GENERAL TERMS
The COST Action 21147 “European Network on Optimising Treatment with Therapeutic Antibodies in chronic inflammatory diseases”, as refer as ENOTTA COST Action, encourage the support to Young researchers and innovators (YRI, i.e. a researcher or innovator under the age of 40) from COST Inclusiveness Target Countries (ITC) and Near Neighbour Country (NNC) to attend international scientific conferences related to the topic of the project. The participation and presented materials should be in line with the scientific objectives of the ENOTTA COST Action. The applicant must make an oral or poster presentation and must be listed in the program of the conference and/or in the book of abstracts. As a reminder, ITC are Albania, Armenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Georgia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, the Republic of Moldova, Montenegro, The Republic of North Macedonia, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Turkey and Ukraine.
As per the Memorandum of Understanding, the main ENOTTA COST Action goals are to:
1) Create an interdisciplinary society of researchers, clinicians, experts and stakeholders in order to defragment the European research community working on optimisation of therapeutic antibodies’ use.
2) Investigate and develop patient stratification tools to predict and optimise treatment with therapeutic antibodies, before and upon the start of treatment, with the contribution of predictive analytic companies or academic groups.
3) Develop guidelines for clinical management and best practices for individualised (TDM-guided) dose optimisation.
4) Improve the reproducibility, standardisation and harmonisation of TDM assays and protocols.
5) Set up a comprehensive and structured overview on the availability of patient data/samples (e.g., the number of patients receiving treatment, how many patients receive a certain therapeutic antibody, the number and quantity of well-documented (serum) samples), and the availability of TDM assays across all participating hospital/research centres.
6) Evaluate the cost-effectiveness of individualised (TDM-guided) dose optimisation of therapeutic antibodies as an instrument to reduce healthcare expenditures, thus ensuring access and affordability.
7) Investigate how TDM may be implemented and secured in the community with the support of e-Health SMEs.
Other topics and their relevance to ENOTTA COST Action will be individually evaluated whether it fits the Cost Action.
What is a Conference Grant?
A conference grant is fixed financial contribution which takes in consideration the budget request of the applicant and the outcome of the evaluation of the application by the delegated persons. Conference grants do not necessarily cover all of the expenses related to participating in a given conference. A conference grant is a contribution to the overall travel, accommodation and per diem costs/daily allowance of the selected Grantee. Financial support is a contribution to the costs and may not cover all the costs. The applicants must consult and acknowledge COST rules (see Section A2-1.2.1 of COST Annotated rules).
Who Can Apply?
According to COST program rules, conference grants are exclusively reserved to YRI who are Working Group member of the Action, registered on e-COST, with a primary affiliation in an institution located in an ITC which is member of ENOTTA COST Action. The application must be submitted at least 45 days before the expire of the dead line for abstract submission in the targeted conference. During the Action only one conference grant can be offered per grant year per person, satisfying the above-mentioned criteria.
The conference must align with the scope of the Action. In principal ITC grants will be applied for conferences within Europe. The public should match with the target public of the ENOTTA COST Action.
How to Apply?
Interested researchers can apply by following the directions provided in the step-by-step guide on
https://www.cost.eu/uploads/2021/12/Grant-Awarding-userguide.pdf
Evaluation Process Rules
The application will be assessed by the Grant Awarding Coordinator and in case of necessity by the Grant Evaluation committee, which is composed by the Grant Awarding Coordinator, the Chair, the vice-Chair and the WG leaders. If eligible, the application will be recommended to the MC who will take the final decision of approval. In case the applicant is from the same country of one Grant Committee members, the latter will not participate in the decision.
After The ITC Conference
The Grantee has 30 calendar days from the end of the Conference in question to submit a scientific report to the Action Chair (or the Vice Chair if the action chair is affiliated to the Grant Holder Institution).
The report should not be less than 1 page and include the following:
- Aims and objectives of the conference participation.
- Description of the poster or oral presentation.
- Attached the poster or oral presentation.
- Photos which confirms that the applicant has successfully completed the conference stay.
- Documentary evidences of the costs i.e. conference fee, travel, accommodation.
- B. Failure to submit the scientific report in time will effectively cancel the grant.
- The final report will be uploaded to the ENOTTA web page and the applicants agree to upload the final report when submitting the documents.
For more general information on ITC grants, please contact the Grant Awarding Coordinator Guenka Petrova (gpetrova@pharmfac.mu-sofia.bg)