COST Senior Officials - 125th meeting
The 125th meeting of the Committee of Senior Officials of COST (European Cooperation in Scientific and Technical Research) was held in Brussels on 17 and 18 October 1996. The meeting marked the 25th anniversary of the establishment of COST, which now includes 25 members. The Committee welcomed Estonia's recent application for full membership of COST and granted it observer status. A formal decision on full membership for Estonia, as well as for Romania and Malta, who have also been granted observer status at previous COST meetings, will be taken at the COST Ministerial Meeting, to be held in Prague on 26 and 27 May 1997. The Committee authorized institutes from non-member countries (two Ukrainian universities and the Romanian Transport Institute) to participate in three COST Actions. The extension of three Actions was approved, and one new Action (COST 259 - Wireless flexible personalized communications) was approved. Five other new Actions were approved in principle. An evaluation of COST will be conducted by a consortium guided by the University of Manchester. This evaluation may be presented to the Ministerial Meeting in May 1997. An Action entitled "Mechanisms for restitution and repair of cognitive and integrative processes in the nervous system" is ready to be launched, following the work of the Ad hoc group on neuroscience coordination, whose chairman reported to the Committee. The Committee has also agreed to install a structure to launch Actions in the field of nanoscience.