Expanding Scientific Frontiers Via International Cooperation and Networking, with COST and NSF USA
The session is co-organized by the US National Science Foundation AccelNet Program and the European Cooperation in Science and Technology, the COST Programme. We aim to promote the value of international networking to the advancement of science using examples from funding programs. The session includes an overview of the model used by each program, the scope of international collaboration, and informal presentations by teams funded through both programs about their collaboration and building international networks of networks. We also aim to offer perspectives from additional funding mechanisms from the Global South and as part of a larger forum on multilateral scientific collaboration. The session will end with a “meet & greet” opportunity for interested participants to talk to funded teams about their experience or learn more about the models and details of the various funding schemes discussed.
COST (European Cooperation in Science and Technology) is a European funding organisation for research and innovation networks. Its Actions help connect research initiatives across Europe and over the globe while enabling researchers and innovators to grow their ideas in any science and technology field and share them with their peers.
The open and inclusive characteristic of COST Actions establishes and maintains the international research partners’ long-term collaboration built on trust and achieving breakthrough scientific results. COST Actions are bottom-up networks with a duration of four years that boost research and innovation while providing opportunities for researcher mobility and career advancement.
The AccelNet program funds networking activities to coordinate the efforts of multiple independent research networks at the international level in cooperative team science. The program welcomes proposals in any area funded by the National Science Foundation, particularly those addressing grand research challenges identified within research communities and/or NSF. The program is based on a model of science as a global effort resulting in highly cited papers featuring diverse research teams working for mutual benefit. The program emphasizes collaboration rather than competition in the pooling of expertise and resources that accelerate science and scientific exchanges that foster science diplomacy.