2nd Call for Proposals to Organize ISCB-Asia 2013
Dear ISCB Members
and Colleagues,
As a reminder, ISCB is seeking proposals from individuals
or groups interested in hosting the next open ISCB-Asia conference, slated for
the third quarter of 2013, to co-organize this meeting with ISCB anywhere in the
Asia region. The proposal deadline is the 1st of August, 2012. If you are not
personally interested but know of someone else who could do an excellent job of
organizing this event, please feel free to forward this mail. An overview of
ISCB, its expansion into regionally-based international meetings, and the
details of the proposal requirements are all specified below.
ISCB-Asia 2013 Meeting
The aim of the International Society for Computational Biology (ISCB) is to serve the worldwide computational biology community by addressing scientific
policies, providing access to high quality publications, organising meetings,
and serving as a portal to information about training, education, employment and
news from related fields. ISCB currently has over 3000 members from more than 70
countries around the world. Among its many activities ISCB hosts annual
meetings, including ISMB, the world's longest running and largest international
bioinformatics conference (held jointly with ECCB every other year in Europe),
as well as a series of smaller, newer meetings. ISCB also has affiliations in
place with several other significant meetings in the field, such as PSB and
RECOMB.
In an extension to its meeting activities, ISCB is participating
in the organization of regional meetings in locations where ISMB has not been
held. In 2009 and 2011 joint ISCB-Africa meetings were held in collaboration
with the African Society for Bioinformatics and Computational Biology (ASBCB),
and the 2013 meeting is now being planned for Tunis, Tunisia; in 2010 and 2012
ISCB-Latin America was held in Uruguay and Chile, respectively; the first
ISCB-Asia was held jointly with InCoB 2011 in Malaysia, and the 2012 meeting is
now being planned for China (Shenzhen). With the aim of continuing these
successful regional meetings, ISCB is now soliciting applications for the
co-organization of our next meeting in Asia for 2013.
A requirement that
ISCB-Asia become permanently affiliated to an existing meeting or society is not
intended. Having co-organised the ISCB-Asia meeting with the Asia-Pacific
Bioinformatics Network in 2011 and with BGI in 2012, ISCB now looks to continue
expanding its network of affiliations by seeking proposals from other existing
societies or conferences in the Asia region, or by working with a group that has
a similar interest in organising a new bioinformatics community meeting in Asia.
Preliminary proposals should provide (all of this information is also
available as a
PDF download):
- Names and short CVs of local organising committee
members and their proposed roles
- Evidence of previous experience in
organising mid- to large-sized meetings
- Planned meeting dates and location
- Budget proposal including basic costs (venue rental, speaker travel, etc.) and
preliminary commitments for financial support from sponsors.
- Estimated
meeting size
- Focus of scientific program (required if a focus on a specialist
research topic is planned)
- Plans for publishing or online dissemination
of the proceedings
- Evidence of co-operation among multiple groups within the
Asian region
ISCB will:
- Participate through elected ISCB
scientific representatives on the organising committee
- Endorse and advertise
the meeting through its extensive mailing lists
- Suggest keynote speakers
- Potentially provide funds to seed the meeting (funds repayable to ISCB from
conference proceeds)
- Provide budget guidance
- Potentially provide travel
funds to support student participation
Criteria for evaluation
Proposals that emphasize and encourage attendance from a diverse range of
regional groups and attendees will have an advantage
The meeting should be in
a place where there is expected to be a sizeable local community from which
attendance can be expected, as well as reasonable international access to a
nearby airport
Budget is within the range which can be covered by reasonably
estimated registration fees alone, in the event that sponsor funding does not
materialize
Preference will be given to organising committees with diverse
representation
Proposers should have experience with organising meetings
Proposals should be submitted via email to
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. by 1 August
2012.
Thank you,
Paul Horton, Chair, ISCB Conferences Committee
Janet Kelso, Co-Chair, ISCB Conferences Committee
