COST Meets Researchers in the Near Neighbour Countries

06/05/2022

Near Neighbour Countries

The COST programme connects researchers and innovators from the countries neighbouring full COST Members. These countries are known as COST Near Neighbour Countries (NNC) and include Algeria, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Egypt, Jordan, Kosovo, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Palestine, Russia*, Syria, and Tunisia.

Last month the COST Association organised four ‘COST Meets Researcher’ events in Palestine, Azerbaijan, Jordan, and Tunisia to raise awareness of the opportunities available to researchers in the NNCs as part of its aim to double NNC participation in COST Actions by the end of Horizon Europe.

World map with countries shaded in purple, green, orange, and blue depending on their relationship to COST

COST Meets Researchers in Palestine, Azerbaijan, Jordan, and Tunisia

Participants in the four events discovered how to participate in COST Actions and heard directly from local researchers who have already participated in Actions.

Researchers from NNCs can be involved in a COST Action from the very beginning or can join an existing Action at any point during its lifetime. NNC researchers are also eligible for reimbursement if they would like to participate in or organise a Training School, Short-term Scientific Mission (STSM), conference, or another networking activity in the context of a COST Action. They can also access COST’s Inclusive Target Country (ITC) tools, such as ITC conference grants (these grants are aimed at young researchers & PhD students from ITCs to attend beneficial conferences that are not organised by a COST Action).

Furthermore, although researchers coming from COST’s Near Neighbour Countries cannot be the main proposer of a new COST Action, they can be a member of a proposing network as secondary proposers.

Testimonials from the NNC research community

What do researchers have to say about COST?

“COST Actions are an important gateway for Azerbaijani scientists and researchers to the European science and research platform. It will undoubtedly enhance the partnership between EU and Azerbaijani institutions and help to expand awareness about our researchers’ capabilities and our institutions’ resources among Europeans. It thus would contribute to global and regional scientific dialogue and true collaboration of extreme importance nowadays.”

Dr. Nabil Seyidov, researcher from Azerbaijan and participant in COST Action ‘Industrially Contaminated Sites and Health Network (ICSHNet)’.

“COST enabled me to strengthen my network, to attend more than 10 conferences and workshops in Europe, with highly recognised scientists, to have highly valued publication reviews of research articles. COST can be a starting point for submitting future proposals, starting here to build a network.“ 

Abdel Rahman Mohammad Said Al-Tawaha, researcher from Jordan and participant in nine COST Actions.

“I think that participation in COST Action projects contributes to international scientific cooperation and scientific exchange. At the same time, it contributes to the globalisation of science and its penetration into practice.”

Pusta Orujova, researcher from Azerbaijan and participant in COST Action ‘Maximising impact of multidisciplinary research in early diagnosis of neonatal brain injury‘.

“COST provides great opportunities to share knowledge and publish together with peers. It also gives a profound insight to how European projects work. I can advise to start following the COST Action of your interest on social media and then apply to become a participant.” 

Hajer Gahbiche Msakni, Assistant Professor – University of Kairouan,Tunisia and participant in COST Actions ‘Network on Privacy-Aware Audio- and Video-Based Applications for Active and Assisted Living‘ and ‘Researcher Mental Health‘.

What are the benefits of participating in a COST Action?

Click through to discover….

Scientific 

• enabling researchers to work on emerging scientific topics
• facilitating access to research infrastructures (through short-term scientific missions)
• fostering opportunities for training
• maximising the production of new knowledge and breakthrough discoveries

Networking

• creating open spaces for the free circulation of researchers and ideas
• helping advancing knowledge and innovation (by building an internal market for researchers and innovators)
• increasing interconnectedness with the whole research community across countries, generations, and gender in Europe and beyond
• promoting global research cooperation and widening access to excellence

Career opportunities

• acting as incentive for the promotion of career development at European level
• boosting careers of young researchers

Financial support

• allowing a low-entry barrier and successful pathways towards other cooperation schemes in the ERA

More information

Read more about COST global networking

Find a COST Action to join

Read more about the Open Call 2022

*As of 6 May 2022 until further notice, measures are taken to suspend cooperation with Russia for the execution of the COST Actions and COST activities. Amongst these measures, participation and eligibility of COST Action participants affiliated to a legal entity established in Russia are suspended for all COST Actions and COST activities.