GENERAL INFORMATION

Application Period: 1 April – 15 August 2025 (depending on funding availability).
Notification of Outcome: Notification of results will be provided 3 weeks after the submission of a complete application. 
Mission Period: The mission period runs from 1 May 2025 to 1 October 2025. 

Note: This is an open call, and you can apply anytime up until 15 August 2025 for your STSM to start and end during the mission period, which is from 1 April 2025 to 1 October 2025. Please allow one month between submitting your application and the start date of your STSM.

ABOUT THIS ACTION

For centuries, prayer has been central to people’s worldview, to their education and formation, their experience of religion and the Divine, to the creation of societal communities, and to structuring everyday life throughout Europe. Despite the ‘religious turn’ in the humanities, prayer is still often seen as ordinary or even self-evident. This has hitherto prevented a thorough understanding of the history of this powerful and complex phenomenon in the late medieval and early modern world. From a European perspective, this period was formative for the role of prayer in public settings and in people’s personal lives. The phenomenon is marked by plurality and diversity and the disparate nature of research on prayer calls for a strong collaborative international research network that will move toward creating a shared framework for the study of prayer in the Latin Christianity during the late medieval and early modern period. Studying prayer as a participatory practice on several levels (as a communal or social practice, using a variety of material devices (media, objects) that can evoke a spiralling, amplifying effect in the mind of the devotee) will lead to better understanding of prayer (and with it, the history of imagination, hope, and meditation) in its plurality.

ABOUT STSMs

Short-Term Scientific Missions (STSMs) are research visits designed to promote individual mobility, enhance existing networks, and encourage collaboration among COST Action Participants. These missions are intended to contribute directly to the scientific goals of the COST Action, while providing participants with opportunities to acquire new techniques or methods, as well as access specialized facilities, instruments, or data not available at their home institution or organization. The objectives of the STSMs include activities such as knowledge exchange, the development of shared methodologies, the creation of tools for data analysis, as well as data annotation, integration, harmonization, and analysis. 

The Prayticipate Action is offering grants of up to €2000 for STSMs to be completed by 1 October 2025. These missions can last between 1 to 2 calendar months and are designed to provide learning opportunities, primarily, though not exclusively, for Young Researchers and Innovators^[1] through research exchanges abroad. The grant will be disbursed upon successful completion of the STSM, though researchers from Inclusiveness Target Countries (ITCs) may receive an advance payment of up to 50%.

The following institutions have agreed to host a visiting scholar. However, grantees are free to find a host institution of their choice.

• Renske Hoff: Department for Languages, Literature, and Communication, University of Utrecht, Utrecht, NL
• Marcin Polkowski: The John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin, Lublin, PL
• Diana Denissen: Department for Medieval Studies, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, CH
• Ingrid Falque: Research Center GEMCA, UCLouvain, BE
• Ágnes Korondi: National Széchényi Library, Budapest, HU
• Veronika Sladka: Library of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague, CZ (?)
• Anna Dlabacova: LUCAS, University of Leiden, Leiden, NL (?)
• Maja Matasovic: Faculty of Croatian Studies, University of Zagreb, H

ELIGIBILITY RULES

To apply for an STSM, the following criteria must be met:

• The applicant must be a member of COST Action 23137 and have an eCOST profile.
• The applicant must be based at a research institution in a legal entity within a COST Full/Cooperating Member, Near Neighbour Country (NNC), or European RTD.
• The applicant must be engaged in an official research programme as a PhD student or postdoctoral fellow, or be employed by or affiliated with an institution, organisation, or legal entity that is clearly involved in research activities.
• The STSM must take place in a country different from the applicant’s home institution.
• The application must be submitted before the deadline for the STSM call.
• The STSM must last for at least 1 calendar month, with longer durations encouraged.
• The STSM must be completed in its entirety before 1 October.

FINANCIAL RULES

• The maximum grant amount is €2,000.
• The STSM will reimburse costs related to travel, accommodation, subsistence, and other expenses necessary for completing the mission.
• Special provisions are in place to encourage application submissions from researchers in ITC countries.
• The Action cannot fund salaries.

Note: The Action Management Committee (MC) has the discretion to approve a grant for a lower amount than requested.

EVALUATION AND AWARDING OF STSM

• The evaluation of STSM applications and the selection of STSM Grantees is carried out by the Action’s Grant Awarding Coordinator and the Core Group, on behalf of the Management Committee (MC) of the Prayticipate COST Action. 
• The selection process is based on the scientific alignment of the STSM application, which must clearly contribute to the Action’s scientific objectives. 
• The selection also considers the COST policies related to promoting gender balance, supporting Young Researchers and Innovators (under 40 years old), and enhancing geographical inclusiveness, as well as the appropriateness of the proposed budget. 
• Applicants will be notified of the results within 20 working days of receiving their application.
• In some cases, the evaluation committee may request additional information or ask the candidate to resubmit the application with further details or a revised budget.

STSM Application Procedure
For information and a step-by-step guide on how to apply online, please refer to the “Grant Awarding User Guide” in the COST Documents & Guidelines section under “Documents for Running a COST Action.”

To begin your application, you must have an e-COST profile or create one. You can do this by logging into the e-COST platform at https://e-services.cost.eu/ . Additionally, you will need to add your bank details and upload a CV to your profile before you can start the application process.

THE APPLICATION MUST BE COMPLETED VIA E-COST

Instructions and screenshots on how to complete the application can be found in the “Grant Awarding User Guide” in the COST Documents & Guidelines section under “Documents for Running a COST Action.”

1. Go to the COST website, select COST Actions, and then Grant Applications from the menu on the left. This will redirect you to https://e-services.cost.eu/activity/grants/add.
2. Search for our Action “CA23143 – Participation through Prayer in the Late Medieval and Early Modern World” by typing CA23143in the search box under COST Action.
3. Click on the blue box to Apply for a Grant, select Short-term Scientific Mission grant by clicking continue, and complete the following information:
   • A title for your STSM (limit 128 characters, including spaces)
   • Start and end dates (within the active Grant Period)
   • Budget requested by the applicant
   • Information about the host institution and contact person
   • After saving the draft, return to the application page and select Upload Documents from the “options” drop-down box. This will take you to a page where you can download the COST template for the application form.
   • Complete the form and upload the following documents:
4. Letter of support from the host confirming the institution can host the applicant to perform the activities in the STSM work plan on the agreed dates
5. CV (including a list of academic publications, if applicable)
6. For PhD students, a letter from the supervisor about the relevance of the STSM to the student’s studies and the applicant’s suitability
7. Application form (template available on e-COST) describing:
   • Details: STSM Title, start and end dates
   • Goals: Purpose and summary of the STSM (max 200 words)
   • Working Plan: Description of the work to be carried out (max 500 words)
   • Expected outcomes: Contribution to the Action MoU objectives and deliverables, and progress toward the Action objectives (max 500 words)
8. Budget plan (up to €2,000), including categories like:
   • Travel (to and from and during the STSM)
   • Accommodation
   • Subsistence
   • Consumables
   • Other lab costs
   • Any other costs relevant to your STSM

Note: Please submit the STSM request before the deadline of the STSM call.

AFTER COMPLETING THE STSM

• Within 30 days of the STSM’s end date, the successful applicant must submit a scientific report using the template provided on e-COST. The report should include details of the work conducted, main achievements, and planned future follow-up activities.
• The applicant is also responsible for obtaining and uploading an official letter from the host institution formally accepting the scientific report.
• Failure to submit the scientific report within 30 days of the STSM’s end date will result in the cancellation of the grant.

We look forward to receiving your application and are here to help with any questions you have. 
Please send any questions to: carolin.gluchowski@uni-hamburg.de
Copied to: youri.desplenter@ugent.be ; a.dlabacova@hum.leidenuniv.nl

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

COST Action CA23143 and its STSMs are funded by COST (European Cooperation in Science and Technology). COST (European Cooperation in Science and Technology) is a funding agency for research and innovation networks. Our Actions help connect research initiatives across Europe and enable scientists to grow their ideas by sharing them with their peers. This boosts their research, career and innovation. www.cost.eu

^[1] The researcher must be affiliated to a legal entity in a COST Full/Cooperating Member, NNC or European RTD. We particularly encourage Young Researchers (under 40 years old) to apply.