Last update on 01.06.2023
Please read this cookie policy carefully as it contains important information on who we are and how we use cookies on our website.
This policy should be read together with our Privacy Policy which sets out how and why we collect, store, use and share personal information generally, as well as your rights in relation to your personal information and details of how to contact us and supervisory authorities if you have a complaint.
Who we are
COST Association, with CBE number 0829.090.573, having its registered office at Avenue du Boulevard-Bolwerklaan 21, 1210 Brussels, Belgium, (‘we’, ‘our’ or ‘us’).
The website (www.cost.eu) is provided by Starring Jane, with CBE number 0449.766.729, having its registered office at which has its registered office at Dendermondsesteenweg 39A001, 9000 Ghent , Belgium.
Our website
This cookie policy relates to your use of our website.
- Our website uses cookies to distinguish you from other users of our website. This helps us to provide you with a good experience when you browse our website and allows us to improve our site, measure how you use the website so it can be updated and improved based on your needs.
- Remember the notifications you have seen so that we do not show them to you again.
This cookie policy is also part of a mechanism we use to obtain your consent to the processing of your personal data.
Throughout our website we may link to other websites owned and operated by third parties to make additional services available to you. These other third-party websites may also use cookies or similar technologies in accordance with their own separate policies. For privacy information relating to these other third-party websites, please consult their policies as appropriate.
To assist you we have included some of these below:
Facebook:
LinkedIn:
Twitter:
Instagram:
YouTube:
SoundCloud:
Survey Monkey:
Microsoft form:
What is a cookie?
A cookie is a small file of letters and numbers that we store on your browser or the hard drive of your computer if you agree. Cookies contain information that is transferred to your computer’s hard drive.
They often contain information like IP addresses or Unique IDs that make possible for websites to identify and recall individual users upon repeated visits. Third-party marketing cookies can be used to track users across the Internet in order to serve them targeted, behavioural advertisement. Under the Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 April 2016 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data (GDPR), websites are not allowed to store cookies on a user’s browser without their clear and affirmative consent.
For further information on cookies generally, including how to control and manage them, visit the Cookies et autres traceurs | Autorité de protection des données (autoriteprotectiondonnees.be) published by the Belgian Data Protection authority (only available in French or Dutch) or the guidance on cookies published by the UK Information Commissioner’s Office. You can also find useful the information available of the following websites : www.aboutcookies.org or www.allaboutcookies.org.
Types of cookies
We may use the following types of cookies:
| Type | Detail |
| Strictly necessary cookies | These are cookies that are required for the operation of our website. They include, for example, cookies that enable you to log into secure areas of our website. |
| Analytical/performance cookies | They allow us to recognise and count the number of visitors and to see how visitors move around our website when they are using it. This helps us to improve the way our website works, for example, by ensuring that users find what they are looking for easily. |
| Functionality cookies | These are used to recognise you when you return to our website. This enables us to personalise our content for you, greet you by name and remember your preferences (for example, your choice of language or region). |
| Targeting cookies | These cookies record your visit to our website, the pages you have visited and the links you have followed. We will use this information to make our website and the advertising displayed on it more relevant to your interests. We may also share this information with third parties for this purpose |
Consent to use cookies
We will ask for your permission (Consent) to place cookies or other similar technologies on your device, except where they are essential for us to provide you with a service that you have requested and the operation of our website.
To allow you to express your choice for cookies, and to ensure you can manage your consent, we will use Cookiebot Consent Management Platform (CMP). Data will be stored for 12 months. We may need to download the individual consent log when needed for a confirmation, an evidence or in case of complaint
The platform automatically detects all cookies and similar trackers and blocks them until you have given your consent. Additional information on Cookiebot and its privacy policy can be accessed at the following link: About Us – Consent Management Platform (CMP) – Cookiebot™
You can give your consent or withdraw your consent by accessing the following link (link will be inserted soon).
Blocking cookies and changing settings
You can block cookies by activating the setting on your browser that allows you to refuse the setting of all or some cookies. However, if you use your browser settings to block all cookies (including essential cookies) you may not be able to access all or parts of our website.
Most web browsers allow some control of most cookies through the browser settings, for further information about cookies and how to disable them please go to allaboutcookies.org.
Find out how to manage cookies on popular browsers:
To find information relating to other browsers, visit the browser developer’s website.
To opt out of being tracked by Google Analytics across all websites, visit http://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout.
Necessary cookies
| Cookie | Purpose | Third party | Owner | Duration |
| PHPSESSID | used to identify a user’s session on a website | First-party | PHPSESSID, is not a specific company. It is created by any site that uses PHP We use WordPress (technology) who in turn uses PHP (coding language). | Session |
| gdpr%5Bprivacy_bar%5D | only to check and manage the permissions that users grant to the web in matters related to the Privacy Policy and Cookies. They do not track personal data | First-party | Trew Knowledge. | 12 months |
| gdpr[allowed_cookies | only to check and manage the permissions that users grant to the web in matters related to the Privacy Policy and Cookies. They do not track personal data | First-party | Trew Knowledge. | 12 months |
| gdpr[consent_types] | only to check and manage the permissions that users grant to the web in matters related to the Privacy Policy and Cookies. They do not track personal data | First-party | Trew Knowledge. | 12 months |
| _GRECAPTCHA | Used to distinguish between human and automated access to websites and to provide spam protection | Third party | 6 months |
Microsoft
We use Microsoft cookies to remember your preferences and settings, show you personalised ads, and analyse how well our websites are working. For more information, including updates, about the Microsoft’s privacy practices with respect to any of the cookies below, please view Microsoft’s website or privacy notice.
| Cookie | Purpose | Third party | Owner | Duration |
| CLID | Identifies the first-time Clarity saw this user on any site | Third party | Microsoft | 12 months |
| MUID | Identifies unique web browsers visiting Microsoft sites. These cookies are used for advertising, site analytics, and other operational purposes. | Third party | Microsoft | 12 months |
| _clck | Persists the Clarity User ID and preferences, unique to that site, on the browser. This ensures that behaviour in subsequent visits to the same site will be attributed to the same user ID. | First- party | Microsoft | 12 months |
| _clsk | Connects multiple page views by a user into a single Clarity session recording. | First- party | Microsoft | 12 months |
YouTube
We use YouTube to promote, communicate and disseminate about COST Association and COST Actions. For additional information on YouTube’s privacy and cookie policy
| Cookie | Purpose | Third party | Owner | Duration |
CONSENT | YouTube sets this cookie via embedded YouTube-videos and registers anonymous statistical data. | Third party | YouTube | 13 months |
| PREF | The functionality is to store user preferences. | Third party | YouTube | 13 months |
| SOCS | used to track the consents that the user has granted to Google for the privacy settings and the configuration of the related cookies. | Third party | YouTube | 13 months |
| VISITOR_INFO1_LIVE | Provides bandwidth estimations to YouTube; set to keep track of user preferences for YouTube videos embedded in sites. It can also determine whether the website visitor is using the new or old version of the YouTube interface. Expires after 6 months. | Third party | YouTube | 6 months |
| YSC | Unique ID for YouTube for analytics purposes, set by set by YouTube to track views of embedded videos. | Third party | YouTube | Session |
| __Secure-YEC | Stores the user’s video player preferences using embedded YouTube video | Third party | YouTube | 12 months |
ShareThis
We use ShareThis to enhance our web traffic and our social media presence building a deeper connection with our website users. For further information on how ShareThis uses your data, please check the ShareThis privacy policy.
| Cookie | Purpose | Owner | Duration |
| ____sharethis_cookie_test__ | This cookie determines whether the browser accepts cookies | ShareThis | 12 months |
Matomo
We use Matomo a GDPR compliant web analytics software platform. It provides detailed reports on the website and its visitors. For additional information on how Matomo is operating you can visit Privacy Policy – Analytics Platform – Matomo . You can manage your choices trough How do I disable all cookies for a visitor? FAQ – Analytics Platform – Matomo.
| Cookie | Purpose | Third party | Owner | Duration |
| _pk_id* | Used to store a unique user ID | First-party | Matomo | 13 months |
| _pk_ref* | Used to collect information about referrers of the visitor and store referrer ID’s | First-party | Matomo | 6 months |
| _pk_ses* | Used to help track visitor behaviour and measure site performance. | First-party | Matomo | Session |
What is local storage?
A local storage is a file created by a website in your device. Cookies are just one type of local storage, but there are others. It is important that you know them so you can block them or delete the data stored by them:
Browser local storage. Some websites use the browser’s “sessionStorage” and “localStorage” to store data; “sessionStorage” is stored temporarily or for that session, but the “localStorage” is persistent. You may erase them by deleting your browser’s history.
| Cookie | Purpose | Third party | Owner | Duration |
| rc::a | to read and filter requests from bots | Yes | Persistent | |
| ytidb::LAST_RESULT_ENTRY_KEY | Used to track user interaction with embedded content. | Yes | YouTube | Persistent |
| yt-player-headers-readable | Used to determine optimal video quality based on the visitor’s device and network settings | Yes | YouTube | Persistent |
| yt-remote-connected-devices, yt-remote-device-id | Stores the user’s video player preferences using embedded YouTube video | Yes | YouTube | Persistent |
| yt-player-bandwidth | it is used to know from the device that the user connects to provide the optimal quality of the video to be played. | Yes | YouTube | Persistent |
| _grecaptcha | Necessary for the captcha to work. It stores a code to prevent user impersonation. | First-party | Persistent | |
| rc::b, rc::c, rc::a | This cookie is used to distinguish between humans and bots. | Third party | Session | |
| nextId | Unclassified | Third party | YouTube | Session |
| remote_sid | Necessary for the implementation and functionality of YouTube video-content on the website. | Third party | YouTube | Session |
| requests | Unclassified | Third party | YouTube | Session |
| TESTCOOKIESENABLED | Unclassified | Third party | YouTube | Persistent |
| tIdbMeta#databases | Unclassified | Third party | YouTube | Persistent |
| yt-remote-cast-available, yt-remote-cast-installed, yt-remote-connected-devices, yt-remote-device-id, yt-remote-fast-check-period, yt-remote-session-app, yt-remote-session-name | Stores the user’s video player preferences using embedded YouTube video | Third party | YouTube | Session |