Date: 22 March 2024

Venue: Valletta, Malta

Type of meeting: hybrid

The Cost Action CA21158 “Enhancing Small-Medium IsLands resilience by securing the sustainability of Ecosystem Services (SMILES)” organizes a one-day training course on 22 March 2024. More info here.

Date: 20-21 March 2024

Venue: Valletta, Malta

Type of meeting: hybrid

The Cost Action CA21158 “Enhancing Small-Medium IsLands resilience by securing the sustainability of Ecosystem Services (SMILES)” organizes a two-day meeting for WG3 and WG4 between 20-21 March 2024. More info here.

Date: 29 February -1 March 2024

Venue: Thessaloniki, Greece

Type of meeting: Face to face

The Cost Action CA21158 “Enhancing Small-Medium IsLands resilience by securing the sustainability of Ecosystem Services (SMILES)” organizes a two-day meeting for WG1 from 29 February to 1 March 2024. More info here.

Two more videos of the Cost Action CA21158 “Enhancing Small-Medium IsLands resilience by securing the sustainability of Ecosystem Services (SMILES)” are ready and can be viewed here and here.

Funded Short Term Scientific Missions (STSM) and Virtual Mobility (VM) 

Third Call now Open

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Deadline: Applications can be made throughout the year until  31 July 2024

ITC Conference Grant 

Second Open Call

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Deadline: Applications can be made throughout the year until 31 July 2024

The first video of the Cost Action CA21158 “Enhancing Small-Medium IsLands resilience by securing the sustainability of Ecosystem Services (SMILES)” can be viewed here.

Date: 16-17 November 2023

Venue: Brussels, Belgium

Type of meeting: hybrid

The Cost Action CA21158 “Enhancing Small-Medium IsLands resilience by securing the sustainability of Ecosystem Services (SMILES)” organizes a one-day MC meeting on November 16th and an all WGs meeting on November 17th. More info here.

The WG6 of the Cost Action CA21158 “Enhancing Small-Medium IsLands resilience by securing the sustainability of Ecosystem Services (SMILES)” has prepared the first Poster concerning SMILES. The Poster can be viewed here.

Date: 29 September 2023

Venue: Dublin, Ireland

Type of meeting: hybrid

The Cost Action CA21158 “Enhancing Small-Medium IsLands resilience by securing the sustainability of Ecosystem Services (SMILES)” organizes a one-day meeting on Working Group 5: Policy and Governance of Small-Medium Islands for ES provision, and Policy Workshop . More info here.

Short Term Scientific Mission

Second Call now Open

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NEW Deadline: 15 July 2023

Dr. Mario V. Balzan (Action vice chair) attended the conference "The ecological transition in Italian small islands" on 21 June 2023, in Rome. He presented the SMILES COST Action «Enhancing Small-medium Islands resilience by securing the sustainability of Ecosystem Services». The presentation can be viewed here.

Dr. Paraskevi Manolaki (Science Communicator Coordinator and Working Group Leader of SMILES COST Action) attended the online info day "How to grow your network via COST-European Cooperation in Science and Technology" on 16 June 2023, organised by the Research & Innovation Foundation of Cyprus. The title of her presentation was "Testimonial from a Delegate of Cyprus on Participation in a COST Action & Impact of Participation". 

European islands are hotspots of biological and cultural diversity, which, compared to mainland, are more vulnerable to climate change, tourism development, uncontrolled land use changes and financial crisis. These factors have increasingly resulted in severe impacts on socio-economic and environmental services. SMILES - Enhancing Small-Medium IsLands resilience by securing the sustainability of Ecosystem Services, a COST Action (CA21158) that brings together 155 scientists, researchers and academics from 27 countries, aims to provide a platform for coordinated interdisciplinary research on several aspects of mapping and assessment of ecosystem services in small and medium European Islands to synthesize and strengthen the knowledge base for conservation of island realms and contribute to their sustainable development. 

For the full-text press release click here.

Date: 8 June 2023

Venue: online

The COST Action CA21158 “Enhancing Small-Medium IsLands resilience by securing the sustainability of Ecosystem Services (SMILES)” organizes a training workshop on methods and tools for understanding and communicating climate change scenarios. This half-day online event targets students, academics, scientists and practitioners interested in studying Ecosystem Services, who might not, however, have a strong background in climate and atmospheric sciences. We will cover topics of broader interest, such as an Introduction to Climatology, essential Climate Statistics, and the basics of Climate Change, but also more specific ones, such as sources of Climate Information, Climate Change Projections and Impacts focusing on Ecosystem Services. Priority will be given to early career scientists and participants of the SMILES COST Action. There are no fees for attending the event, while an attendance certificate will be issued for all participants.  

For more information and registration (required for attendance) please use the following link: REGISTRATION

ITC Conference Grants under COST Action  SMILES

Call now Open

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Deadline: The call is continuous

Date: 17 - 19 May 2023

Venue: Athens, Greece

Type of meeting: hybrid

The Cost Action CA21158 “Enhancing Small-Medium IsLands resilience by securing the sustainability of Ecosystem Services (SMILES)” organizes a three-day meeting on Working Group 1: Small-medium island ecosystems: natural capital assessment and Working Group 2: Ecosystem Services of Small-medium islands. More info here.

Date: 10 - 12 May 2023

Venue: Nicosia, Cyprus

Type of meeting: hybrid

The Cost Action CA21158 “Enhancing Small-Medium IsLands resilience by securing the sustainability of Ecosystem Services (SMILES)” organizes a three-day meeting on Working Group 3: Effects of Land use and climate changes (LU/CC) on ES and Working Group 4: Nature-based solutions (NbS) for safeguarding ES of small-medium islands. More info here.

Short Term Scientific Mission

Call now Open for WG3-Effects of Land use and climate changes (LU/CC) on ES 

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Deadline: 15 February 2023

Short Term Scientific Mission

Call now Open

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NEW Deadline: 15 February 2023

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2nd Management Committee and Working Groups Meeting of the COST Action CA21158

Where: University of Milano-Bicocca, Milano, Italy and online

When: 2-3 November 2022 

1st Management Committee Metting of the COST Action: CA21158 – Enhancing Small-Medium IsLands resilience by securing the sustainability of Ecosystem Services

Where: Online

When: 22 September 2022