The summer field season will start soon but we are pleased to announce the courses that are planned in the autumn semester! We will have several courses on data analyses but please do not miss an opportunity to join a classical 2-week course on Systematics and Evolution of Marine Invertebrates held at the University of Bergen. The course will be taught by 15 world-known specialists in every invertebrate phylum providing the state of the art knowledge on their group of interest. We will combine lectures with practical lab work at the city campus of UiB. This course will give a complete overview of the animal tree of life, present current knowledge and uncover unsolved problems in animal phylogeny and evolution.
ForBio will organize its sixth (online) training program for incoming and outgoing fellows applying for postdoctoral fellowships from the Horizon Europe Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions (MSCA) Postdoctoral Fellows. The program runs from now to the submission deadline of the Horizon Europe MSCA-PF call on September 14th 2022. The 2022 program will be offered as an online course with proposal writing support, virtual teaching material, peer review by academic peers and MSCA-PF consultant Alie Kwint, and liaison with EU coordination offices. We also aim to give strong applicants from the 2021 program a chance to improve and resubmit their proposals, and importantly to attract new incoming and outgoing fellows. Extended application deadline: 5 June 2022
ForBio and Transmitting Science course: Phylogenetic analysis using R July 18–22, 2022, Online
This course is for biologists dealing with the analysis of multiple molecular sequences at several levels: Populations, species, clades, communities. These biologists address questions relative to the evolutionary relationships among these sequences, as well as the evolutionary forces structuring biodiversity at different scales.The objectives of the course are: (i) to know how to choose a strategy of molecular data analysis at the inter‐ or intraspecific levels, (ii) to be able to initiate a phylogenetic analysis starting from the files of molecular sequences until the interpretation of the results and the graphics. Application deadline: 30 June 2022
ForBio course: Introduction to Bioinformatics Autumn semester 2022 (dates to be defined later), UiO Marine Research Station, Drøbak, Norway
With genomics projects come a deluge of data. Its availability can be as exciting as it is frustrating, with students and postdocs needing to learn novel tools, including programming languages and the ins-and-outs of working within a High-Performance Computing (HPC) environment. This course aims to equip students with tools to solve practical problems with analyzing large genomic datasets that require scripting and access to an HPC. Application deadline: 22 July 2022
ForBio and UiO: Mycology field course Sep. 12–16, 2022, Biological Station Drøbak, Norway
University of Oslo and ForBio are offering a field course focusing on the fungal diversity of eastern Norway. The two main aims of the course are to (1) acquire more knowledge about fungal diversity, fungistics and systematics, and (2) learn to use literature, stereomicroscope and microscopy to identify fungi based on micro- and macroscopic characters. We will also focus on the species ecology and phylogenetic belonging. Application deadline: 15 August 2022
ForBio and UiB course: Systematics and Evolution of Marine Invertebrates Sep. 26 – Oct. 7, 2022, Biological Institute (BIO), University of Bergen
Systematics and Evolution of Marine Invertebrates» is a voyage through the tree-of-life of metazoans offering a comprehensive overview of the diversity of invertebrate animals (phyla), morphological traits, and latest hypotheses of evolutionary relationships based on molecular phylogenetics. A suit of laboratory activities gives students a truly hands-on experience and opportunity to explore the morphology of a large ensemble of major representatives of the Animal Kingdom, through the observation of life and preserved specimens, anatomical dissections, interpretation of anatomical slides, and optical microscopy. Application deadline: 17 June 2022
ForBio course: Population genetics of polyploids, from theory to practice Oct. 17–28, 2022, Drøbak
Advances in high-throughput sequencing and genomics have revolutionized research in evolutionary biology and systematics. The use of genomics data in phylogenetic analyzes has brought new challenges in terms of data handling and analysis. This course aims to help those who have basic experience in bioinformatics and molecular phylogenetics, and have projects focused on high-throughput sequencing data and phylogenetics, to become acquainted with tools, programs and pipelines for phylogenomics and want to conduct phylogenomic studies beyond the standard, also addressing potentially confunding biases in their datasets. Application deadline: 15 August 2022
ForBio course: Phylogenomics October 17–28, 2022, Drøbak Marine Station
Advances in high-throughput sequencing and genomics have revolutionized research in evolutionary biology and systematics. The use of genomics data in phylogenetic analyzes has brought new challenges in terms of data handling and analysis. This course aims to help those who have basic experience in bioinformatics and molecular phylogenetics, and have projects focused on high-throughput sequencing data and phylogenetics, to become acquainted with tools, programs and pipelines for phylogenomics and want to conduct phylogenomic studies beyond the standard, also addressing potentially confunding biases in their datasets. Application deadline: 15 August 2022
Funding opportunities
ForBio Course grants
These course grants enable ForBio members to attend courses with a taxonomic focus that ForBio does not offer, but which are relevant for the current or future research interests and needs of the ForBio member. ForBio will fund members based in Norway (http://www.forbio.uio.no/membership/). The grants can cover the course fee, travel and accommodation, and a detailed budget should be included in the application (grants are up to 30 000 NOK). Please note that we have a limited budget for travel grants and we will prioritize grant applications that most closely meet the objectives of this program. The application procedure requires you to fill out a ForBio course grant application. At the end of the form you will need to attach (1) a letter of recommendation from your main supervisor, and (2) a personal CV.
ForBio & Transmitting Science ForBio organises some courses together with Transmitting Science (announced in the ForBio website). For these courses, ForBio will cover the registration fee for all accepted ForBio members. In addition, ForBio will cover travel and accommodation for ForBio members affiliated to Norwegian institutions. In order to benefit from this agreement, you need to indicate you are a ForBio member when registering through the transmitting Science website. A 30% confirmation fee may be required when registering; this will be reimbursed to ForBio members after the course.
ForBio members and associates also get a 20% discount on ALL Transmitting Science courses. You just need to indicateyour ForBio affiliation when registering.
TIP: Lots of interesting jobs and other opportunities are published on the Evolution Directory (EvolDir) mailing list, and not all of them make it to the ForBio newsletter! You can subscribe to EvolDir or check out the recent postings here.
