3rd CliMent Grant Awarding Call: 1st Grant Period

CliMent: Climate change impacts on mental health in Europe COST Action (CA23113) opens the Grant Awarding Call for its 1st Grant Period (ending 31 October 2025)

Call for Proposals: Virtual Mobility (VM) Grant

Key Deadlines

Application Submission Deadline: 2 October 2025, 23:59 (Brussels time)

Objective

The Virtual Mobility (VM) Grants aim to support collaboration in an online setting among researchers or innovators within the COST Action to exchange knowledge, develop new methodologies, and enhance networking opportunities. These grants contribute to the objectives of the CliMent Action and strengthen scientific cooperation.

Eligibility Criteria

Candidate Requirements

• The Grant applicant(s) are Action participants with a primary affiliation to a legal entity located in a COST Full or Cooperating Member country, a COST Near Neighbour Country or a European RTD Organisation.
• Must propose a virtual activity that contributes to CliMent Action objectives and strengthens collaboration.

Activity Specifics

• Duration: Any period within the active Grant Period (ensuring no overlap across periods).
• Activities may include, but are not limited to:
  • Writing joint research proposals or articles.
  • Developing new methods, models, or tools.
  • Organizing virtual workshops or training sessions.
• Expected outcomes should be tangible deliverables such as papers, datasets, or methodologies.

Funding

• The total VM Grant budget for the 3rd call of the 1st Grant Period of CliMent is 11700 EUR, with up to 1300 EUR per grant, with an expected 9 proposals.
• Applicants shall not receive different overlapping grants (except for VNS) during the same grant period.
• Grants are paid after completion of the activity and approval of the required.

Application Process

Applications must be submitted online via e-COST: https://e-services.cost.eu/activity/grants

Steps to Apply:

1. Log in to e-COST and select Apply for New Grant, choosing Virtual Mobility Grant.
2. Provide the following information:
   • Title of the activity.
   • Start and end date (within the active Grant Period, ensuring no overlap across periods).
   • Budget (amount)requested by the applicant.
3. Upload the completed VM Grant Application template (download template), including:
4. The main objective of the VM.
5. Description of the work plan
6. Plan for participation
7. Expected outcomes and contribution to CliMent COST Action objectives
8. Upload any additional required documents (e.g., recommendation letters, if applicable).

Once submitted, applicants will receive a confirmation email from e-COST. Upon approval, the Grantee will receive a Grant Letter stating the approved amount and conditions for receiving the grant.

Evaluation Criteria

The Grant Awarding Committee reviews applications on behalf of the Action Management Committee. If a conflict of interest arises, the affected committee member(s) will be substituted by the Chair and/or the Vice Chair and/or WG Co-Lead of the Action during the specific round of evaluations. Applications are assessed based on the following criteria:

• Alignment with CliMent COST Action objectives.
• Feasibility and clarity of the proposed activity. Examples of activities that can be performed by the VM grantee can be found at the Annotated Rules for COST Actions (page 96).
• Scientific merit and potential for tangible outcomes.
• Contribution to inclusiveness (ITCs, Young Researchers and Innovators, gender balance).

Applications will be reviewed and scored based on the following key criteria:

• The main objective of the VM (How well the proposal aligns with the CliMent COST Action goals and potential impact):
  Scale: 1 poor; 2 deficient; 3 satisfactory; 4 very good; 5 excellent (treshold 3).
• Working plan (The work plan’s quality, feasibility, and clarity, including the realism of the proposed methodology, timeline, and deliverables):
  Scale: 1 poor; 2 deficient; 3 satisfactory; 4 very good; 5 excellent (treshold 3).
• Plan for participation (How well participants are defined, relevant to the project, and their contributions are clearly outlined):
  Scale: 1 poor; 2 deficient; 3 satisfactory; 4 very good; 5 excellent (treshold 3).
• Expected outputs and contributions to CliMent COST Action research (the outputs are concrete, relevant, impactful, and strongly advance the CliMent COST Action’s research coordination and/or capacity-building deliverables (e.g. publications, collaborations or skills transfer)“:
  Scale: 1 poor; 2 deficient; 3 satisfactory; 4 very good; 5 excellent (treshold 3).
• Scientific merit of the applicant (The extent to which the applicant’s experience and qualifications are relevant to the objectives of the CliMent COST Action, demonstrating their ability to contribute effectively to the intended results):
  Scale: 1 satisfactory; 2 good; 3 excellent (treshold 2).
• Contribution to inclusiveness:
  • Does the applicant promote gender equality? (0-1)
  • Is the applicant a Young Researchers and Innovators? (0-1)
  • Is the applicant or the host-based in an Inclusiveness Target Country? (0-1)

Final conclusion:

An application shall be considered ineligible for funding under any of the following conditions:

1. if at least one of the evaluation criteria is scored below its established threshold;
2. if the total score from the scientific quality criteria (excluding inclusiveness) is lower than 15;
3. if the overall total score, including inclusiveness points, is lower than 16.

Inclusiveness points may only complement scientific quality and cannot compensate for insufficient performance in the main evaluation criteria.

Applications with the highest scores will be prioritized for funding.

Reporting and Reimbursement

• Within 30 days after the activity (or 15 days after the Grant Period ends, whichever comes first), the grantee must submit:
  • A scientific report outlining the work done, main outcomes, and future collaboration potential.
  • A communication activity for wider dissemination via the CliMent website and social media.
• The scientific report template is available at: https://www.cost.eu/VM_Report.
• Payment is subject to the approval of the scientific report by the Grant Awarding Coordinator and Core group.

For further details, before applying, all applicants must carefully and completely read Annex 2 of the Annotated Rules for COST Actions.

For any inquiries, contact the CliMent Grant Awarding Coordinator at julius.burkauskas@lsmu.lt