23 June 2009 | General
More New Zealand Exchanges Ahead
Dr Di McCarthy, CEO of the Royal Society of New Zealand, and Dr Martin Grabert, COST Office Director, signed a new reciprocal agreement on 5 June 2009 in Brussels. This means COST Actions involving partner institutions from New Zealand can continue to apply for special funding to collaborate in common fields of research.
This scheme has been tested over the past two years and is proving to be a big success. Two years after the launch of the reciprocal agreement, 26 COST Actions are benefiting from New Zealand participation.Delighted about the results so far, Dr Grabert explained that: “the continuation of this very successful instrument is an important and encouraging signal for COST and its role in a globally-open European Research Area.”
COST Action members have strongly benefited from results obtained by almost all of New Zealand’s Crown Research institutes and universities, as well as some private institutions. Exchanges have been undertaken mainly in food and agriculture, forestry, biotechnology and materials science.
Until now, COST reciprocal agreements have been made with New Zealand and Australia. Soon, a similar agreement will be concluded with South Africa, helping scientists go on short-term scientific missions to a respective partner country and work within the context of the Action’s mutually-agreed research objectives.
Read more about cooperation with Australia and New Zealand.
