The COST Action I am a member of had a huge, unquestionable impact on the field of quantum thermodynamics. This field has been dormant for several decades and it was amazing to see how in a very short time a very active community formed due to the COST activities: the conferences, work meetings, and the short-term scientific missions. The COST Action and the interaction with other COST members have contributed significantly to my own research.

Raam Uzdin, Israel

It is very important that early stage researchers get access to STSMs and Training Schools in a scale that is not provided by any other EC program. Scientists in the new EU member states, who are insufficiently involved in Horizon 2020 because of the lower competitiveness of their research units, get an opportunity through COST to be involved in the creative activities of Horizon 2020.

Peter Kralchevsky, Bulgaria

COST has been integral in creating new links/collaborations across Europe in fields different to my own. Moreover, through COST, we have been able to offer Masters and PhD students the opportunity to undertake internships in the UK with us. Such experiences are invaluable to them and to the networks that they create through the rest of their careers. COST creates and sustains a healthy collaborative research spirit across Europe.

Paul Topham, United Kingdom

COST proved a valuable resource for my colleagues and me, particularly for re-establishing the highly necessary academic networks between Balkans and rest of the Europe.

Ana Milojevic, Serbia

COST Actions have been one of the most successful tools towards the development of a real European Research Area (ERA) allowing scientists' exchanges and the development of strong collaborations between researchers across Europe strengthening thus the European research network. I would expect quite the opposite: to increase the budget and cover expenses that are not covered right now.

Konstantinos Dimas, Greece

COST Actions have been an excellent way of networking with other European scientists in my area. They have led to a recent awarding of a Marie Curie European Joint Doctorate (REP-BIOTECH) to members of the Epiconcept and Gemini COST Actions.

Patrick Lonergan, Ireland

COST is the most important network to establish and maintain collaborations with fellow scientists across Europe.

Bernard Roelen, The Netherlands

The COST Action was my first successful truly international "grant" application. Without COST funding, me and other researchers would have to rely on ever-scarce local funding for networking, e.g. by piggy-backing onto other expense accounts. We need COST Actions as a stepping stone towards competitive EU project proposals for coordination!

Volker Stolz, Norway

As the Chair of the COST Action FA1404 I can see how paramount are the activities led by COST. Training Schools and short-term scientific missions, for instance but not exclusively, are unique activities allowing rapidly young researchers to gain skills and knowledge from European partners and even from our competitors worldwide. Reducing the budget at a time of fierce competition and social needs for impact and life improvement would put Europe at risk to lose its competitiveness. I hope the COST budget will not be cut to maintain such tremendous societal, scientific and commercial impact.

Olivier Sparagano, United Kingdom

COST is one of the few 'delivery rooms' for research on subjects that are not (yet) commercially interesting, but can be of enormous societal value in future. It offers junior researchers a chance to get overview, and to build a network. It concerns research and discourses that cannot be carried out under set research plans of universities and research institutes.For the future of science it is a crucial fund and option to explore areas not covered in current programs and also to add a meta shell to fragmented research.

Rob Methorst, The Netherlands