CA23149 – ITC Conference Grants: Call for Applications (Deadline February 20, 2026)

CA23149 - ITC Conference Grants: Call for Applications (Deadline February 20, 2026)

CA23149 is calling for proposals via the e-cost website until February 20, 2026 for activities that must be completed by September 15, 2026.

Since the 1990s, Central Eastern Europe (CEE) and its Near and Middle Eastern (NME) neighbors have experienced major social and political shifts. Gender equality and anti-discrimination norms became key symbols of democracy, though their impact varied. For 15 years, these values—especially gender and sexual equality—have faced opposition from religious fundamentalism, homophobia, and neo-traditionalist ideologies. The network has established four working groups that aim to analyze anti-gender politics in these regions, linking them to democratic decline: Revealing the historical, social-political and economic background conditions, Deciphering the triangle of state, civil society and anti-gender actors, Rethinking activism and forms of oppositions with a focus on unexpected allies, and Dissemination and outreach activities.

Although membership is not mandatory, we encourage all grant applicants to join our COST Action Network and to become active members of one of the working groups. More information about our aims and scientific purpose can be found here on the project's website or through the COST Associations website.

In addition to regular reporting and acknowledgment of the COST Action in all activities (e.g. in posters, presentations), grantees agree to publish the aims and results of their grant period in a format suitable for the COST Action’s social media channels.

ITC Conference Grant

This call is dedicated to researchers and innovators based in an ITC country (Inclusiveness Target Countries): Albania, Armenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Croatia, Georgia, Greece, Hungary, Lithuania, Latvia, Malta, Moldova, Montenegro, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Slovakia, Republic of North Macedonia, Republic of Serbia, Türkiye and Ukraine
A maximum of three grants will be given to applications for delivering an oral presentation about their work and to establish new collaborations. At the same time it aims to increase visibility of the cost action. We expect the conference to have a high impact on the grantee’s discipline to ensure the visibility of our COST network.

Submission deadline: February 20, 2026

Application details and grant conditions

• All applications are made via the portal e-cost https://e-services.cost.eu/. In your personal account you find the page to apply via the menu on the left: Cost Actions>My Grant Applications: https://e-services.cost.eu/activity/grants
• Copy of the abstract of the accepted oral presentation
• Acceptance (or invitation) letter from the conference organisers
• Statement regarding the expected outcome and how the project aligns with the aims of the Cost Action
• The support will be paid as a lump sum: to EU/UK: 900 €; to East-coast US/Canada: 1.800 €; to Westcoast US/Canada and rest of the world: 2.200 €; to non-European Mediterranean Bassin: 900 €
• A detailed user guide for the application platform can be found here.

For further inquiries, please contact
Elisa-Maria Hiemer: e.hiemer@fu-berlin.de
Andrea Pető: petoa@ceu.edu