MARGISTAR’s 1st Call for Virtual Mobility Grant Applications

MARGISTAR is launching its first call for Virtual Mobility Grants for mobilities occurring between January 25th, 2025 until May 31st, 2025. All applications must be made before the deadline on January 6th, 2025, and all activities must occur before May 31st, 2025.

Aim of Virtual Mobilities

Virtual Mobility (VM) Grants aim to promote scientific networking, knowledge sharing, and collaborative research in a virtual environment. These grants are designed to support researchers, particularly early-career scholars, in establishing or strengthening partnerships with colleagues across borders.

VMs offer a unique opportunity to overcome geographical limitations, enabling researchers to engage in collaborative work that would otherwise be difficult due to travel restrictions or logistical challenges. The grants support a range of activities, including but not limited to, virtual meetings, webinars, online workshops, and collaborative research projects. By leveraging digital platforms, these grants foster a vibrant exchange of ideas and expertise, facilitating the development of innovative research outcomes.

Applicants are encouraged to propose activities that align with the objectives of Margistar and contribute to the advancement of their respective fields throughout the year.

A VM can focus on:

• Virtual mentoring schemes, with special focus on activities and exchanges that can generate capacity building and new skills, particularly for Young Researchers and Innovators (e.g. managerial skills, methodological skills, communication skills, etc);
  • Supporting the harmonisation and standardisation of methods and procedures within the Action networking activities, e.g. setting up a survey amongst all Action members to collect different results and outcomes from experiments done in their respective labs and research groups; coordinating the discussions to create common protocols to be used by the network afterwards; preparing questionnaires and response scales to be used by the Action members as part of virtual networking activities.
  • Supporting the implementation of research coordination related activities that do not necessarily require in-person presence, e.g. computational or modelling activities; data analysis of the Action for a specific report or activity.

Call Deadlines 

This call is for missions occurring between January 6^th and September 30^th, 2025. All applications must be submitted until January 6^th, 2025.

Please note that the evaluation process of submitted applications takes some time and the applicant cannot start their mobility period before having received the evaluation outcomes and Grant Letter. 

No later than 30 days after the virtual mobility´s end, the grantee must submit the report. The grant payment is made after the report has been approved by the Grant Awarding Coordinator.

Eligibility and the Application Process

The MARGISTAR VM Grant is intended for researchers and innovators with a primary affiliation to an institution located in a COST Full or Cooperating Member country or from a COST Near Neighbour Country to foster collaboration in a virtual setting, to exchange knowledge, learn new techniques, etc.

To be eligible, candidates must have prepared a VM project with an international team to gain new knowledge or access to equipment or techniques not available in the home institution. The main subject of the VM must be in line with the scope and topics of MARGISTAR.

The application submitted using the e-COST platform. 

The Applicant must log in to e-COST, click on the My Grant Applications tab, and on “Apply for a grant.” Then, the applicant must select ‘Virtual Mobility’ and complete all the sections of the application form. The application form requires the following details: COST Action, Grant period, Grant title, Amount requested, Bank account, Start date requested, End date requested.

To complete an application, the following documents must be uploaded:

• Grant Application form (template available here ) describing: goals, description of the work to be carried out by the applicant, plan for participation, expected outcomes, and a description of the contribution to the MARGISTAR COST Action MoU objectives.
• A confirmation of the host receiving the applicant.
• 1-page CV in the Europass format.
• A breakdown of the estimated costs of the VM.

The Evaluation Process

After the submission, the application will be assessed by the MARGISTAR Grant Awarding Coordinators and the MARGISTAR Core Group. The evaluation process will last approximately 3 weeks after the submission.

The team will evaluate applications according to budget available and considering the following criteria:

1. Compliance of the VM´s topic with MARGISTAR: The proposed VM must align with topics related to the sustainability of mountainous areas (e.g., natural, environmental, social, and economic inter-relationships and interactions in mountainous areas, and environmental, social, economic, and political challenges of mountains), and in particular address periphery traps in mountain areas, visions of post-marginalised futures, or transformation pathways in, of and for mountain areas.
2. Contribution to the MARGISTAR COST Action objectives and deliverables: In particular, the assessment will consider the relevance of the proposed VM for MARGISTAR Action objectives, the contribution to the scientific advancement of the proposal based on the abstract and application form submitted, and the publication and/or outcome potential of the research carried out. The exhaustiveness of the explanation provided of how the VM will support MARGISTAR in achieving its scientific objectives will be highly considered in the evaluation.  Priority will be given to the members of the CA 21125 and with relevant research interests in the Action topic.
3. Contribution to the career development of the applicant: The applicant should explicitly address in the cover letter the motivation for participating in the VM in terms of the new knowledge, expected grantee’s visibility, and contribution to their career development. The establishment of new contacts for future collaborations and impact on the applicant’s career will be highly positively considered in the evaluation.  
4. Inclusiveness criteria: Priority will be given to early-career researchers and young researchers. Gender balance and geographic coverage will also be considered.
5. Applicants that have benefitted from previous MARGISTAR mobility grants or that are applying for other types of mobility (STSM, ITC, DC) can apply, however priority will be given to applicants who have not been awarded any MARGISTAR grants before.
6. Coherence of the proposal: This considers the coherence between the requested budget with the duration and destination of the proposed mobility. It also considers the compliance of the application (goals, expected outcomes) with the expertise of the coordinator from the Host Institution

Once the evaluation process is complete, the applicant will be notified by email by the Grant Awarding Coordinator. Applicants will receive a formal notification through e-cost informing them about the outcomes of the selection and whether the request has been approved or not. If selected, the applicant receives a Grant Letter stating the approved amount and the conditions for receiving the grant. In no case the applicant can start their mobility period before having received the Grant Letter.

What financial support is provided in the VM grant?

Up to €1,500 in total can be awarded to each successful VM applicant.

The number of VMs approved and the amount granted for each VM will be determined during the evaluation process by the Grant Awarding Coordinator, in cooperation with the Core Group.

The maximum financial support granted for each VM will be determined during the evaluation process by the Grant Evaluation Committee (i.e., the MARGISTAR Core Group). The amounts granted for each VM will depend on the length of the mobility, and will be determined during the evaluation process.

Participant grants are non-commercial transactions, therefore, claims as such are not subject to VAT deduction. Taxes normally due or applicable concerning the payment of the grant are not to be deducted from amounts payable to participants. It is the responsibility of each participant to ensure that all amounts that they receive from COST funding are compliant with their national tax rules and obligations.

What do grantees need to do during and after the VM?

The applicant is responsible for choosing and contacting the host institution and for organising the application process.

During the Virtual Mobility

The VM must take place as foreseen in the submitted Application. If the VM work plan includes delivering a presentation in the host institution (e.g., a seminar or lecture), the grantees must acknowledge COST and MARGISTAR in the presentation properly and must use the official logos and visual identity.

In addition, the grantees are expected to actively network with researchers at the host institution and promote the COST Action to the potential stakeholders.

If the VM dates are modified, the grantee should get in touch with the Grant Awarding Coordinator as soon as possible and provide an updated letter justifying the change, that in no case can happen later than September 30, 2025.

After the Virtual Mobility

Within 30 days after completion of the VM, the grantee must submit[FA1] , report, and supporting documentation via the e-COST system to claim the grant. Late submission, beyond the deadline, leads to a cancellation of the Grant.

The grantee will receive an e-notification to submit the report and other supporting documents on e-COST. The grantee must submit it in e-COST and to the Grant Awarding Coordinator the following documents:

• Payment claim via e-COST.
• Report to the Action MC on the work developed, main achievements of the VM and planned future follow up activities. This report should be done using the COST template.

The grantee is also required to write a blog post to be published in the MARGISTAR Blog to disseminate his/her mobility experience to a wider audience. The grantee will receive instructions for this via e-mail.

Grant Payment

Payment is subject to the grant report being pre-approved on behalf of the Action’s MC by the delegated Grant Awarding Coordination team. The grant is payable up to 30 days after the grantee’s report and supporting documents have been approved by the Action Chair (or Vice-Chair). 

Please note that the COST Association and Action’s Grant holder can request additional information to substantiate the information contained within the documents submitted by grantees.

Acknowledgement of the MARGISTAR COST Action

If work resulting from a VM is published in a journal, please add the following acknowledgement: “This work/Part of this work was supported by the CA21125,
A European forum for revitalisation of marginalised mountain areas (MARGISTAR).” Events must acknowledge the MARGISTAR logo in relevant documents. If the work is presented in a conference or event, the COST Action logo must be displayed and the COST Action MARGISTAR must be acknowledged.

Contact

For additional information about this call, please contact Grant Awarding Committee co-coordinators: Dr. Anita Bušljeta Tonković ([email protected]) and Dr. Petros Tsioras ([email protected]).