Brussels, 08 Dec 2003
European Co-operation
in the field of
Scientific and Technical Research
- COST -
157th MEETING OF THE COMMITTEE OF SENIOR OFFICIALS
FOR SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL RESEARCH (COST)
Bratislava, Slovakia, 4/5 December 2003
At the invitation of the Slovakian government the Committee of Senior Officials (CSO) held its 157th meeting in Bratislava, chaired by Mr Gösta Diehl. The welcoming address was given by Doc. Mgr. Martin FRONC, PhD, Minister of Education of Slovakia, who emphasised the importance of COST for the Slovakian scientific community, which is confirmed by Slovakia's participation in 49 out of 160 ongoing COST Actions.
The new COST Office is getting operational
The financial support for COST from the Community Sixth RTD Framework Programme, 50 to 80 M€ , is now available based on a specific support contract between the Commission and the European Science Foundation (ESF), the latter acting as the implementing agent of COST. This contract, which entered into force on 1 July 2003 with a duration of 18 months, grants financial support to the coordination of COST activities for an amount of 22 M€ . A follow-up contract is foreseen for the remaining period of FP6. The new COST Office, providing the administrative, technical and scientific secretariat for COST, is currently establishing its offices in Brussels and recruiting personnel.
This means the end to a long period of uncertainty about the nature of Community support to COST. COST can now fully resume its activities and continue to contribute towards the building of the European Research Area.
COST launches eleven new Actions
The Committee agreed in principle to the launching of the following new Actions:
COST A29: Human and Organisational Factors in Industrial Planning and Scheduling - HOPS (Swiss proposal) The main objective of the Action is to increase the knowledge required for improving human performance in industrial planning, scheduling, and control (PSC).
COST B24: Laboratory animal science and welfare (Finnish proposal) The main objective of the Action is to increase knowledge necessary for both ethically sustainable and scientifically valid use of laboratory animals in research.
COST E41: Analytical tools with applications for wood and pulping chemistry (Finnish proposal) The main objective of the Action is to develop and evaluate analytical methods related to wood, pulping and bleaching chemistry.
COST E42: Growing Valuable Broadleaved Tree Species (German proposal) The main objective of the Action is to increase the knowledge of growing valuable broadleaved tree species, with emphasis on the production of valuable wood and with the intent to promote non-wood products that can be produced in parallel with, or in addition to, the main product.
COST P13: Forging the missing link: From Molecular Simulations to Nanoscale Experiments (German proposal) The main objective of the Action is to develop novel computational tools to model matter at the nanoscale: the regime where advanced computation and modern experimental techniques meet.
COST P14: Laser-matter interactions with ultra-short pulses, high-frequency pulses and ultra- intense pulses. From attophysics to petawatt physics (ULTRA) (Belgian proposal) The main objective of the Action is to develop greater understanding of the physics of atoms, molecules, clusters, solids and plasmas interacting with high-intensity coherent light.
COST 290: Quality of Service in Future Wireless Systems (Finnish proposal) The main objective of the Action is to increase the knowledge on future advanced Multiservice Wireless Networks (MWNs) and specifically on traffic nature and behaviour and its impact on network architecture, performance and planning.
COST 355: Changing behaviour towards a more sustainable transport system (French proposal) The main objective of the Action is to develop a more rigorous understanding of the conditions under which the process of growing unsustainable transport demand could be reversed, by changing travelers', shippers' and carriers' behavior.
COST 536: Alloy development for Critical Components of Environmental friendly Power planT (ACCEPT) (Swiss proposal)
The main objective of the Action is to develop highly efficient steam power plant with low emissions, through three development steps, on the nano-scale, the meso-scale and the macro- scale, from innovative alloy development to validation of component integrity.
COST 537: Core Laboratories for the improvement of medical devices in clinical practice from the failure of the explanted prostheses analysis (FEPA) (Italian proposal)
The main objective of the Action is to facilitate the understanding of failure of explanted prostheses, providing recognition of device complications, elucidating patient-prosthesis interaction, and determining tissue-material interaction mechanisms.
COST 538: High Temperature Plant Lifetime Extension (UK proposal)
The main objective of the Action is to develop an innovative 'integrated toolbox' of predictive methods/models and targeted invasive and non-invasive measurement techniques, improving the means for European industries to reliably quantify the condition and remaining life of plant components in all types of conventional fossil, biomass and waste-fired power plant.
COST extends duration of seven Actions
The Committee approved prolongation/extensions for the following Actions:
- COST A20: The impact of the Internet on the mass media in Europe (24 months)
- COST C12: Improvement of buildings structural quality by new technologies (9 months)
- COST C13: Glass and interactive building envelopes (12 months)
- COST 526: "Automatic Process Optimisation in Materials Technology" (APOMAT)(12 months)
- COST 718: Meteorological Applications for Agriculture (9 months)
- COST 839: Immunosuppressive Viral Diseases of Poultry (12 months)
- COST 919: Melanoïdins in food and health (6 months)
Committee extends mandates of its Technical Committees
The Committee decided to extend the expiring mandates of the following Technical Committees for a period of three years:
- Technical Committee on Environment
- Technical Committee on Materials
- Technical Committee on Meteorology
- Technical Committee on Physics
- Technical Committee on Social Sciences and Humanities
- Technical Committee on Transport
In this context the Committee also agreed to launch a series of reviews of COST scientific domains, the first one in 2004 in the area of Chemical and Physical Sciences. These reviews are also aimed at realising a further synergy with the activities of the European Science Foundation.
COST stimulates participation of Western Balkan States
With a view to enhancing the participation of scientists from Western Balkan States, the Committee agreed to make budgetary appropriations from its intergovernmental Fund to enable a more intensive involvement of scientists from the above states in COST Actions.
Worldwide interest to participate in COST Actions
COST actions are attracting the interest of researchers far beyond its now 34 European Member States. The Committee agreed to the following requests for participation in individual COST Actions:
- COST 219ter: Accessibility for All to Services and Terminals for Next Generation Networks
- TRACE, USA
- COST B10: Brain damage Repair
- University Laval, Quebec Montreal General Hospital
- University McGill, Department of Physiology Montreal
- COST B17: Insulin Resistance, Obesity and Diabetes Mellitus in the Elderly
- University of Guelph, Department of Human Biology and Nutritional Sciences, Ontario
- Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto
- COST B20: Mammary Gland Development
- Faculty of Science Department of Biology, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario
Next CSO meeting in FYR of Macedonia
On invitation of the FYR of Macedonia, the 158th meeting of the Senior Officials Committee on 16/17 February 2004 will take place in Skopje.
For further information call the COST Secretariat at 285.68.96/79.14
Item source: http://ue.eu.int/pressData/en/misc/78249 .pdf