Satellite & Regional Meeting Guidelines
Download a PDF of the Satellite & Regional Meeting Guidelines here.
Each year, SMBE provides funds in aid for SMBE SATELLITE MEETINGS. These are workshops or small, topically focused regional meetings with fewer than 100 participants that are organized and held independent of the SMBE annual meeting.
In the past five years, SMBE has supported multiple satellite meetings on diverse topics (e.g., “The Origin of Life” 2014, “Causes of Genome Evolution” 2014, “Phylogenomic Networks in Microbial Genome Evolution” 2014, “Investigating biological adaptation with NGS: data and models” 2015, “Mutation, Repair and Evolution” 2015, “Phylogenetics and Biodiversity” 2015, “Mechanisms of Protein Evolution III” 2015, “Genome Evolution in Pathogen Transmission and Disease” 2016, “Genetics of admixed populations” 2016, “RNA modification and its implication on adaptation and evolution” 2016, “Mitochondrial Genomics and Evolution” 2017, “Evolution of microbes in natural and experimental populations – synthesis and synergies” 2017, “Molecular evolution and medicine” 2017, “Evolution of genome architecture” 2017, “Molecular evolution and the cell” 2018, “Genome Evolution in Pathogen Transmission and Disease” 2018, and “Modern Methods for the study of ancient DNA” 2018)
SMBE is now calling for proposals for workshops/satellite meetings to be held between Sep 1 2018 and Dec 31 2019. Funds will be awarded on a competitive basis to members of the molecular evolution research community to run workshops/satellite meetings on an important, focused, and timely topic of their choice. The deadline for submission of proposals is April 1, 2018.
SMBE INTERDISCIPLINARY AND REGIONAL ACTIONS.
In addition to supporting its annual meeting and satellite meetings, SMBE will promote interdisciplinary research and extend its actions worldwide by sponsoring:
(1) joint meetings with meetings of other societies; symposia or plenary lectures on molecular biology and evolution at meetings whose primary focus is not molecular evolution;
(2) regional meetings outside North America, Europe, and Japan;
(3) small regional meetings in North America, Europe, or Japan targeted towards PhD students and postdocs with the purpose of helping them develop their presentation skills and facilitate networking.
Funds will be awarded on a competitive basis to members of the molecular evolution research community to run all three types of actions. SMBE is now calling for proposals to be held between Sep 1 2018 and Dec 31 2019. The number of awards will depend on the quality of proposals and total cost. The deadline for submission of proposals is April 1, 2018.
Guidelines
• SMBE will provide financial support for up to 80% of the cost of each satellite meeting, up to maximum of $40,000 USD per meeting (most meetings are funded at $20,000-$30,000 each). SMBE will provide financial support for up to 80% of the cost for the joint and regional meetings, up to maximum of $25,000 USD per meeting (up to $10,000 USD for small regional meetings in the US, Europe, or Japan). SMBE will cover the cost of plenary lectures, up to a maximum of $3,000 USD per lecture. A detailed projected budget, including the expected number of participants, travel/food/lodging costs, and registration fees must be submitted with the application.
• At least one of the organizers must be a member of SMBE. Current SMBE Council members, or members who have rotated-off Council in the last calendar year, are not eligible to serve as meeting organizers or co-organizers.
• For satellite meetings, funds will be awarded on a competitive basis to members of the molecular evolution research community that propose an important, focused, and timely topic. Topics not well represented in symposia of SMBE annual meetings will be favored over those that are already well represented at the annual meetings or previous SMBE satellite meetings. For Interdisciplinary and Regional actions, meetings/symposia/lectures will be selected based on the scientific importance, timeliness and anticipated impact on the fields of molecular biology, genome biology, and evolution.
• Proposals are encouraged to include details for plans about the recruitment of speakers and participants that will ensure broad representation across SMBE membership, including gender and geographical location. Proposals for meetings to be organized in geographical areas that have been traditionally under-represented in SMBE meetings (annual or satellite) are especially encouraged.
• Proposals will be received and reviewed by three SMBE Council Members that will make a recommendation to SMBE Council, whose decision is final. The SMBE Council may decide not to support any meetings in any particular year. A proposal that was unsuccessful can be invited for revision and reapplication.
• Events will be named “SMBE Satellite Meeting on XYZ”, or “SMBE Interdisciplinary Meeting/Symposium/Lecture” and “SMBE Regional Meeting in XYZ(Geographic Location)”. Meeting organizers should host a website for the meeting that highlights the main theme as well as program, including the speaker list. This website should stay active for at least 3 years after the meeting date. Symposium and lecture organizers should provide a link to be advertised on the SMBE webpage. The sponsorship of the SMBE must be mentioned in all pre-meeting publicity and in the meeting program.
• Satellite meetings, workshops and regional meeting must be standalone events, should not form a symposium or other part of a larger meeting and should not immediately follow or precede any other meeting at a given location.
• Organizers will be required to submit a copy of the final workshop/symposium/meeting program and a short (~2 page) summary of the workshop/symposium/meeting highlights to SMBE Council within 3 months of the event. The summary for satellite meetings should be sent to Joanna Masel (masel@u.arizona.edu), and for Interdisciplinary and Regional Actions – to Maud Tenaillon (maud.tenaillon@inra.fr).
• Organizers will be required to submit a brief report on their meeting for publication on the SMBE website or, alternatively, in one of the SMBE journals after consultation with the editorial board.
Instructions for proposals
Satellite meeting / workshop proposals should be sent by email to the Chair of the SMBE Satellite Workshop Committee Joanna Masel (masel@u.arizona.edu). Interdisciplinary and Regional Actions proposals should be sent by email to the Chair of the SMBE Interdisciplinary Regional Actions Committee Maud Tenaillon (maud.tenaillon@inra.fr).
The deadline for submission of proposals is April 1, 2018.
1. Provide the name(s) and full contact information for all organizer(s) and institution(s) involved. Universities/ organizations providing additional financial support, if involved, should also be listed. If additional funding is being simultaneously applied for, please state the status of that request as well.
2. Workshop/action summary (4 single-spaced pages max, 1 page max for a lecture). Describe the scientific rationale for your proposed workshop. In doing so, be sure to clearly state:
(1) the importance and timeliness of the topic;
(2) the anticipated short-term and long-term impacts of your meeting or action on the fields of molecular biology, genome biology, and evolution;
(3) the proposed structure of your workshop/meeting or action (e.g., lectures only, lectures + hands-on training sessions, contributed talks, poster sessions, etc.);
(4) an indicative list of proposed invited speakers;
(5) for satellite meetings only: why a workshop/small meeting format is preferable to a symposium at the SMBE annual meeting;
(6) for interdisciplinary actions only: the relevance of mixing communities (for joint meetings, symposia and plenary lectures at non-evolution meetings);
(7) for regional actions outside the US, Europe, and Japan only: the relevance of promoting actions in specific regions; and,
(8) for small regional actions in the US, Europe, and Japan only: the extent and nature of student/postdoctoral fellow involvement.
3. Financial summary. Please summarize your financial request, including estimated total budget, registration costs (if any), travel support for speakers / trainees, and details of non-SMBE funds to be used.