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The COST Association has announced its Open Call 2026 for new COST Action proposals, with submissions opening on 31 July 2026. The call closes on 28 October 2026 (12:00 noon CET).
COST Actions are four-year interdisciplinary research networks open to all science and technology fields. They bring together researchers and innovators around shared scientific challenges, offering funding for events, Short-Term Scientific Missions, Training Schools, communication activities and virtual networking tools. A COST Action receives an estimated budget of €150,000 in its first year and on average €180,000 per year for the remaining three years. All six Western Balkans economies are eligible to participate.
The 2026 call introduces several changes worth noting. At least 40% of proposers in a network must now be Young Researchers and Innovators, in addition to the existing requirement that at least 50% come from COST Inclusiveness Target Countries. Each individual may also participate as Main or Secondary Proposer in one proposal only per call. On the technical side, the proposal submission process has been streamlined: the Technical Annex is now integrated directly into the e-COST platform rather than submitted as a separate document.
COST will fund up to 80 Actions under the 2026 call, up from 70 in the previous round, improving the overall success rate for applicants.
Proposers can begin building their network and preparing their proposal now. Relevant documents including the Open Call Proposers Guidelines and the Open Call Announcement are available in the COST Documents and Guidelines section.
To support prospective applicants, COST has also published updated guidance videos on how to join a COST Action and how to submit a winning proposal.
A General Online COST Info Day will take place on 16 June 2026 (10:00–12:00 CEST), providing an opportunity to learn more about the call and ask questions directly to the COST team.