COST

About the Project

COST is an intergovernmental framework for European Cooperation in Science and Technology, allowing the coordination of nationally-funded research on a European level. COST contributes to reducing the fragmentation in European research investments and opening the European Research Area to cooperation worldwide. The goal of COST is to ensure that Europe holds a strong position in the field of scientific and technical research for peaceful purposes, by increasing European cooperation and interaction in this field. This research initiative makes it possible for the various national facilities, institutes, universities and private industry to work jointly on a wide range of Research and Development (R&D) activities. COST – together with EUREKA and the EU framework programmes – is one of the three pillars of joint European research initiatives. These three complementary structures have differing areas of research. COST has clearly shown its strength in non-competitive research, pre-normative cooperation, and solving environmental, cross-border and public utility problems. It has been successfully used to maximise European synergy and added value in research cooperation and is a useful tool to further European integration. Ease of access for institutions from non-member countries also makes COST a very interesting and successful tool for tackling topics of a truly global nature.

Nine Key Scientific Domains

As a precursor of advanced multidisciplinary research, COST plays a very important role in building a European Research Area (ERA). It anticipates and complements the activities of the EU Framework Programmes, constituting a “bridge” towards the scientific communities of emerging countries. It also increases the mobility of researchers across Europe and fosters the establishment of scientific excellence in the nine key domains:

  • Biomedicine and Molecular Biosciences
  • Food and Agriculture
  • Forests, their Products and Services
  • Materials, Physics and Nanosciences
  • Chemistry and Molecular Sciences and Technologies
  • Earth System Science and Environmental Management
  • Information and Communication Technologies
  • Transport and Urban Development
  • Individuals, Societies, Cultures and Health

In addition, Trans-Domain Proposals allow for broad, multidisciplinary proposals to strike across the nine scientific domains.

Please find here more information on:

Please find here more information on the different COST Actions:

Project Data

Country: Europe
Persons involved: Mr Berry J. BONENKAMP (Rapporteur), Ms Solene DROY (Administrative Officer), Prof. Manfred NOWAK (Chair of the Action), Mr Matteo RAZZANELLI (Science Officer)
Lead Organisation: COST Office, Ludwig Boltzmann Institute of Fundamental an Human Rights (LBI-GMR), Research Platform “Human Rights in the European Context”
Partner Organisations: Association of Human Rights Institutes
Project completed: Yes
Programme Line LBI-GMR: Human Dignity and Public Security