UNU-BIOLAC is accepting applications to be part of our Academic Membership Programme. Following our mission to build Biotechnology capacities within Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) region, we aim to prepare and qualify professionals through high-level training courses. All activities are co-organised with UNU-BIOLAC throughout the LAC countries and carried out in collaboration with an international network of highly qualified academics and researchers in the diverse fields of biotechnology.
In pursuit of strengthening the region’s biotechnology studies and networks, we have decided to announce a new initiative to integrate elite professionals in the biotechnology fields into our affiliate academic members. The role of our affiliate members is of great importance for our mission by empowering qualified professionals to implement academic activities all over the region and incorporating them as an active UNU-BIOLAC community.
Applications are sought from senior researchers who combine the highest level of research excellence with a demonstrated passion for delivering social impact from biotechnology.
With this call, accepted members will have the opportunity to be part of the UNU-BIOLAC mission by proposing high-level capacity building activities and helping UNU-BIOLAC outreach and dissemination capabilities.
Expectations
Each UNU-BIOLAC affiliate academic member should be an active senior researcher committed to sharing his/her expertise by organising training courses framed under the UNU-BIOLAC priority areas.
These training courses will have to rely on worldwide experts and participants equally representing the LAC region. At the end of the activity, each member will have to deliver a final report with all academic/training results and include a financial statement of all incurred expenses. The final report will be subjected to evaluation by the UNU-BIOLAC academic committee. If an activity receives an outstanding technical review, its coordinator will continue to be an active academic member of UNU-BIOLAC for two years after the acceptance.
All active members should attend our invitations to evaluate course/fellowships proposals, engage in virtual academic activities, participate in communications requests, and actively provide input regarding important biotechnology subjects/announcements of relevance to the region. Selected academic members could participate in virtual meetings to address and agree on recommendations or suggestions on frontier issues that may improve the UNU-BIOLAC mission of building capacities in the field of biotechnology.
Current training course outputs must include, among others, research papers, poster presentations, policy recommendations, and technical manuals. These outputs will benefit the course participants and a wider audience through the internet platform dissemination.
Each active member will receive UNU-BIOLAC funds according to the activities’ complexity to cover students’ travel tickets, lodging, living expenses, partial and full scholarships, reagents and any other materials needed to implement their academic activities. Members must promote learning to foster strong research networks in their specific research fields throughout the region.
Important Notice: UNU-BIOLAC will privilege funds mostly oriented to the students’ mobilisation and housing and exhorts affiliate members not to charge course registration fares. UNU-BIOLAC will not consider proposals with no counterpart funds.
Research fields
This call for academic memberships is open to all senior researchers engaged in active research and scholarly activities, working in high-throughput and deep sequencing of genomes, metagenomic analysis, and whole-genome gene expression discover new genes and biological functions.
These fundamental technological approaches provide new insights into the four priority areas identified in the context of global climate change as challenging the sustainability of traditional cropping systems and the control of animal and human health by affecting the (re)emergence of diseases and their etiological agents and vectors.
Therefore, for 2023 UNU-BIOLAC is seeking to empower young scientists to use Big Data as a knowledge-enabling strategy that traverses across the following priority areas:
Emerging and neglected human, animal and plant diseases
Metagenomics and similar approaches for biomedical research
Drug discovery and vaccine development
Sustainable biotechnological processes
As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to impact human society globally, biotechnology researchers work on the clock to provide cutting-edge information that can be useful. Thus, as an organisation engaged with the development of Latin America and the Caribbean region, we decided to encourage research proposals to study the nature of SARS-CoV-2 as an emerging human disease.
In these moments of uncertainty and challenges, UNU-BIOLAC wants to promote a contribution from the Latin American and the Caribbean countries to the resolution of the pandemic outbreak, fostering the collaboration among active researchers to understand this emerging biological threat.
Impact
The UNU-BIOLAC Affiliate Academic Members are committed to using biotechnology for social development in Latin America and the Caribbean. Therefore, they are willing to promote scientific and technological knowledge to a broad audience, engage in policy debate, and foster international and interdisciplinary collaboration.
Prerogatives
During the active membership period, Affiliate Academic Members will have the prerogative to further apply for funds, under competitive bases, to cover:
- Air tickets to attend a research meeting or a visit to a research institution in the LAC region
- Joint proposals in which two or more active members are jointly coordinating a regional course
- Send or receive short-term research fellowships from/to the LCC countries
How to register:
Application process
All applicants should download and complete all mandatory documentation and submit it with the application form to applications.biolac@unu.edu
The email must have the following format:
*Subject: Academic Membership Application 2023: “Name of the applicant”
Email content:
- *Name of the applicant and proposed Academic Activity.
- *Priority Research Area.
- *Intended dates for the Academic Activity.
Mandatory attachments: * Cover letter. * Academic Resumé. * Completed Course Application Form. * Invited speakers and lectures resumés. * Institutional Vendor Form.
Please note that an application MUST be oriented towards the UNU-BIOLAC priority areas**.** Any application not meeting this requirement will need an explanation letter. Relevant subject matters for the region will have special considerations.
Deadline
April 20th, 2022
Disclaimer
UNU-BIOLAC is an equal opportunity institution. No applicant for our academic or research activities shall be discriminated against in any term or condition because of gender, race, colour, religion, national origin or ancestry, age, sex, or sexual orientation.
