09 November 2009 | General
Swiss COST Day 2009
The significance and impact of COST was the theme of the Swiss COST Day 2009 that took place at the College of Engineering and Architecture, Fribourg, Switzerland on 21 October 2009.
Organised by the State Secretariat for Education and Research SER, Switzerland, the event took place in presence of the Deputy Director of the SER, Jürg Burri, the Vice-President of the COST CSO, Prof. John Bartzis, Grant Agreement Officer M. Poinot representing the COST Office and the Swiss COST CSO representative Dr. Eva M. Klaper.
The morning session was dedicated to a closed meeting between the Swiss Domain Committee members and representatives from the COST governance and the COST Office. It served to present and discuss issues of importance to the Swiss COST participants including criteria for COST Grant Agreements and the Open Call.
Opening the public session, Deputy Director of the SER, Mr Burri, welcomed the participants and said that COST is an instrument that has its role to play in the European research landscape. In summarising the development of COST, he showed its significance as a bottom-up instrument, highly valued by scientists, and an integrative factor in European research. He also pointed out that research aiming at issues of public-utility and societal needs are important.
The following two presentations by Prof. Bartzis and Ms Poinot illustrated the basic characteristics of COST and explained the whole life cycle of a COST Action, from a research idea through to applying for the open call and the implementation of the Action, to the dissemination phase as well as the COST system of monitoring and evaluation. Respective publications were made available for those interested in receiving more details.
The second part of the afternoon was dedicated to scientific presentations.
Four scientists from areas, as diverse as antennas to the human brain, presented results of their COST research projects and informed the audience about their involvement in COST Actions. All four scientists effectively showed how COST can support researchers not only to share results, but also to share aims and methods.
A lively discussion among the participants, speakers and guests concluded this successful event with a reception.
