14-17 May 2024

Belgrade, Serbia

Call for Trainees

The aim of the Goodbrother COST Action and its last 3rd Training School is to increase the awareness about the ethical, legal, and privacy issues associated with audio and video-based monitoring and to propose privacy-aware working solutions for assisted living, by creating an interdisciplinary community of researchers and industrial partners from different fields (computing, engineering, healthcare, law, sociology) and other stakeholders (users, policymakers, public services), stimulating new research and innovation. Goodbrother will offset the “Big Brother” sense of continuous monitoring by increasing user acceptance, exploiting these new solutions, and improving market reach.

The Goodbrother Training School is a multidisciplinary event open to professionals, researchers, and Ph.D. students with a B2 or equal level of English and relevant skills in the aforementioned areas. Any interested applicant must complete the Application Form where they will be required to demonstrate experience and competence in the above-mentioned focus (professional or research experience).

The selected applicants (trainees) will benefit from a Trainee Grant to participate in the school activities from the 14th to 17th May 2024. This grant is expected to cover the travel, accommodation, and expenses. This grant will follow the scheme available at the Annotated Rules for COST Actions, with a daily allowance of €110 to cover accommodation, meals, and short distance travel; and a recommended maximum amount of €500 for long travel.

Selected trainees shall create an e-COST profile at https://e-services.cost.eu including bank details prior to accepting their e-COST invitation. They shall submit via e-COST a completed online travel reimbursement request within 15 calendar days after the end date of the training school.

Eligibility criteria: 

• Applicants shall be engaged in an official research program as a PhD Student or postdoctoral fellow or can be employed by, or affiliated to, an institution, organisation, or legal entity which has within its remit a clear association with performing research, located in a COST Members or an NNC (Near Neighbour Country): 
  • COST Members: Albania, Armenia, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Republic of Moldova, Montenegro, The Netherlands, The Republic of North Macedonia, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Türkiye, Ukraine, and United Kingdom.
  • NNCs: Algeria, Azerbaijan, Egypt, Jordan, Kosovo, Libya, Morocco, Palestine, The Faroe Islands and Tunisia.

Trainers (to be confirmed)

• Prof. Ivan Chorbev, N. Macedonia
• Prof. Laila Dahabiyeh, Jordan
• Prof. Francisco Flórez-Revuelta, Spain
• Prof. Aleksandar Jevremovic, Serbia
• Prof. Mladjan Jovanovic, Serbia
• Mr. Maksymilian Kuźmicz, Sweden
• Prof. Petre Lameski, N. Macedonia
• Ms. Natália Machado, Portugal
• Prof. Nathalie G.S Puaschitz, Norway

Programme (to be finalised)

• Smart home technologies and AAL – (Assisted living technologies for older adults, tools, infrastructure, Algorithms, Use Cases, Design Issues, Future)
• Trustworthy video-based remote monitoring for AAL
• Can we use AI to make AI more transparent and secure?
• Technological Sovereignty and Data Security in AAL
• Customizing Language Models
• Addressing ethical challenges in the journey of innovation: enhancing inclusion of vulnerable end-users for the development of efficient and trustworthy technologies (ICT systems and AI)
• Assistive technology and telecare in patients with dementia – what to be aware of when designing new technology?
• Who’s who in the AI Act? AAL stakeholders in the context of AI Act
• Privacy theories and design implications

Key dates

• Applications opened: 15 February 2024
• Applications submission deadline: 15 March 2024
• Confirmation to the selected trainees: 20 March 2024
• Deadline for e-Cost registration and confirmation: 27 March 2024
• Training School days: 14-17 May 2024

Local Organiser

Faculty of Informatics and Computing, Singidunum University, Belgrade, Serbia

13-16 June 2023

Bucharest, Romania

Call for Trainees

The aim of the Goodbrother COST Action and this 2nd Training School is to increase the awareness about the ethical, legal, and privacy issues associated with audio and video-based monitoring and to propose privacy-aware working solutions for assisted living, by creating an interdisciplinary community of researchers and industrial partners from different fields (computing, engineering, healthcare, law, sociology) and other stakeholders (users, policymakers, public services), stimulating new research and innovation. Goodbrother will offset the “Big Brother” sense of continuous monitoring by increasing user acceptance, exploiting these new solutions, and improving market reach.

The Goodbrother Training School is a multidisciplinary event open to professionals, researchers, and Ph.D. students with a B2 or equal level of English and relevant skills in the aforementioned areas. Any interested applicant must complete the Application Form where they will be required to demonstrate experience and competence in the above-mentioned focus (professional or research experience).

The selected applicants (trainees) will benefit from a Trainee Grant to participate in the school activities from the 13th to 16th June 2023. This grant is expected to cover the travel, accommodation, and expenses. This grant will follow the scheme available at the Annotated Rules for COST Actions, with a daily allowance of €90 to cover accommodation, meals, and short distance travel; and a recommended maximum amount of €400 for long travel.

Selected trainees shall create an e-COST profile at https://e-services.cost.eu including bank details prior to accepting their e-COST invitation. They shall submit via e-COST a completed online travel reimbursement request within 15 calendar days after the end date of the training school.

Eligibility criteria: 

• Applicants shall be engaged in an official research program as a PhD Student or postdoctoral fellow or can be employed by, or affiliated to, an institution, organisation, or legal entity which has within its remit a clear association with performing research, located in a COST Members or an NNC (Near Neighbour Country): 
  • COST Members: Albania, Armenia, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Republic of Moldova, Montenegro, The Netherlands, The Republic of North Macedonia, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine, and United Kingdom.
  • NNCs: Algeria, Azerbaijan, Egypt, the Faroe Islands, Jordan, Kosovo, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Palestine, Syria, and Tunisia.

Trainers (to be confirmed)

• Dr Pau Climent-Perez, University of Alicante, Spain
• Prof. Francisco Flórez-Revuelta, University of Alicante, Spain
• Prof. Martin Kampel, Vienna University of Technology, Austria
• Dr Lambros Lambrinos, Cyprus University of Technology, Cyprus
• Dr Petre Lameski, Faculty of Computer Science and Engineering, North Macedonia
• Dr Cosmina Paul, Ana Aslan Academy, Romania
• Dr Gianluigi M. Riva, Università Bocconi, Italy
• Prof Luiza Spiru, Fundatia Ana Aslan International, Romania
• Dr Andreea Stamate, Ana Aslan International Foundation, Romania
• Dr Razvan-Ioan Trascu, Ana Aslan International Foundation, Romania

Programme (to be finalised)

• Computer vision for AAL
• Privacy preservation in video data
• Longevity Medicine -the challenge between Geroscience and Gerontechnology
• The facilitators and barriers to the adoption of the new technologies in health-care. Failing the future?
• Improving User Acceptance in Large-Scale High-Tech Pilots – Lessons Learnt from SMART BEAR Project
• Understanding Data Protection: the legal basics from privacy origins to audio-video technologies
• Algorithmic Governance of Care: Fairness and Trustworthiness
• Complementing video-based AAL technologies with the Internet of Things
• Explainable AI
• Challenges that research projects working on digital solutions for older adults need to be aware of, using examples from AAL projects

Key dates

• Applications opened: 4 April 2023
• Applications submission deadline: 5 May 2023
• Confirmation to the selected trainees: 10 May 2023
• Deadline for e-Cost registration and confirmation: 19 May 2023
• Training School days: 13-16 June 2023

Local Organiser

Ana Aslan International Foundation, Romania

6-10 June 2022

Skopje, North Macedonia

Call for Trainees

The aim of Goodbrother COST Action and the 1st Training School is to increase the awareness about the ethical, legal, and privacy issues associated with audio and video-based monitoring and to propose privacy-aware working solutions for assisted living, by creating an interdisciplinary community of researchers and industrial partners from different fields (computing, engineering, healthcare, law, sociology) and other stakeholders (users, policymakers, public services), stimulating new research and innovation. Goodbrother will offset the “Big Brother” sense of continuous monitoring by increasing user acceptance, exploiting these new solutions, and improving market reach.

The Goodbrother Training School is a multidisciplinary event open to professionals, researchers, and Ph.D. students with a B2 or equal level of English and relevant skills in the aforementioned areas. Any interested applicant must complete the Application Form where they will be required to demonstrate experience and competence in the above-mentioned focus (professional or research experience).

Applicants shall be engaged in an official research program as a PhD Student or postdoctoral fellow or can be employed by, or affiliated to, an institution, organisation, or legal entity which has within its remit a clear association with performing research. Trainees eligible for reimbursement are from COST Full Member Countries (Albania, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Republic of Moldova, Montenegro, The Netherlands, The Republic of North Macedonia, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine, and the United Kingdom), COST Cooperating Member countries, Action MC Observer from COST Near Neighbour Countries (NNC), or from Approved European RTD Organisations.

The selected applicants (trainees) will benefit from a Trainee Grant to participate in the school activities from the 6th to 10th June 2022. This grant is expected to cover the travel, accommodation, and expenses, each application will be individually evaluated along with the total grant to be awarded, which can be up to €700 for the five days.

Selected trainees shall create an e-COST profile at https://e-services.cost.eu including bank details prior to accepting their e-COST invitation. They shall submit via e-COST a completed online travel reimbursement request within 30 calendar days after the end date of the approved activity.

Trainers (to be confirmed)

• Lukács Adrienn, Ph.D, University of Szeged, Hungary
• Zoltán Alexin, PhD, University of Szeged, Hungary
• Francisco Flórez-Revuelta, Ph.D., University of Alicante, Spain
• Nina Hosseini Kivanani, Université du Luxembourg, Luxembourg
• Aleksandar Jevremovic, Ph.D., Singidunum University, Serbia
• Petre Lameski, Ph.D., Faculty of Computer Science and Engineering, North Macedonia
• Cristina Miguel, Ph.D., University of Gothenburg, Sweden
• Ivan Pires, Ph.D., University of Beira Interior, Portugal
• María José Santofimia. Ph.D., Universidad de Castilla La Mancha, Spain
• Eftim Zdravevski, Ph.D., Faculty of Computer Science and Engineering, North Macedonia

Programme (to be finalised)

• Computer vision for AAL
• Privacy preservation in video data
• From Big Brother to GoodBrother: Introduction to the legal regulation of privacy
• Examples of audio- or video-based AAL applications
• Remote monitoring
• Fall detection and prevention
• Introduction to big data processing
• How to apply augmentation techniques on small datasets: Neurodegenerative diseases datasets
• Introduction to Explainable AI
• Protecting data in Smart/IoT environments
• Pseudonymisation and anonymisation of datasets

Key dates

• Applications opened: 18 April 2022
• Applications submission deadline: 13 May 2022 (extended)
• Confirmation to the selected trainees: 17 May 2022
• Deadline for e-Cost registration and confirmation: 22 May 2022
• Training School days: 6-10 June 2022

Local Organiser

Faculty of Computer Science and Engineering, Ss. Cyril and Methodius University, Skopje, North Macedonia