The next EFI Conference, to be held in Toulouse, France 2-5 April 2008, is quickly approaching. One of the highlights of any EFI Conference is the presentation of the Julia Bodmer Young Scientist Award. As you know this award is given as an outstanding recognition of the scientific work of a young scientist. It goes without saying that the award also represents a recognition of the laboratory in which the award winner has performed his or her work. Last year’s winner was Blanca Rueda from Granada (see p. 18 in the last issue of the EFI Newsletter).

Any EFI member can propose candidates for this award, preferably supported by the head of the laboratory where the candidate is working. The candidate needs to be an EFI member and under the age of 35. The winner will give the Julia Bodmer Young Scientist Award lecture at the Opening session of the EFI Conference in Toulouse. Further, he or she will receive 1000 euro to cover travel and hotel expenses and free registration at the conference.

Send proposals of candidates by email to the chairman of the EFI Scientific Committee, Erik Thorsby, erik.thorsby@medisin.uio.no, before 20 February 2008. The proposal must be accompanied with the CV of the candidate, including his or her list of publications.

A number of bursaries will be awarded to EFI members, who have been selected to present an abstract at the conference. Only one bursary per laboratory will be awarded, applicants must be under 35 years of age, and priority will be given to individuals who have not received a bursary previously. Members will be eligible for a maximum of two bursaries.

Applications for bursaries must be received before 15th February 2008 and should include a short CV, a supporting letter from the laboratory director and a copy of the abstract that has been submitted. Applications must be sent to the EFI Secretary (secretary@efiweb.org).

Applications after this deadline will not be considered.

The EFI executive committee (EC) will evaluate the applications. The applicants will be contacted by the EFI secretary during the week commencing March 3rd 2008 if their application is awarded and the bursary of €460 will paid to the applicant by cheque or cash during the conference. The local organisers have agreed to allow recipients to register at the reduced fee.

All bursaries will be awarded on the strict condition that the recipient submits a report of 2-3 type written pages on any scientific session of the conference which will be published in the EFI newsletter, following the conference. These reports must be sent to the editor of the EFI newsletter (Frans Claas, f.h.j.claas@lumc.nl).

Marcel G.J. Tilanus, EFI secretary.

To promote the training in the field of Immunogenetics, the EFI Executive Committee (EC) has decided to allocate a limited number of bursaries to EFI members wishing to visit a European laboratory to learn new techniques. The duration of the stay should be between 1 and 4 weeks approximately. The bursary up to a maximum amount of €1525 will cover travel, lodging and an optional bench fee, for which the host laboratory can apply.

Candidates are asked to send the bursary application form to the EFI Secretary (secretary@efiweb.org) together with an outline of the project (1 page), and their CV. A letter must be provided by the host laboratory indicating their acceptance of the applicant. The applications will be evaluated by the Education Committee.

Submissions are invited throughout the year, and candidates will be informed of the decision approximately one month later. The successful candidates are obliged to send a brief report (1-2 pages) within one month after their stay to the chairman of the Education Committee and selected reports will be published in the EFI newsletter.

Download Application Form (MS Word file)

Procedure for payment of education bursaries

When the period of the stay has been fixed, the EFI treasurer should be contacted by e-mail by the director of the hosting laboratory, at least two weeks before the stay. The treasurer will organise a transfer of the money to cover the agreed accommodation expenses to the director of the receiving laboratory, either by transfer to a bank account (please indicate the address of the bank, the title of the account and account number) or by a cheque in Euro. The receiving laboratory should indicate which solution is preferred and send a receipt back to the treasurer for accountability. The director will give the money to the candidate at the beginning of the stay.

After the stay, the candidate should send the original tickets as well as the invoice of the accommodation expenses to the treasurer with an indication of how the money should be transferred to the candidate (bank account or cheque). Please note that a bank transfer usually will take between one and two weeks.

Dr. Collete Raffoux, EFI Treasurer, E-mail: craffoux@aol.com