Travel Awards for African Participation in 2011 TDWG Conference

By: Patricia Mergen

Biodiversity Information Specialists from developing African countries are invited to apply for travel support to participate in the 2011 Biodiversity Information Standards (TDWG) Conference, 16-21 October in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA (http://www.tdwg.org/conference2011/). The theme of TDWG 2011 is, “Digitization Methods, Technologies, and Standards for Biodiversity Collections”. The plenary lectures, contributed talks, workshops, software demonstrations and discussions being planned for the 2011 meeting will address the global biodiversity collection digitization effort currently underway.

The award will consist of airfare, lodging, conference registration and an allowance for meals and miscellaneous expenses. Awardees will be matched with TDWG members with similar interests, who will serve as mentors during the meeting, accompanying awardees to paper sessions and working group meetings, and helping them to get acquainted with other meeting participants. An informal session will be organized at the conference to allow each of the awardees to describe the biodiversity informatics projects they are involved with and to ask questions to TDWG mentors.

To apply, please send updated curriculum vitae describing your biodiversity informatics experiences, and a brief statement describing why you would benefit from participating in the2011 TDWG conference. Please email your application electronically to Hank Bart (hank@museum.tulane.edu) no later than 26 August 2011. The travel grants will be awarded by the end of August.

 

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