Training

The COST scheme provides funds for training of individuals or groups under two schemes: Short Term Scientific Missions (STSMs) and Training Schools.

STSMs are intended for individuals who wish to obtain experience of working with a research programme or in a laboratory or institution in another country. STSMs may last for a minimum of 1 week and a maximum of 3 months, and COST funds are available for travel and subsistence costs.

The essential eligibility criteria for an STSM are that (a) the country where the individual is based must be different from the country where the STSM will take place, and (b) both countries must be official members of the SPLASHCOS Action listed here. Preference is given to Early Stage Researchers (ESRs) - individuals who are graduate students or who are postdoctoral researchers within 8 years from the date of award of their PhD, but older researchers are not excluded. As long as you meet these eligibility criteria, you do not have to be a formal member of SPLASHCOS.

Training Schools offer intensive, specialist training for a group of individuals and may last from 3 days to 2 weeks, again with a preference for ESRs, and funds for travel and subsistence. Any individual from a country that participates in the SPLASHCOS Action is eligible to apply. Opportunities are identified by the Action, or the initiative may come from an individual or organising institution.

Over the four-year period of the Action, SPLASHCOS has funded 11 STSMs and 6 Training Schools, providing training for 66 Early Stage Researchers in underwater excavation, acoustic survey, mapping, recording and conservation, sea level modelling, and palaeoenvironmental and geochronological analysis of palaeocoastlines. Training Schools took place in Estonia, Greece, Israel, Spain, and Malta. STSMs involved individuals from Belgium, Denmark, Estonia, Israel, Latvia, Portugal, and UK. Training opportunities are now closed.