Open Call entry points

For applicants (the "Proposer") Registration, submission and status of proposals

COST Restricted Area For the monitoring of proposals
Color code   Completed In process Next step Future  *Date estimated

7th collection date 8th collection date 9th collection date
Reference oc-2009-2 oc-2010-1 oc-2010-2
Collection Date Fri, 25 September 2009 @ 17:00 Fri, 26 March 2010 @ 17:00 Fri, 24 September 2010 @ 17:00
Eligibility check & Allocation to DCs Mon, 12 October 2009 Tue, 13 April 2010 Thu, 7 October 2010
DC electronic ranking finishes Fri, 6 November 2009 @ 17:00 Tue, 11 May 2010 @ 13:00 Fri, 5 November 2010 @ 00:00
Invitation for Full Proposals Mon, 16 November 2009 Fri, 14 May 2010 Fri, 12 November 2010
Submission deadline for Full Proposal Fri, 15 January 2010 @ 17:00 Fri, 30 July 2010 @ 17:00 Fri, 14 January 2011 @ 17:00
EEP assessment starts Mon, 18 January 2010 Mon, 2 August 2010 Thu, 13 January 2011
External Experts Panel meetings BMBS Wed, 17 February 2010 BMBS Fri, 13 August 2010 * BMBS Fri, 28 January 2011 *
FA Tue, 16 February 2010 FA Mon, 30 August 2010 FA Fri, 28 January 2011 *
FPS Tue, 16 February 2010 FPS Tue, 31 August 2010 FPS Fri, 28 January 2011 *
MPNS Tue, 16 February 2010 MPNS Fri, 13 August 2010 * MPNS Fri, 28 January 2011 *
CMST Wed, 17 February 2010 CMST Fri, 13 August 2010 * CMST Fri, 28 January 2011 *
ESSEM Thu, 18 February 2010 ESSEM Fri, 13 August 2010 * ESSEM Fri, 28 January 2011 *
ICT Thu, 18 February 2010 ICT Fri, 13 August 2010 * ICT Fri, 28 January 2011 *
TUD Mon, 15 February 2010 TUD Fri, 13 August 2010 * TUD Fri, 28 January 2011 *
ISCH Tue, 16 February 2010 ISCH Fri, 13 August 2010 * ISCH Fri, 28 January 2011 *
TDP Mon, 22 February 2010 TDP Fri, 13 August 2010 * TDP Fri, 28 January 2011 *
Domain Committee Hearings BMBS Tue, 2 March 2010 BMBS Fri, 27 August 2010 * BMBS Fri, 11 February 2011 *
FA Thu, 25 February 2010 FA Fri, 27 August 2010 * FA Fri, 11 February 2011 *
FPS Wed, 3 March 2010 FPS Thu, 9 September 2010 FPS Fri, 11 February 2011 *
MPNS Mon, 22 February 2010 MPNS Fri, 27 August 2010 * MPNS Fri, 11 February 2011 *
CMST Mon, 1 March 2010 CMST Fri, 27 August 2010 * CMST Fri, 11 February 2011 *
ESSEM Thu, 4 March 2010 ESSEM Fri, 27 August 2010 * ESSEM Fri, 11 February 2011 *
ICT Thu, 4 March 2010 ICT Fri, 27 August 2010 * ICT Fri, 11 February 2011 *
TUD Wed, 24 February 2010 TUD Fri, 27 August 2010 * TUD Fri, 11 February 2011 *
ISCH Tue, 2 March 2010 ISCH Fri, 27 August 2010 * ISCH Fri, 11 February 2011 *
TDP Thu, 11 March 2010 TDP Fri, 27 August 2010 * TDP Fri, 11 February 2011 *
DC Chair Consensus Meeting 8-19/3/2010 * 20/9-1/10/2010 * 7/3-18/03/2011 *
Final list of new Actions proposals Thu, 25 March 2010 Thu, 7 October 2010 Wed, 24 March 2010
New Actions approval by CSO Mon, 24 May 2010 Fri, 26 November 2010 Mon, 30 May 2011

 

Collection Date:

Upcoming collection dates for the Open Call will be announced on the COST website, in the Official Journal of the European Union, on CORDIS, on the European Science Foundation (ESF) website, in selected scientific journals, and in other appropriate media.

Submission: the Preliminary Proposal is submitted online to a dedicated secure database operated by the COST Office. The web template limits the main text of the proposal to 10 000 characters (equivalent to about 1 500 words). The Proposer is asked to indicate the preferred Domain. The text must be in English, as no translation is provided and peer reviewers will come from various countries. The Proposer is strongly advised to have the text checked for correctness and clarity.

If the "Proposer" miss this date, s/he are always welcome to register and submit to the next collection.

Eligibility check:
A pre-check is performed by the COST Office to reject any Preliminary d. Proposal which does not meet the basic requirements for COST support. The pre-check addresses four questions:
  • Does the Proposal conform with the specified template? [NO = Reject]
  • Are 5 or more COST Member States involved in the Proposal? [NO = Reject]
  • Does the Proposal seek funding for research? [YES = Reject]
  • Is there obvious duplication with work currently or recently supported by COST? [YES = Reject]
Allocation to DCs:
The COST Office allocates the Preliminary Proposal to the relevant Domain, based on the Proposer's stated preference and its own judgment. The DC Chairs may also be consulted, if needed DC electronic ranking:

The DC chair, supported by the COST Office, allocates to each proposal sufficient Assessors, i.e. DC members or external experts (who may be drawn from the pool of "nominated DC experts" or from other sources), to ensure that a minimum of six assessments are completed for each proposal. DC Chairs are not entitled to assess the preproposals in their domains. Any Preliminary Proposal achieving fewer than six assessments is deemed not to have received sufficient interest and is therefore disregarded.

The Assessors mark their allocated Preliminary Proposals on the basis of the criteria in Guidelines for Assessment, Monitoring, Evaluation and Dissemination of Results of COST Actions Annex A by assigning between 1 and 4 marks to each criterion. For this purpose they have electronic access to the proposal, and secure access to an online automated marking database.

Assessors are encouraged to add meaningful comments in order to provide an appropriate feedback to the Proposer, for improvement of the proposal in view of a potential resubmission.

Invitation for Full Proposals:

The COST Office normally invites, in total, around three times as many top ranked Preliminary Proposals to submit Full Proposals as the total number of new Actions that can be supported by the available funds. The number of invitations in each Cluster will normally be similar, but will also have regard to the absolute numbers of above-threshold cases in each Cluster.

The COST Office informs all other Proposers that they are not invited to submit a Full Proposal. If requested by the Proposer, the COST Office shall provide the assessment scores and comments for that Proposal. COST 205/08 8 DG C II EN

The COST Office provides the Commission Contact Persons with username and password for access to the COST website with an overview of the selected pre-proposals. The relevant time table for the assessment process will be available on the COST website.

Submission for Full Proposal:

When submitting a Full Proposal, the Proposer should contact the national COST Coordinator (CNC) - see www.cost.esf.org/cnc.

Full Proposal format:
The text of a successful Full Proposal will constitute the formal Technical Annex of the Memorandum of Understanding of the COST Action, and must therefore conform in all material respects, including formatting, to the online template provided by the COST Office.
The Proposal must be written in English; no translation service is provided by the COST Office, and peer reviewers will come from various countries. The Proposer is strongly advised to have the text checked for correctness and clarity.

EEP assessment:

The Assessment Criteria for a Full Proposal are shown in the Guidelines for Assessment, Monitoring, Evaluation and Dissemination of Results of COST Actions - Annex B.

External Expert Panel (EEP):
The COST Office, in close cooperation with each DC, convenes for each round and each DC an External Expert Panel (EEP). The EEP typically has five members, drawn from the pool of nominated DC experts or experts from other sources, aiming to cover adequately the required expertise. The EEP members provide individual assessments of each Full Proposal, before they convene for a consensus meeting.

The EEP should not include experts drawn from the pool of nominated DC experts who were involved in the assessment of Preliminary Proposals in the current round, in order to avoid a conflict of interest.

The Commission Contact Person will give comments according to relevance for their Directorate and FP7 activities. Commission Contact Persons will send their possible comments to the COST Office (with a copy to DG RTD). If available, these comments will be forwarded to the members of the EEP and DC.

External Experts Panel meetings:

The EEP is normally coordinated by the DC chair or a member delegated by the DC ("the Convenor"). The Convenor moderates the EEP meeting.

The COST Office draws up a summary table of the individual EEP assessor marks; organises the consensus meeting; prepares briefing materials in consultation with the Convenor and sends these to members before the meeting; and ensures that all relevant documentation is provided at the meeting.

At the meeting the members consider how far each Full Proposal meets the assessment criteria, and agree on consensus marks and the recommendation to the DC for each Full Proposal. Any Proposal recommended by the EEP to the DC must be marked above the threshold of 40 points.

Before the meeting closes the members must agree a brief consensus report on each Full Proposal, highlighting its strengths and weaknesses. In addition, the EEP may suggest leading COST 205/08 9 DG C II EN experts or institutions in the relevant field for possible nomination to the Management Committee (MC) by the CNC. The Convenor presents the EEP's conclusions to the DC.

Domain Committee Hearings:

Proposals marked below the threshold are normally excluded from further assessment.

DC decision process: The Proposers of each Full Proposal recommended by the EEP are invited to present the Proposal to the DC (or its delegated Executive Group). Following the presentations the DC (or Executive Group) ranks the Proposals and shall document the reasons for the ranking, in particular regarding any deviations with respect to the EEP rating. The DC may suggest leading experts or institutions in the relevant field for possible nomination to the MC by the CNC.

For each of the three Science Clusters, the COST Office prepares a table of DC rankings for all Full Proposals marked above the EEP threshold.

Domain Committee Chair Consensus Meeting:

The Chairs of each DC within the Cluster and the Coordinator of the TDP-SAB are then convened to a Cluster DC Chair consensus meeting to compile a final agreed ranking list of all Full Proposals in the Cluster, having regard to the suggested DC ranking list produced by the COST Office. The Cluster meetings are normally chaired by the Vice-President of the CSO.

Final list of new Actions proposals:

On the basis of the final ranking lists for the three Clusters, and of an overall proposal of the COST Office, the JAF group will propose a definitive list for the CSO to approve within the available funding.

New Actions approval meeting by Committee of Senior Officials:

The COST Office will inform all the Proposers of the Full Proposals of the result of the selection process.
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