INTIMATE aims at developing common protocols and methods to reconstruct abrupt and extreme climate change across the full range of environments (ice, marine and terrestrial) over the period 60,000 to 8,000 years ago. The aim is to better understand the mechanisms and impact of change, and thereby reduce the uncertainty of future prediction.
It is crucial that independent records of abrupt climate change across Europe are generated and robustly compared to test for leads/lags in the climate system and the interaction between different climate forcing mechanisms. Doing so will critically underpin our ability to model future climate change and ecosystem response. The main objectives of INTIMATE are thus to standardize methodologies, incorporate reconstructions within climate models, and facilitate interdisciplinary science collaborations.
Within this context a number of grants for Short Term Scientific Missions (STSMs) are available. Funding can be sought for partial funding of research visits to collaborating institutions. The goal of the research visits must be to facilitate correlation between environments (i.e. ice, marine and terrestrial) and/or research groups, or to learn a new technique or to take measurements using instruments and/or methods not available in their own institution/laboratory.
Criteria:
1) Research subject must be relevant for INTIMATE.
2) Both applicant and host must be from a member country
3) STSM funding is a contribution towards travel and subsistence costs, and cannot be used as a salary.
4) Duration of research visit: from 5 working days to 3 months (6 months for Early Stage Researchers, i.e. PhD age maximum 8 years)
5) Maximum funding sum: €2500 or €3500 for long stays. More than €2000 will be granted only in exceptional cases. Normal COST reimbursement limits apply.
6) Early Stage Researchers have priority
Successful applicants will have to submit a scientific report within 4 weeks after the end of the STSM.
Application procedure:
The application is created via the on-line registration tool https://e-services.cost.eu/stsm. Please refer to section 3 of “COST Vademecum (Part A) – Pay-as-you-go System” for full instructions.
Please enclose:
1) Project description (max 2 pages):
a. Purpose of project,
b. Purpose of research visit in relation to project
c. Relevance for INTIMATE.
d. Motivation for choosing this particular host for this particular STSM.
2) CV of applicant (1 page + publication list at least 5 years back). If the applicant has no publications, the CV of the supervisor as well as a letter of support must also be attached.
3) Letters of support (optional).
4) Budget with indication of the applicant’s funding during the visit and support from other sources (home institution, host, other grants)
5) Please also indicate if the timing of this STSM is flexible (e.g. if funding or laboratory resources are only available at a later point).
The application must be submitted as one single pdf-file attached to an email to the MC chair at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it and to the host, who should send his/her agreement to host the STSM to the chair.
Deadlines:
March 1st (applications for STSMs to take place in the current year) and September 15th (applications for STSMs to take place in the current year and the following year until and including May). Applications are accepted outside these dates if there is a good reason why the STSM is urgent.
More information:
For further information on STSMs contact the INTIMATE STSM panel chair Marit-Solveig Seidenkrantz, Centre for Past Climate Studies, Department for Geoscience, Aarhus University, email:
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
. The evaluation panel is comprised of one chair/co-chair from each working group chaired by Marit-Solveig Seidenkrantz.
For further information on INTIMATE contact the project chair Dr. Sune Olander Rasmussen, Centre for Ice and Climate, Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen, Denmark. Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or visit the INTIMATE website: http://cost-es0907.geoenvi.org/
March 19, 2011
