Science is an international endeavor! To promote equity and inclusion, SMBE is excited to announce the 2nd Virtual Lab Meeting Training Program! In this program, SMBE seeks to provide training to graduate students and early postdoctoral researchers (“mentees”) by participating in lab meetings of a research group that shares their interests. The goal of the program is to promote the exchange of ideas between labs with different academic cultures and make explicit efforts to connect students with faculty 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 (or could have) a virtual component, this is an excellent time to launch a global training program.
As part of the program, the mentee will participate by attending lab meetings during 2023-2024. 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.
Approved applicants will receive a $100 stipend (see information on eligibility and number of stipends available below). Stipends will be distributed upon successful completion of the program. Stipend will be prioritized for participants who did not participate in the program in 2022-2023.
Five randomly selected trainees from the Global South will each receive funding to put towards travel and registration fees for the SMBE 2024 meeting in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. Selection will take place in February/March 2024 to ensure timely award notification and travel arrangements. Mentees will have to complete several lab meetings by that point to be eligible for selection.
We welcome and encourage applications from all graduate students and postdoctoral researchers, regardless of where you are in the world! We welcome applicants regardless of institution, nationality, age, culture, race, ethnicity, gender identity or expression, disability, politics, religion, 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 new participants from the Global South will be prioritized.
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: Please sign up here
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.