STSM are exchange visits to support individual mobility, strengthen existing networks and foster collaboration between COST Action Participants. A STSM should specifically contribute to the scientific objectives of the COST Action, whilst simultaneously allowing those partaking in the missions to learn new techniques, gain access to specific data, instruments and/or methods not available in their own institutions.

The institution/organization or legal entity where applicants pursue their main strand of research are considered here as Home Institutions. The Host Institution is the institution/organization that will host the approved applicant. Early Career Investigators (ECI) are defined as researchers with PhD + up to 8 years of research experience. The following eligibility criteria apply for the definition of the possible applicants and the host institutions.


The following table shows the scenarios available to eligible STSM applicants:


Other important criteria for the 6^th STSM mobility call are:

The application procedure is legally bound to the Vademecum of COST. Eligible STSM applicants must submit their STSM applications online by logging into e-COST and clicking on the Grant Applications tab. To encode a new application, the applicant clicks on ‘Apply for grant’. A template of the application form (in Word format) is available here. For information on the submission procedure, please refer to the Grant Awarding using guide.

The following information is needed on the application form:
The following information is needed on the application page online:
The field Application form please briefly address the following points:
Applicants are requested to present a Working plan reasonably feasible and coherent with the time slot reported in the application.

A CV should be submitted, drafted preferably in Europass format (max. 3 pages). A list of academic publications can be added in separate pages.

Prior to this submission, it is responsibility of the applicant to obtain a written agreement from the Host institution stating that the applicant may perform the activities detailed in the STSM working plan on the agreed dates. The letter must be dated back not more than 3 months, and must be signed by a permanent staff representative of the Host institution (e.g. head of the research group, PI, director of the department, head of the institute/division etc.).

Applicants that are not appointed to either permanent or tenure-track positions (i.e. Ph.D. students or Post-docs) are required to obtain a letter of support from their home institution for their application to STSM within this Action. A brief description of the motivation for support should be provided. The letter must be dated back not more than 3 months, and must be signed by a permanent staff representative of the home institution (e.g. Ph.D. supervisor, head of the research group, PI, director of the department, head of the institute/division etc.).

After the conclusion of the procedure of application online, each applicant is required to send a copy of the following documents (merged in one single PDF file) to the Action STSM Coordinator (Prof. Matteo Tegoni, matteo.tegoni@unipr.it) and to the Action Vice-Chair (Dr. Sofia Gama, sofia.gama@uwb.edu.pl) at latest on July 8^th, 2022 (deadline for application of the 7^th call). The email must have “STSM 7 CA18202 Application” as the subject line:

At least one call for application per year will be launched (in general in the spring/early summer in coincidence with the beginning of the Grant Period). Additional calls will be launched as a function of the funding made available for further STSM along the Grant Period.

In the case of the 6^th Call, the relevant dates are as follows: A scientific report drafted by the applicant after the end of the STSM and an approval letter of the scientific report from the Host institution must be uploaded on the e-COST portal within 30 days from the end date of the STSM.

The total budget for STSM in the current Grant Period is EUR 10500 and the minimum number of STSM grants that will be funded is seven (7). The maximum budget granted to each approved STSM is EUR 1500 for a maximum of 30 calendar days including travel. The amount granted to each individual STSM will be determined during the evaluation process by STSM Coordinator and may be subjected to negotiation with the applicant(s) before approval.

An STSM Grant is a fixed financial contribution which takes into consideration the budget request of the applicant and the outcome of the evaluation of the STSM application. Please note that STSM Grants do not necessarily cover all expenses related to undertaking a given mission, being only a contribution to the overall travel, accommodation and meal expenses of the Grantee. Applicants are encouraged to evaluate their budget request based on a high benefit/cost ratio and justify it based on the perceived cost of living in the host country/city. Following the provisions of Section 8.4 of COST Vademecum, which defines criteria for the financial contribution for each STSM, up to a maximum of EUR 160 per day including travel days can be afforded.

Note that specific provisions have been introduced to enable researchers from Inclusiveness Target Countries (ITC) participating in the COST Action to request a pre-payment of 50% of their STSM Grant when they complete the first day of their STSM. In such case, the representative of the Host Institution must confirm by e-mail to the Grant Holder that the STSM applicant has officially started the mission on day 1. Only then the Grant Holder can arrange the payment of 50% of the STSM grant. The remaining 50% of the Grant is payable once the administrative requirements have been satisfied after the STSM. For further information please refer to the COST Vademecum.

The STSM Committee will perform the scientific assessment of the applications considering the NECTAR Action scope and objectives, as well as the potential for enhancement of the research interaction between the involved parts, measured by the impact of the exchange expected by the applicants and involved institutions.

General criteria for evaluation of STSM proposals are:
The STSM Coordinator (or the Action Chair/Vice-Chair, in case of conflict of interest) will inform the Grant Holder of the approved STSMs. The Grant Holder will inform each approved applicant by sending a Grant Letter generated from e-COST. The applicant must return this letter of acceptance with his/her signature.

STSM REPORTING AND PAYMENT
Within 30 days from the end date of the STSM the successful applicant must submit the scientific reports (A) and the dissemination materials (B).

A) SCIENTIFIC REPORTS ON E-COST:
These two documents must be uploaded on e-COST to proceed with the request for payment.

When preparing the scientific report please consider the following:
A copy of the scientific report in PDF format must be sent, by email, to the Action STSM Coordinator (Prof. Matteo Tegoni, matteo.tegoni@unipr.it) and the Action Vice-Chair (Dr. Sofia Gama, sofia.gama@uwb.edu.pl). The STSM Coordinator will be responsible for approving the scientific report and informing the Action Chair and the Grant Holder that the STSM has been successfully accomplished.

(Please note that the COST Association can request additional information to substantiate the information contained within the documents submitted by STSM applicants).

B) DISSEMINATION MATERIALS TO SCIENCE COMMUNICATION TEAM: Please remember to present Home and Host institutions and your passion for science! Use pictures showing you at work but also after-work. Do not sound too abstract, avoid scientific jargon, use short sentences. The material is to advertise NECTAR COST research, promote you, and will be shown in social media for public audience.

The materials have to be sent directly to the Science Communication Manager Prof. Elżbieta Gumienna-Kontecka (elzbieta.gumienna-kontecka@chem.uni.wroc.pl) and to WG-5 Leader Dr. Natalia Busto Vázquez (nbusto@ubu.es).

Failure to submit the scientific report & dissemination materials, and Host acceptance within 30 days from the end date of the STSM will effectively cancel the Grant.

1^st GRANT PERIOD (1^st November 2019 to 30^th April 2020)

Grantee	Project	Home institution	Host institution
Silvia Gentili	Synthesis of His-containing peptides for oxidation catalysis in presence of Cu	U. Parma, IT	U. Aix-Marseille, FR
Dong Han	Drugs molecules and surfaces/carriers	U.A. Barcelona, ES	U. Udine, IT
Yuliya Toporivska	New efficient chelators for Zr-89 radiometal: design, synthesis and thermodynamic properties	U. Wroclaw, PL	U. Ferrara, IT

2^nd GRANT PERIOD (1^st May 2020 to 31^st October 2021)

Grantee	Project	Home institution	Host institution
Lucija Knežević	Studying Vanadium-organic ligand complexation toward better understanding of Vanadium biogeochemical behaviour	I. Ruđer Bošković, HR	U. Paris-Saclay, FR
Tatjana Trtic-Petrovic	Thermodynamic study of the micellization process of functionalized surface-active ionic liquids for extraction of technologically critical elements	Vinca Institute of Nuclear Sciences, RS	U. Ljubljana, SI
Nádia Ribeiro	Evaluation of the DNA affinity of metal complexes derived from 8-hydroxyquinoline ligands	U. Lisboa, PT	U. Pisa, IT
Demetrio Milea	Data analysis and modelling of the acid-base properties of selected metal ions	U. Messina, IT	U. Białystok, PL
Edyta Nalewajko-Sieliwoniuk	Tryptophan metabolite interactions towards Fe(II) and Fe(III) ions: a thermodynamic study in aqueous solution	U. Białystok, PL	U. Messina, IT
Andrzej Mular	68-Ga labelled analogues of desferrioxamine-E for nuclear imaging	U. Wroclaw, PL	M.U. Innsbruck, AT
Sofia Gama	Spectrofluorimetric methods applied to the study of chemical equilibria of 8-Hydroxyquinoline-2-carboxilic acid metal complexes in aqueous solution	U. Białystok, PL	U. Lisboa, PT
Tatsiana Petrasheuskaya	Spectroelectrochemical studies on copper and iron complexes of imidazole-derived thiosemicarbazones	U. Szeged, HU	S.U.T. Bratislava, SK
Rosita Cappai	Synthesis and characterization of Tryptophane metabolites metal complexes	U. Cagliari, IT	F.S.U. Jena, DE
David Fabra Escribano	Analysis of the interaction of metal-thiosemicarbazone complexes with bio substrates	U.A. Madrid, ES	U. Pisa, IT
Michaela Rendosova	Exploring of different techniques and computational programmes for thermodynamic studies of silver(I) and gallium(III) complexes	U. Košice, SK	U. Messina, IT
Żaneta Arciszewska	Caffeic acid interactions towards lanthanides: a thermodynamic study in aqueous solution	U. Białystok, PL	U. Messina, IT
Kinga Garstka	Characteristics of two zinc SBPs - ZnuA and AztC from Paracoccus denitrificans	U. Wroclaw, PL	U. Ferrara, IT
Andrea Melchior	Intercalation of platinum complexes with DNA: a theoretical study	U. Udine, IT	U.C. Murcia, ES
Adriana Miller	Exploiting the NMR spectroscopy to understand the coordination chemistry of the Zn(II) and Cu(II) complexes with the chosen antimicrobial peptides	U. Wroclaw, PL	U. Siena, IT
Silvia Gentili	Study of copper complexes of His-containing peptides	U. Parma, IT	U. Aix-Marseille, FR
Eugenio Alladio	SpectrApp - an open-source application for the chemometric evaluation of spectroscopic data	U. Torino, IT	U. Białystok, PL

3^rd GRANT PERIOD (1^st November 2021 to 31^st October 2022)

Grantee	Project	Home institution	Host institution
Valentyn Dzyhovskyi	Synthesis of the compounds intended to fit to the flavin mononucleotide riboswitches of Staphylococcus aureus	U. Wroclaw, PL	U. Ferrara, IT
Paulina Potok	Exploiting NMR spectroscopy to determine coordination mode of the Zn(II), Ni(II), and Cu(II) complexes with metallopeptidases	U. Wroclaw, PL	U. Siena, IT
David Fabra Escribano	Solution studies on palladium-thiosemicarbazone complexes and their interaction with albumin and DNA	A.U. Madrid, ES	U. Szeged, HU
Alessandro Nicoli	Predicting the stability of ligand/GPCR complexes with scaled MD simulations: the case of 5-HT2BR and the L209A mutant	T.U. Munich, DE	I.I. Technology, IT
Francesca Binacchi	ITC study of DNA and BSA binding of Ag(I)/Au(I) N-heterocycle biscarbenes and of Pt(II)/Pd(II) phenanthroline derivatives	U. Pisa, IT	U. Burgos, ES
Milan Mad'ar	Speciation of copper(II) complexes with polyamino-polyphosphonate ligands with EPR	Charles U., CZ	U. Burgundy, FR
Milan Vranes	Physicochemical charaterisation of newly synthetized gemini surfactants	U. Novi Sad, CS	U. Ljubljana, SI
Jasmin Suljagic	Synthesis and apllication of Pd(II)-diimine complex in catalysis	U. Tuzla, BA	Goce Delchev U., MK
Tamás Pivarcsik	Synthesis of biologically active half-sandwich ruthenium(II) and rhodium(III) complexes formed with sterane-based hybrids	U. Szeged, HU	U. Ljubljana, SI
Anna Rola	Histidine–rich C–terminal (HRCT) tail of GroEL1 chaperonins as a potential regulator of metal ions concentration in Mycobacteriu	U. Wroclaw, PL	A.U. Barcelona, ES
Elzbieta Gumienna-Kontecka	Ferrous complexes: the bio-chemical state of art	U. Wrocław, PL	U. Messina, IT
Slawomir Potocki	Optimization of isothermal titration calorimetry protocols for the study of 1:1 and 2:1 binding	U. Wroclaw, PL	U. Catania, IT
Álvaro Martínez-Camarena	Determination of the β-amyloid disaggregation capacity of PLA-PEG-CON-pytren polymeric nanoparticles	U. València, ES	U. Catania, IT
Andrzej Mular	Investigation of FOXE analogues ability to transport iron into Pseudomonas aeruginosa cells	U. Wroclaw, PL	U. Strasbourg, FR
Martina Sanadar	Separation of Europium(III) in Phosphate based Ionic Liquids	U. Udine, IT	U. Masaryk, CZ
Luca Mancini	Shyntesis of new receptor	U. Urbino, IT	U. València, ES
Snezana Papovic	Self-aggregation and ionicity of pharmaceutically active ionic liquids – thermodynamic approach	Novi Sad, RS	U. Ljubljana, SI
Żaneta Arciszewska	Speciation of lanthanides complexes in biological systems	U. Bialystok, PL	CNRS, FR
Aleksandar Cvetkovski	Developing the Thermodynamical data sets	U. Goce Delcev, MK	U. Parma, IT

Prof. Matteo Tegoni - CA18202 STSM Coordinator
Department of Chemistry, Life Sciences, and Environmental Sustainability
University of Parma
Parco Area delle Scienze 17A
43123 Parma
ITALY
matteo.tegoni@unipr.it

Dr. Sofia Gama - CA18202 Action Vice-Chair
Department of Analytical Chemistry
Faculty of Chemistry
University of Białystok
ul. Ciołkowskiego 1K
15-245 Białystok
POLAND
sofia.gama@uwb.edu.pl