Science is an international endeavor! To promote equity and inclusion, SMBE is excited to announce a Virtual Lab Meeting Training Program! The goal of the program is to promote the exchange of ideas between labs with different academic cultures and make explicit efforts to connect faculty and students in the Molecular Biology and Evolution community across the globe. This program helps mentees develop an international supportive network, provides a pathway for future success, and broadens their knowledge in our field. Since many lab meetings have a virtual component, we thought this is an excellent time to take advantage of these unusual circumstances with a training program.

In this program, SMBE seeks to provide training to students at the graduate or early postdoctoral level (“mentees”) by participating in lab meetings of a research group that shares their interests. The mentee will participate by attending lab meetings during 2022-2023. A designated “mentor” from the research group will dedicate portions of two lab meetings to the mentee’s professional development. The format for lab meetings dedicated to the mentee’s professional development is flexible, but could take the form of grant application statements, research presentation, lead paper discussion, etc.

The following are requirements for program completion:

• Attendance at 10 lab meetings with portions of 2 lab meetings dedicated to mentee’s professional development before June 2023 (we envision this is approximately 10-20 hours of time total, depending on lab meeting lengths)

• Bi-monthly participation in professional development discussions in a virtual forum

Stipend

Approved applicants will receive a $100 stipend (see information on eligibility and number of stipends available below).

Opportunity for travel/registration award for SMBE 2023

Five randomly selected trainees from the Global South will each receive $1000 per trainee to put towards travel and registration fees for the SMBE 2023 meeting in Ferrara, Italy. Selection will take place in February/March 2023 to ensure timely award notification and travel arrangements. Mentees will have to complete several lab meetings by that point to be eligible for selection.

Information for mentors

• Mentors may be Faculty, Senior Postdoctoral Fellows, or Research Associates – as long as lab meetings can be dedicated to the mentees professional development.
• If you aren’t already a member, please sign up to be a member of SMBE.
• Please use the SMBE lab meeting mentor sign-up form to sign up to be a mentor for this program before 30 Sept 2022.
• Mentor applications are due 30 Sept 2022 (two weeks before mentee applications are due).
• PIs that sign up will agree to invite the matched applicant to join 10 lab meetings and at least parts of 2 lab meetings will be devoted to professional development of the applicant by June 2023.

Information for applicants

Eligibility to apply

We welcome and encourage applications from all students at the undergraduate or graduate level, regardless of institution or nationality, age, culture, race, ethnicity, gender identity or expression, national origin, disability, politics, religion, sex, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, or subculture. For more information, check out our Statement of Values. We aim to be able to place every applicant with a mentor. Note, however, that there are a limited number of stipends and applicants from the Global South will be prioritized.

To apply:

Step 1: If you haven’t yet, please join SMBE (trainees from underrepresented regions can receive a free membership. If this is your situation, please email smbe.virtual@gmail.com). Please complete the following steps regardless of your current SMBE status (for example, if you are waiting for registration to process).

Step 2: Decide which mentors you’d like to be matched with. To view a list of mentors who have signed up for the program and their research interests, check out this table of interested mentors [[we will UPDATE after mentors sign up]] We encourage applicants to reach out to mentors who are not on the list and encourage them to sign up with the SMBE lab meeting mentor sign-up form. 

Step 3: Prepare your application materials. The applicant will need to submit the following information on the link provided in Step 4:

• A 500 word statement that describes the applicant’s
  • current research interests and/or experiences,
  • future career interests,
  • how interactions with the host lab would help to advance their careers and/or support their professional development.
• We value diversity and recognize the importance of perspectives from people who come from different backgrounds and experiences. Please write a short statement explaining how your background and experiences bring a diverse perspective to SMBE.
• A CV or resume

Step 4: Fill out the application at the virtual lab meeting application form

If you have trouble submitting the application with the google form, email smbe.virtual@gmail.com

Applications are due 15 Oct. 2022. Lab meetings will take place between October 2022 and June 2023.

In the application, mentees will choose their top 3-4 choices for a mentor. The RCN will attempt to match applicants with their preferred mentor.