2019•03•21 Peru
UNU-BIOLAC is accepting applications to be part of our Faculty membership programme. Following our mission to build capacities in Biotechnology within Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), we aim to prepare and qualify professionals through high-level training courses. All activities are co-organised with UNU-BIOLAC throughout the LAC region and are carried out in collaboration with an international network of highly qualified academics and researchers in the field 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 field of biotechnology into our faculty. The role of our faculty members is of great importance for our mission by empowering qualified professionals to implement academic activities throughout the region, and incorporating them as an active UNU-BIOLAC community.
UNU-BIOLAC is consolidating its international academic network by incorporating Faculty members — highly qualified academics and researchers who are experts in biotechnology. 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 courses and helping to increase UNU-BIOLAC outreach and dissemination capabilities.
Expectations:
Each UNU-BIOLAC Faculty member is expected to be an active senior researcher affiliated with a university, or a research Institution, who is committed to share his/her expertise by organising a course related to the UNU-BIOLAC priority areas. This course will have to rely on international experts and participants that can represent the region and the research field. At the end of the activity, each member will have to deliver a final report with all academic/training results, and a financial statement of all incurred expenses. Both reports will be subjected to evaluation by the UNU-BIOLAC academic committee. If an activity receives an outstanding evaluation, its coordinator will continue to be an active member of the Faculty. He/she will hold the membership for a period of two years following acceptance.
When the membership period finishes, there will be a waiting period of two years until a former member of the faculty can re-apply for another membership term.
All active Faculty members will be expected to attend our invitations to evaluate course/fellowships proposals, engage in virtual academic activities, participate in communications requests, and to actively provide inputs regarding important biotechnology subjects that could be relevant to the region. Selected faculty members could be invited to participate in virtual meetings to address consensus recommendations and suggestions on frontier issues in the field of biotechnology that may improve the UNU-BIOLAC mission.
Current course outputs must include, among other items, research papers, poster presentations, policy recommendations, and technical manuals. These outputs will benefit not only the course participants, but also widen the reach to a global audience through online dissemination.
Each faculty member will receive UNU-BIOLAC funds according to the activities’ complexity to cover travel, lodging, living expenses, partial and full scholarships, reagents and any other materials needed for the implementation of their activities.
The programme awards funds for the organisation of short training courses in the LAC region. UNU-BIOLAC-supported courses are taught by international experts who propose short advanced trainings to build technical skills. Faculty members must promote learning that aims to foster strong research networks in their specific research fields throughout the region.
Research fields:
The call is open to all senior researchers who are engaged in active research and academic activities working in high-throughput and deep sequencing of genomes, metagenomic analysis and whole-genome gene expression to discover new genes and biological functions, which are key technological approaches that provide new insights into the onset and progression of a diversity of disease pathogenesis and multi-resistance to antibiotics.
Three priority areas were identified in the context of global climate change as challenge for 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:
During the biennium 2019-2020, UNU-BIOLAC is stressing the use of Big Data as a knowledge-enabling strategy to traverse across the following:
Impact:
The UNU-BIOLAC Faculty is committed to the use or application of biotechnology for social development in Latin America and the Caribbean, and therefore, its members must be willing to promote scientific and technological knowledge to a broad audience, engage in policy debate, and foster international and interdisciplinary collaboration.
Important Notice: UNU-BIOLAC will privilege funds mostly oriented to the students’ mobilisation and housing and exhorts Faculty members not to charge course registration fares.
*UNU-BIOLAC will not consider proposals with no counterpart funds.
During the active membership period, faculty will have the option to apply for funds, under competitive bases, to cover:
Application process:
All applicants should download and complete all mandatory documentation and submit it with the application form to: applications.unu.biolac@gmail.com
The email must contain the following information:
Email Subject: Faculty Membership Application 2020: “Name of the applicant”
Email Text:
Attach all the mandatory documentation:
Please note that for an application to be considered it MUST be oriented towards UNU-BIOLAC priority areas. Any application that does not meet this requirement will need to be accompanied by a justification. Special considerations will be made for subjects that are relevant to the region.
Course application form training_course_project_new_proposal