COST plays an important role in the development of the European research area. COST's mission is to strengthen Europe in scientific and technological research through the support of European cooperation and interaction between European researchers.
Under Horizon Europe COST will be fully funded by the Widening and ERA part and is one of the widening actions to help EU countries that are lagging behind to stimulate their participation in Horizon Europe through scientific networking.
These networks, in the form of COST Actions, can be in any scientific field and are open to all type of actors (academia, public institutions, SMEs, Companies, etc.). A typical COST Action runs for four years and has an average budget of 134,500 EUR per year.
The funding is limited to networking activities (meetings, conferences, seminars, workshops) and the organisation of exchange activities (scientific exchanges of short duration, training schools, publications and dissemination activities). The actual research is funded via other (national or regional) channels.
There are mainly two ways to engage with COST:
In Flanders, FWO is the first Contact Point for any questions related to the COST Programme. For more information on COST please visit the FWO website.
manhei.to@fwo.be
+32 2 550 15 55
Find the contact info on the site of WEWIS
The National Contact Points (NCPs) provide support, guidance, and practical information to potential applicants, helping them navigate funding opportunities and application processes.
The Programme Committee (PC) members represent their country in decision-making about the work programmes, evaluate implementation, and provide strategic input on priorities and calls.
Infosheets contain edited content on aspects related to this programme. They are reviewed at least yearly.
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The EITHOS project, funded under Horizon Europe Cluster 3 call “Online identity theft is countered”, aims to develop a “European Identity Theft Observatory System” (EITHOS). The system will provide easy access to information and intelligence about previous and current identity theft related trends to empower EU citizens, Law Enforcements Agencies (LEAs), and policy makers to further contribute to the prevention, detection, and investigation of crimes related to online identity theft. The Cyber and Data Security Lab (CDSL), part of the Law, Science, Technology and Society (LSTS) Research Group at Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), is one of the 12 partners in the EITHOS consortium, contributing its vast expertise on legal aspects of data protection, cybersecurity and information security law and policy.