COST is a inter-governmental framework (founded in 1971) dedicated to coordination of nationally-funded European research. It is supported by the  EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation Horizon 2020. Its main instruments are COST Actions based on the following principles:

• bottom-up approach: the scientific challenges are defined by the researchers,
• objective: to overcome the research fragmentation issues,
• funded activities: cooperation (meetings,workshops, short-term missions, training schools, ...) and dissemination,
• no direct research funding,
• precursor role for other European programmes,
• important roles given to Early-Stage Researchers (< PhD+8),
• gender balance promoted,
• budget: 129,000-156,000 euros per year for all partners,
• proposal selectivity: 6-10%.

For more details, see the COST website and the COST presentation from the PARSEME kick-off meeting.