MOBILISE Action ITC Conference Grants

Support to Early Career Investigators and PhD students from COST Inclusiveness Target Countries (ITC) for participation to the Biodiversity_Next International Conference (Leiden, The Netherlands, 19-25 October 2019).

Applications are now open (register for an e-COST account first)

Deadline extended until Thursday 6 June at 12.00 UTC 

 

Background information  

Mobilise Action aims at  building up a cooperative, inclusive, bottom-up and responsive network with active involvement of European stakeholders to support research for biodiversity and geodiversity informatics. MOBILISE facilitates knowledge and technology transfer across stakeholders, bridging the gaps between biodiversity and geodiversity research and information technology best practices.

The Action is supporting activities across six Working Groups (https://www.mobilise-action.eu/participate/) that tackle more relevant topics in relation to natural sciences collections management and seek to strengthen networking among scientists and researchers across Europe. In the context of the activities of these groups, MOBILISE organises several symposia and workshops, some of them will take place during the international Conference Biodiversity_Next.

Biodiversity_Next (https://biodiversitynext.org/) is a Conference that brings together, for the first time at this scale, major international organisations, research scientists, and policy makers to jointly identify socio-technical bottlenecks and horizon-scan opportunities around data-intensive biodiversity and geodiversity research.

The Conference will take place in Leiden, the Netherlands, between 19 and 25 October 2019. It will include more than 60 symposia and workshops across the four programme tracks (Science, Infrastructure, Data and Policy).

MOBILISE calls for submission of applications for requesting financial support to attend the Conference, and in particular the symposia and workshops linked to the COST action MOBILISE[1].

 

To be eligible for applying you must fulfill all the requirements below

  1. Be a PhD student[2] or Early Career Investigator (ECI)[3]
  2. Be affiliated with an institution in an ITC country[4] that participates in the MOBILISE Action;
  3. Have already submitted an abstract for an oral presentation or poster to be included in the Biodiversity_Next programme; and
  4. Have a fully updated e-COST profile.

Please be aware that the Conference abstracts submission has a deadline on 5 April 2019. The procedure for abstract submission is fully described at the Conference website (https://biodiversitynext.org/call-for-symposia/).

 

When can you apply

Formal applications period for MOBILISE ITC conference grants will open on Monday 6 May and will close on Thursday 6 June at 12.00 (noon) UTC. 

 

How can you apply

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

 

What will the grant cover

The grant will reimburse grant-holders for their expenses to attend the Conference, including travel and subsistence as well as the Conference registration fees, up to a total amount of EUR 1,400.00

 

When will the grant be paid

The grant-holders will receive the grant amount after they submit a report from their participation to the Conference.

 

Other requirements

The grantee must acknowledge the funder (MOBILISE and COST Association) in their oral presentation or poster (logos and references to COST and MOBILISE can be  easily downloaded from MOBILISE website). The grantee must submit a report on the activities in the Conference, the latest 30 days after the Conference end date. A scientific report template is available on the Supporting documents page or on-line here: http://www.cost.eu/ITC_conference_grant_report_template .

 

Selection criteria

The selection criteria include: a) evaluation of academic performance, b) involvement in infrastructure and collections data lifecycle activities, c) involvement in MOBILISE working groups. Additional criteria will be used for geographic distribution and gender balance.

 

 

Benefit of MOBILISE grants and attend the largest and most important Conference of the year on bio and geodiversity data.  Contribute to build together a global infrastructure for natural science collections data!

 

Biodiversity_Next: better data, better science, better policies

 

FAQ

Can I apply for the MOBILISE grant without having submitted a conference abstract?

  • No

What happens if I submit an abstract, submit my application but not selected for funding?

  • You can decide if you still have the resources to attend the conference and present your work. Alternatively, you can retract your abstract submission.

What happens if I am selected for funding but my abstract is not accepted in the conference programme?

  • If your abstract is not accepted, you will not be able to make use of the grant.

What happens if the costs for attendance will probably be higher than the amount of the grant?

  • The MOBILISE Action will only be able to reimburse your expenses up to the amount indicated in the call. Additional expenses need to be covered by the applicant. The awarded amount could cover fully the expenses of a PhD student (lower registration fees) and most of the expenses for an ECI (due to higher registration fees).

 

[1] SI22, GT51, ST74, SS78, WT65

[2] Formally enrolled (at the time of the application) in a PhD programme in a accredited organisation  

[3] An applicant can be considered as being an ECI when the time that has elapsed between the award date of the applicants PhD and the date of application for the grant does not exceed 8 years.

[4] Currently the ITC countries participating to the Action are Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Hungary, Luxembourg, Montenegro, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, North Macedonia, Serbia and Turkey.