COST Action CA20104

ITC CONFERENCE : Open Call for PhysAgeNet

Objectives

ITC Conference Grant targets Young Researchers and Innovators that are affiliated in an Inclusiveness Target Country (ITC) or Near Neighbour Country (NNC) for their participation in high-level conferences. The aim of the Network on evidence-based physical activity in old age (CA20104) is to establish a sustainable network that will foster evidence-based research and practice of physical activity in older adults and will enhance the integration of innovative ICT solutions based on open data consolidated research information, in order to promote health and reduce the burden of inactivity in ageing populations. To achieve this goal, the involvement of PhD students and early career researchers is essential, thus the CA20104 are holding an Open Call for Inclusive Target Countries grants.

Eligibility Criteria

  1.  Only researchers with a primary affiliation in an institution located in ITCs are eligible. All candidates are invited to apply; however, priority will be given to those from institutions already participating in PhysAgeNet COST Action CA20104. 

  2. The applicant must give an oral presentation at the conference in question and must be listed in the official event/conference programme, as well as the book of abstracts of the respective conference.
  3. The main topic of the oral presentation at the approved conference must be on a topic relevant to PhysAgeNet COST Action CA20104 and must acknowledge COST.

  4.  The conference in question should take place until October 23 2025. 

  5. In addition to these general criteria, the call for applications may include specific aspects
    (e.g. related to eligible conferences or to topical aspects of PhysAgeNet). These will be applied for the approval process. i.e., ranking of the applications

Selection of Applicants

Only participants who comply with all eligibility criteria will be considered for the Grand; however, in the case of similar applications, priority will be given to those institutions already participating in PhysAgeNet COST Action CA20104. 

Financial Support

The ITC conference grant covers the following positions:

  1. Travel and sustenance in case of on-site participation;
  2. Registration fee;
  3. Printing of scientific poster (in case of on-site participation);
  4. Overall effort for implementation.

The covered amount for participation is up to 2500 EUR for on-site conference or 500 EUR for virtual participation. Please note that you are not allowed to have more than one conference grant at the same time!

How to Apply

In order to apply, participants need to:

  1. Create a Grant application in the e-COST system;
  2. Select the grant from the page “Apply for new grant”;
  3. Fill in the application for the Grant and add the following supporting documentation:
    1. ITC grant application based on the e-COST template
    2. Copy of the abstract of the accepted oral presentation
    3. Acceptance (or invitation) letter from the conference organisers
    4. A document confirming that the abstract for presentation will be published in a Book of Abstracts (e.g. a screenshot from the conference webpage)
    5. Budget approximation (tickets, hotel, conference cost)
    6. A confirmation letter that the Grant candidate is from an institution participating in CA20104 (optional)
  4. Submit the application. 

For more information on Grant Awarding, please see Grant Awarding User guide: https://www.cost.eu/uploads/2021/12/Grant-Awarding-userguide.pd

During the Conference

During the conference, we encourage you to take pictures and send them to the Grant Awarding Coordinator (Kristīne Šneidere, kristine.sneidere@rsu.lv), as well as, post from your own account during the conference, mentioning @physagenet and @COSTprogramme, and using #ITCConferenceGrants, #PhysAgeNet, #COST, #activeaging, #exerciseismedicine or any other relevant hashtag. 

Please note that it is compulsory to acknowledge COST and EU funding in your presentation! The acknowledgement should include COST logotype, the EU emblem and text “Funded by the European Union”, the acronym and the COST action number, as well as boilerplate featuring a description of COST and a reference to the COST website. See more in the user guide for visual identity: https://www.cost.eu/about/visual-identity/ . If the reference to CA is not included, your grant will not be paid. 

After the Conference

After the conference, the participant must write and submit a report via their e-COST account, including:

  1. report template;
  2. certificate of attendance;
  3. programme of the conference or book of abstracts/proceedings;
  4. Copy of the given presentation;
  5. Copy of the article (if published in Conference Proceedings).

Please note that the report should be submitted no later than 30 days after the conference.