Holistic Bioinformatic Approaches used in Microbiome Research

Presented by The Bioinformatics Virtual Coordination Network

A step-by-step open access conference showcasing state-of-the-art bioinformatics pipelines within microbiome research

The Bioinformatics Virtual Coordination Network (BVCN) is committed to reducing entry barriers into bioinformatics for researchers. For the first time in June 2021, this online conference will bring together ECRs from across the globe who are equally committed to reducing such entry barriers, and who would like to exchange and share their research and bioinformatics experiences in a step-by-step format with a global and interdisciplinary audience.

Conference dates - 7-11 June 2021

Speaker nominations - open application 28 January - 15 February 2021 11:59PM US PST

Conference format

The virtual conference will span 5 days, with 2-3 hours of activity each day.

Day 1-3: 2 Speaker presentations each day (7-9 June 2021)

Day 4: Speaker Q&A Panels (10 June 2021)

Day 5: Virtual attendee poster session (11 June 2021)

Expected attendee capacity. 75-100 attendees

More details to come, including registration form.

Speaker nomination

Nomination form

Self-nominations are accepted and encouraged!! Do not convince yourself not to apply because one or more of the categories below are not a perfect fit!

Speaker details

Speaker attributes

Early career researcher (graduate students, postdoc, or pre-tenure faculty)
Have a published record of bioinformatic centric research (preprints by June 2021 accepted) 
Committed to open science, data, and protocols 
Flexible schedule to work with organizing committee to make presentations accessible to all

Speaker commitments

Speakers will create an hour long presentation that details the FULL bioinformatic methods that happen in a body of research (1 or more preprints/publications)
- We encourage the “full methods” to include hiccups, deadends, false positives, and issues that made you want to scream
Presentations will be recorded prior to the week of the conference to allow for closed captioning (recording dates flexible)
Speakers will participate in a live (unrecorded) Q&A on 10 June 2021
The organising committee will work with the speakers to translate the methods in their presentation into an open format and/or workflow to be hosted on suitable platform
All speakers must adhere to the established BVCN Code of Conduct (https://biovcnet.github.io/_pages/code-of-conduct/) and modifications as necessary during conference planning.

Speaker benefits

Honorarium
Assistance/guidance in converting static workflows into reproducible, open-access workflows
An international audience for your research, expertise, and brilliance!

Conference Diversity Goals

Diversity of nominees, country of residence, and research topics will be considered in the final decision for speakers.

All collected demographic information is optional and sharing will be minimized to protect your privacy. Initially, only a single member will have access to the data, which will be kept private. Demographics will be shared amongst the other organizing members only when necessary to make an informed decision.

All decisions regarding speakers and attendees will be to maximize the diversity of the conference program.

Selection Process

Nominees with be assessed using a rubric format to identify individuals who would be most appropriate for a speaker role. The rubric will assess nominees for:

suggested presentation topics
contribution/commitment to open science
commitment to DEI initiatives
translational value of work between microbiology fields
breadth of work
options for community engagement
diversity of speakers

Nominees will be short listed. At which point, nominees will be asked to provide a brief CV and a 2-3 minute video pitching their talk/research. These videos will be used as a future advertisement for the conference.

BVCN