COST Action BETTER (CA20103): An interdisciplinary research network in biosecurity in different animal production systems

Abstract

Today, connecting people, researchers, research topics, ideas and projects from different countries all around the Europe is more important than ever. One of the greatest examples how research ideas can connect and integrate new research ideas is European Cooperation in Science and Technology (COST), a funding agency for research and innovation networks. The main activity is to help connect research initiatives across Europe and enable scientists to grow their ideas by sharing them with their peers. This is an interdisciplinary research network that brings researchers and innovators together to investigate a topic of their choice for 4 years. COST Actions are typically made up of researchers from academia, SMEs, public institutions and other relevant organisations or interested parties. More important, COST Actions are open to all science and technology fields, including new and emerging fields and offering an inclusive, pan-European environment for individuals of all levels of seniority to grow their professional research networks. In order to explain what all the possibilities are opened by participating in a COST action, we will present an example of a successful ongoing COST Action CA20103: Biosecurity Enhanced Through Training Evaluation and Raising Awareness (BETTER) in which researchers all around Europe are actively involved. In today's world it is essential for research to be interconnected, interdisciplinary, collaborative and data-intensive. COST provides networking opportunities for researchers and innovators in order to strengthen urope's capacity to address scientific, technological and societal challenges. By analysing the activities and presenting the results achieved so far in the COST Action BETTER, we want to highlight all the advantages and opportunities that are open to researchers in Europe by participating in the COST action.