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Dear SMBE Members,

Please be reminded of the EXTENDED deadline approaching for:

1. The SMBE Graduate Student Excellence Award provides a forum for young investigators to showcase their exemplary research at the annual meeting. We showcase the winners of this award at the Graduate Student Excellence Symposium, which will be part of SMBE Everywhere symposia in 2022. More details for the symposium will follow in the coming months.

Eligibility: Current graduate students and postdoctoral researchers who are members of the Society and who received their primary doctoral-level degree no earlier than July 2021 are eligible. Eligibility extensions can be granted for any career disruption or delay; such an extension should be requested in a cover letter. Approximately eight winners will be selected every year to cover the broad spectrum of research covered by SMBE.

How to apply: You must email a scientific abstract (not to exceed 300 words for body of abstract), title of proposed presentation, and your Curriculum Vitae to smbe@allenpress.com.

The deadline for applications for this award is 30 April 2022.

2. SMBE seeks nominations for Faculty Awards for Early-Career Excellence, Mid-Career Excellence, Lifetime Contribution, and Community Service. Please consider nominating those of your colleagues you believe deserve to be rewarded for their extraordinary achievements and dedication to the field. Updated descriptions of the awards follow; please read them carefully. 

Nominations require a nomination letter, which should clearly indicate the award under consideration and also serve as a recommendation letter; a separate one-page summary of the nominee’s qualifications for the award; a CV of the nominee; and an additional letter of recommendation. Self-nomination is not allowed. The nominator need not be an SMBE member, but the nominee must be a member of SMBE to be considered for the award.

SMBE Early-Career Excellence Award

This annual award is intended for outstanding members of the SMBE community who are in the early stages of an independent research career (3-7 years post-Ph.D). The primary signal of research excellence is a trajectory of innovative, creative research that is moving the field of Molecular Biology and Evolution forward.  The ideal candidate will be one whose career embodies the values of the society, for example in mentoring, outreach, and teaching. The prize includes recognition at the annual SMBE banquet, a cash prize of $2000 and a travel award to attend the annual meeting. 

SMBE Mid-Career Excellence Award

This annual award is intended for outstanding members of the SMBE community who are in the midst of their research careers (8-15 years post-Ph.D.). The primary criterion is a record of truly outstanding research that has contributed broadly to the field of Molecular Biology and Evolution. The ideal candidate will be one whose career embodies the values of the society, for example in mentoring, outreach, and teaching. The prize includes recognition at the annual SMBE banquet, a cash prize of $2000 and a travel award to attend the a

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Dear SMBE Members,

We are writing with three important announcements about the annual meeting, plus two calls for Award nominations and applications for this year.

1. We are pleased to announce the launch of SMBE Everywhere, a series of 8-12 virtual Global Symposia which will occur across the year starting in July 2022 through March 2023. The first virtual Global Symposium will occur on July 11-12, 2022, so please mark your calendars! 

This first symposium will feature the Graduate Student Excellence Symposium, the 2022 Faculty Awards Symposium, and the Presidential Address. On the second day of the symposium, we will be holding a Sustainability Plenary, an Inclusivity & Equity Panel Discussion, and the SMBE business meeting. Please mark your calendars, and see details below on Abstract Submission for the Graduate Student Excellence Symposium!

The full slate of one-day, themed virtual Global Symposia (GS) will be announced later this spring and will all be hosted on a single platform, with the option to attend one, some, or all of the Global Symposia throughout the year via a single registration portal.

2. We would like to make a call for submissions for additional one-day Global Symposia proposals. We have received outstanding submissions, but given the format for this year’s meeting, we are inviting submissions for proposals from organizers in Asia, South America, and Africa, specifically (for informal enquiries, contact smbe.contact@gmail.com). 

Please submit Global Symposia proposals by email to smbe.contact@gmail.com by 20 February 2022 with “Global Symposium proposal” in the subject line.

Symposium Proposal Guidelines

• Symposium organisers should provide a description of the symposium (250 words max) that will be made public if selected. The symposium organisers will also provide a description of how their proposal brings forward the SMBE’s objective of equity and diversity, as well as any additional information for the committee to make an informed review (250 words max)
• Each symposium will include 1-2 invited speakers plus a number of contributed speakers
• Individuals can only be listed as an organiser for one symposium proposal, although organisers can be listed as an invited speaker on another proposal

3. We would like to open the SMBE Everywhere Logo Competition. Entries should be submitted in a vector-based format (*.ai, *.eps, *.pdf) to smbe.contact@gmail.com by 15 March for full consideration. The email subject line should read "SMBE everywhere logo competition" and the winning entry will be notified and will receive a $500 award.

4. The SMBE Graduate Student Excellence Award provides a forum for young investigators to showcase their exemplary research at the ann

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Dear SMBE Members,

Regretfully, due to the ongoing uncertainties surrounding the COVID19 pandemic, the Auckland Local Organizing Committee and SMBE Council have made the very difficult decision to cancel the planned in-person SMBE 2022 meeting in Auckland. SMBE Council is very grateful to the LOC for all of their tremendous efforts to organize this meeting.

Despite the disappointing news, we are very excited to announce plans for SMBE Everywhere in 2022. SMBE Everywhere will consist of a series of 10-12 virtual “Global Symposia” focused on a different topic staggered across the calendar between April 2022 and March 2023 (~1-2 per month). Each Global Symposium (GS) will consist of 1 day of virtual talks, a poster session, and opportunities for live Q & A and discussion.

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Tēnā koutou, hello!

The Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution (SMBE) annual conference will be held as a hybrid conference both onsite in Tāmaki Makaurau / Auckland in Aotearoa / New Zealand, and online, from 10-14 July 2022. This conference will be an opportunity for many of us to reconnect and to build new relationships (whanaungatanga, in our Indigenous language, Māori).

We’re delighted to announce that we are now accepting proposals for symposium topics for the 2022 conference. The deadline for symposia applications is 30 November 2021 (23:59 NZT).

Note that as a hybrid conference our symposia will be run live online as well as in-person; speakers, chairs and participants can attend remotely. We encourage symposia that capture the breadth of SMBE membership in terms of research areas, geographical area and diverse participants.

Please visit https://www.smbe2022.org/call-for-symposia/ – to access the submission portal.

Proposals will be reviewed by the committee with around 20-30 topics selected for inclusion within the scientific programme.

Key dates

• 30 November 2021 (23:59 NZT) – Deadline for symposia applications
• 15 December 2021 – Symposia selection process concludes
• 20 January 2022 – Abstract submission system opens and selected symposia announced to Society
• 20 February 2022 (23:59 NZT) – Abstract submission system closes
• 28 April 2022 – Talks and posters finalized by SMBE reviewers
• Proposals should span the range of interests of SMBE members, including exciting new scientific developments, and should represent the geographic and gender diversity of our membership.

Symposium Proposal Guidelines

Please review the following guidelines before submitting a Symposium Proposal:

• Individuals can only be listed as an organiser for one symposium proposal, although organisers can be listed as an invited speaker on another proposal
• E

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