On 28 May COST organised an Informative Day in Riga. About 70 researchers attended the Info Day to learn about the benefits of Latvian researchers participating in COST Actions. Several Latvian Action participants talked about their experience in the Action’s networking activities, underlining how COST Actions help researchers to reach out to pan-European networks. Dr Maija Bundule, COST National Coordinator for Latvia, talked about the financial support given by the Latvian State Education Development to Latvian researchers active in COST Actions, which makes researchers’ engagement in COST networks an even greater success.
Dr Primož Pristovšek, Head of COST Science Operations, met with Dr Dmitrijs Stepanovs, Acting Deputy State Secretary and Director of the Latvian Department of Higher Education, Science and Innovation. During the meeting Dr Pristovšek congratulated the Latvian research community for their rising involvement in COST Actions and underlined the importance of COST Actions in linking the research community to the European Research Area. Dr Stepanovs recognised the pivotal role COST plays in connecting Latvian researchers to European networks of excellence and expressed his hope that in the future, the engagement of Latvian participants in COST Actions will deepen further. Both sides agreed that the Latvian participation in COST is a success story and expressed their willingness to continue bolstering the amical relations between the COST framework and Latvia.
Picture: COST Officers meet the Ministry of Education and Science and his team.
Dr Pristovšek commented: “COST deeply beliefs that excellence can be found everywhere in the European Research Area, and we are glad to see that the story of Latvia confirms this belief. This would not have been possible without the profound engagement of the Latvian research community and the Latvian Department of Higher Education, Science and Innovation. I would in particularly like to thank the Latvian Department of Higher Education, Science and Innovation for giving additional financial support to some COST participants, thereby ensuring that Latvian researchers get the maximum impact out of their COST Action participation”.