How to Apply

AQUACOSM-plus opens three general calls for TA provision in 2021 (first call), 2022 (second call) and 2023 (third call) within which facilities open specific facility calls with individual deadlines. Those calls can be found under TA Calls tab.

• Attract and support a wide range of users primarily from Europe and also from third countries by providing access to high-quality infrastructures and services at unique and diverse aquatic mesocosm facilities, enabling first-class experimental research in aquatic ecology, including industrial Research & Development (R&D) activities.
• Develop unexplored research and development potential between largely separated communities, such as freshwater and marine sciences, and between science, industries, environmental managers, and other relevant stakeholders.
• Broaden cross-disciplinary collaboration and coordination of approaches and investigations over environmental gradients (salinity, climatic, nutritional, etc.).
• Specifically offer access and train users from countries that lack state-of-the-art freshwater or marine mesocosm facilities, and/or have not previously been involved in experimental investigations using aquatic mesocosm facilities.
• Invite students, scientists, industry, technical developers and other stakeholders that do not have access to similar facilities, know-how or services in their own country or institution. To foster a truly global initiative, AQUACOSM will welcome up to 20% of the funded participants from countries outside the European Union and associated states. Applications from female users are particularly encouraged!

• AQUACOSM-plus provides access free of charge to approved users to at least one of the partner facilities. The access includes logistical, technological and scientific support and specific training to users. Each facility provider within AQUACOSM-plus is responsible for the local administration of the TA users. The coordinators at each facility hosting TA will be responsible for practical installation and day-to-day scientific supervision.
• Travel expenses from the home institution of the user to the chosen installation and return shall be reimbursed on the following basis: The airfare shall be reimbursed on submission of the original ticket with a travel imbursement form after the completion of the travel. The travel must be on economy class. Local transportation costs (bus, metro, train) for the arrival and departure dates may also be reimbursed upon presentation of receipts. Taxi fares are not eligible for reimbursement unless properly justified and clarified with the facility providers beforehand. Please make sure to retain the receipt and provide a written justification. If you need to travel by car, reimbursement conditions will follow the internal regulations of the TA host institution for guests. The costs of car rental or car insurance will only be covered when permitted by the regulations of the institution providing TA and then only when the costs are not exceeding the allocated funds of the host. Please contact your host in advance to verify and get confirmation regarding the terms of reimbursement.
• Lodging will usually be booked and paid directly by the AQUACOSM-plus partner facility provider. The duration of the proposed project may vary, but generally between ca. three weeks to three months for each person.
• Subsistence expenses will be provided for in the form of either a per-diem rate or through all meal costs covered by the facility provider depending on the local rules at the facility and the country.

The AQUACOSM-plus Transnational Access program does not cover salaries or honoraria! Appointed users should make their own travel, health and other insurance arrangements.

Groups and individuals (experts or trainees) from all over the world can apply for AQUACOSM-plus TA as long as the following regulations are met:

• When more than one applicant submits a proposal, the group is led by a "user group leader".
• Individuals (trainee and expert), user group leaders, and the majority of their group members must work in a country other than the country where the installation/research infrastructure is located. Users working in the same country than the installation/infrastructure can therefore only be supported by TA if they are part of a group that fulfills the above mentioned requirements.
• Only users and user groups that are allowed to publicly disseminate the results generated under the action can benefit from TA, unless the users are working for SMEs (for which special rules apply-please contact us for further info).
• Access for user groups with a majority of users not working in an EU or associated country is limited to 20% of the total amount of units of access provided under the grant.
• Members of the AQUACOSM-plus consortium/partners and present members of their Department cannot apply for TA funding.
• Non-associated members at the AQUACOSM-plus partner institutions, i.e. researchers from another department can apply for TA. However, all requirements mentioned above apply. Generally external and new users will be prioritised.
• After the facility call is closed it is not possible to add participants on TA funding

Notes:

• All TA grants to user group leaders, group members, and individual users (experts and trainees) are personal. The person/s named on the application form cannot be exchanged.
• The user group leader can neither transfer the grant leadership, nor a significant amount of allocated personal time to another member(s) of the group.
• The number of TA access days is also personal. Modifications may be allowed after evaluation on an individual case basis.

The applications are evaluated by the User Selection Panel (USP)composed of international experts in the field and being independent from the beneficiaries. The USP applies the principles of transparency, fairness and impartiality.

The USP bases the evaluation primarily on scientific merit following 5 key points:

• Aims, objectives and motivation of TA project and
• Scientific and technical value.
• Quality of the work plan
• Scientific excellence of individual expert or user group
• Potential for seeding links with industry

Trainees (Bachelor, MSc or PhD students) will be evaluated by their motivation and work plan.

In addition USP takes into account that priority is given to individuals or user groups who:

• have not previously used the installation and
• are working in countries where no equivalent research infrastructure exists

• Incoming applications are checked by the TA-Office and checked for formal compliance according to the present European Commission Requirements.
• The TA-Office gives access to compliant applications to the independent User Selection Panel (USP)
• The USP evaluates, prioritises and ranks the applications according to scientific merit and 5 key points attributed to prospective users (defined above) and takes into account that priority is given to new users.
• The facility providers will check the feasibility of the proposed activities, follow the recommendations and ranking of the applications by the USP and inform the successful applicant.
• In unclear cases the Steering Committee (SC) will be consulted and final decisions are taken by the USP and followed by the respective facility providers.
• Decisions on TA approval will be reported to the TA-Office and publicly communicated via the outreach pathways of AQUACOMS-plus.
• Facility providers start organising the planned activity as soon as they are informed about approved applications.
• If more qualified applicants seek access to the same facility than there are available time slots, the less qualified applicants will be either directed to another facility (if they have given a second choice facility), alternatively put on a waiting list or their proposal will be declined.

• By accepting TA funding, the TA users and groups are consenting to comply with the open data policy. Details on open data policy within AQUACOSM-plus can be found in the Data Management Plan (DMP).
• Uploading the metadata to the Mesocosm Metadata Catalogue is mandatory, see instruction videos on how to upload your metadata.
• After the completion of the TA activity, the TA user (group leader or expert/trainee) submit a short AQUACOSM-plus TA-Report.
• Travel expenses and any other costs will be reimbursed upon approval of the TA Report and the metadata upload to the Mesocosm Metadata Catalogue.
• All publications resulting from the project should acknowledge EC-support (see AQUACOSM-plus TA Report).
• The TA users should publish the results of their own work at the infrastructure in an open access journal/repository. Proprietary research (research where results are not generally available to the public or only made available under confidentiality arrangements) cannot be supported.

If you have ideas for project(s) you wish to discuss with us please contact us any time, we are here to help developing the best possible open science projects! Welcome!

TA-Office: ta-plus@aquacosm.eu

Dr. Stella A. Berger (Leader of the Transnational Access Programme)

Dr. Tatiana Tsagaraki (Co-Leader of the Transnational Access Programme)

Prof. Silke Langenheder (Co-Leader of the Transnational Access Programme)