COST Association briefing on COVID-19
On 13 March 2020, as a result of the the evolving situation and uncertainty regarding the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak, we were informed by the the COST Association of the actions put in place to deal with the outbreak of coronavirus and its consequences.
Considering the measures taken by most of the EU Member States and other States as of 12 March 2020, and the scope of those measures for COST activities, the COST Association recommended the following measures, which will be enforced, as a minimum, until 03 April 2020:
- The suspension of physical meetings occurring within the framework of COST activities
- The cancellation of Training schools and STSMs
To mitigate the disruption to COST Actions, the following measures were recommended:
- Video conferences
- The continuation of networking tools, including dissemination tools, that do not require physical meetings.
In practice, those measures mean the following:
- Physical meetings’ suspension;
- Video conferences are encouraged;
- All networking tools, including dissemination tools, that do not require physical meeting should continue as much as possible;
- Upcoming Training schools and STSMs should be cancelled;
- STSMs and Training Schools currently taking place should follow the national and Host institutions’ instructions;
- Participation in conferences and external meetings should follow the instructions of the organisers.
A dedicated page has been created by the COST Association, which can be found here.
