Call for the second funding period of CA23149 – Democratization at Stake? Comparing Anti-Gender Politics in CEE and NME Countries

Call for the second funding period of CA23149: Democratization at stake? Comparing Anti-Gender Politics in CEE and NME countries

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

Dissemination Conference Grant

This call is only open to COST-Action members as it creates outreach for the network's scientific core ideas. The grantee is required to hold an oral presentation directly related to the topic 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. We expect to be able to support approximately four applications , subject to eligibility and budget availability.

Submission deadline: February 20, 2026

Application details

• 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
• 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 €
• Statement regarding the expected outcome and how the project aligns with the aims of the Cost Action
• 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

Young Researcher and Innovator Conference Grant

We are pleased to invite young scholars (up to 40 years of age) to apply for the Young Researcher and Innovator Conference Grant. With the possibility to support a maximum of five applicants (subject to eligibility and budget availability), this grant enables researchers at an early stage of their careers to take part in high-impact conferences outside their country of residency.

The grantee is required to deliver an oral presentation (talk, poster presentation) on a topic within the scope of the action.
This call is open to researchers and other professionals working in civic education. With their active participation, the grant should help establish a strong network to increase the grantee’s visibility in the respective professional field and the visibility of the COST Action.

Submission deadline: February 20, 2026

Application details

• 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
• 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 €
• Copy of the abstract of the accepted oral or poster 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
• 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

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

Short-Term Scientific Mission Grant Announcement

We are pleased to announce a new funding opportunity through the Short-Term Scientific Mission Grant program. This initiative offers funding of 2,000€ to support collaborative research efforts that transcend national and disciplinary boundaries. Missions should last between 5-90 days.

The program explicitly supports projects conducted in institutions that are part of this COST action. The grant emphasizes interdisciplinary work and requires a comparative research approach to foster innovative perspectives and methodologies across academic fields. Successful applicants will be expected to share their research findings through professional academic blogs as part of the grant requirements. This may include platforms like The Loop (ECPR) at https://theloop.ecpr.eu/, the Gender Blog at www.gender-blog.de, or other recognized professional blog platforms within the humanities or social sciences field. This dissemination requirement ensures that the research outcomes reach a broad academic audience and contribute to ongoing scholarly discussions.

The program's primary objective is strengthening the research community by encouraging networking across borders and disciplines. Through this funding opportunity, we aim to facilitate meaningful collaborations that can lead to lasting research partnerships and innovative academic outcomes. We strongly encourage YRIs and colleagues from ITCs and NNCs to apply for STSMs.

Submission deadline: April 1, 2026

Application details:

• 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
• Invitation/Recommendation letter by the hosting institution, detailed working plan concerning the resources provided by the hosting institution.
• Information about the blog or website host where the outcome will be published, and an email confirming a pre-agreement with the respective hosts
• Description of the expected outcome, budget plan working plan and how it aligns with the aims of the Cost Action. (For our memorandum of understanding, please see Cost Action Homepage)
• A detailed user guide for the application platform can be found here.

The support will be paid as a lump sum:

• 850,- Euro for one week
• 1150,- Euro for 2 weeks
• 1550,- Euro for 3 weeks
• 1950,- Euro for 4 weeks

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

All this information can be found here in a PDF file.