to increase its funding.” explains Prof. Luciano Mule Stagno, Chair of the COST Scientific Committee and Director of the Institute for Sustainable Energy and Group Leader of the Solar Research Lab at the University of Malta. “COST provides small grants with big leverage, with one euro invested in COST generating almost 10 euros in return. The role of research networks as a preportal for follow-up funding should not be underestimated.”  he concludes.

Download the Scientific Committee statement

The Scientific Committee also emphasis COST’s ability to bring together researchers and innovators, especially young researchers and those in less-connected countries or regions.

“COST Actions are incredibly inclusive. Researchers from all countries, career points, and backgrounds join together in these research networks and it’s key that this offering is reinforced to support integration, capacity building, and cooperation. The role and impact of COST’s research networks on the career development of researchers is widely recognised, but this could be greatly expanded with enhanced financial support” adds Dr Orla Murphy, Vice-Chair of the COST Scientific Committee and Head of the Discipline of Digital Humanities at University College Cork (UCC).

This article was first published on 5 December by COST Association.