2023•04•05     Peru

UNU-BIOLAC is accepting applications for its Academic Programme, 2024 edition. Following our mission to build Biotechnology capacities within Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) region, we aim to help to prepare and capacitate professionals through high-level training courses. These activities are to be 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.

Applications are sought from Biotechnology researchers who combine the highest level of research excellence with a demonstrated passion for delivering social impact from biotechnology. The role to be played by our academic collaborators is of great importance for the UNU-BIOLAC mission. Our goal is to empower and support qualified professionals in implementing live academic activities all over the region and to incorporate them as a part of an active UNU-BIOLAC community.

Expectations

Applicants for the 2024 UNU-BIOLAC Academic Programme should be active researchers committed to sharing their 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 grantee must deliver a final report with all academic/training results (see below) and include a financial statement of all incurred expenses. The final report will be subjected to evaluation by UNU-BIOLAC. The emphasis in all cases is the capacitation in Biotechnology of the selected participants.

This call is for academic activities to be held during the first semester of 2024.

Expected training course outputs may include, among others, research papers, poster presentations, policy recommendations, and technical manuals. These outputs will benefit the course participants and a wider audience through their dissemination on the Internet.

Each grantee will receive UNU-BIOLAC funds, according to the complexity of the proposed activity, to cover students’ travel tickets, lodging, living expenses, and partial and full scholarships, as well as reagents or any other materials needed to implement them. Grantees must promote learning as the basis 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 organisers not to charge them course registration fees. UNU-BIOLAC will not consider proposals with no counterpart funds.

Research fields

This call is open to researchers/academics from Latin America and the Caribbean whose research focus is Biotechnology. These must be engaged in active research or in pursuit of new research opportunities in, but not limited to, high-throughput and deep sequencing of genomes, metagenomic analysis and the discovery, characterisation and/or expression of new genes and biological functions in homologous or heterologous systems.

For 2024, UNU-BIOLAC is encouraging scientists to delve into 1) the use of Biotechnology, including Bioinformatics and Big data, as a means to solve problems of scientific nature or 2) the generation of biotechnological solutions/products derived from basic or applied research in the following priority areas:

1. Emerging (e.g., COVID and others) and neglected human, animal and plant diseases.
2. Genome editing, omics technologies, and similar approaches (e.g., synthetic biology) for biotechnological research.
3. Drug discovery and vaccine development.
4. Sustainable biotechnological processes and cost-effective bioengineered products or technologies.

Impact

The UNU-BIOLAC Academic Programme is committed to biotechnology for social development in Latin America and the Caribbean. Therefore, selected applicants and participants are expected to promote the impact of their research and formative activities to a broad audience, engage in policy debate, and foster international and interdisciplinary biotechnological research.

Application process

All applicants should download and complete all mandatory documentation in English and submit it with the application form to applications.biolac@unu.edu.

The email must have the following format:

*Subject: Academic Application 2024: “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 Resume/CV of the applicant.
• Completed Course Application Form.
• Invited speakers and lecturers’ resumes/CVs.
• 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.

All applications will be reviewed by at least four (4) international evaluators; therefore, it is required that all documents be submitted in English. The final decision will be informed during the following three months after UNU-BIOLAC receives the application. 

Deadline

June 9th, 2023.

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, religion, national origin or ancestry, age, sex, or sexual orientation.