J. Maynard Smith Prize Godfrey Hewitt Mobility Award ESEB Conference Travel Award see below ... ----- ESEB JOHN MAYNARD SMITH PRIZE Each year the European Society for Evolutionary Biology (ESEB) distinguishes an outstanding young evolutionary biologist with a prize named after John Maynard Smith (1920 - 2004), eminent scientist, great mentor, author of many books on evolution, and a former President of ESEB. NOMINATION The prize is open to any field of evolutionary biology. The candidates for the 2025 prize should have commenced their PhD study after January 1, 2018. However, nominees who started their PhD earlier than January 1, 2018 will also be considered if they have taken career breaks; an outline of the reason should be given. Self and non-self nominations are both welcome. Documents supporting a nomination should be sent as a single PDF file to Ute Friedrich at the ESEB office office@eseb.org. _Non-self nominations_: _1. Letter of support_. If you are nominating someone, please send a letter of support for the nomination directly to . - Your letter should outline the candidate's academic qualities as well as their wider diverse contributions including to EDI and Open Research _2. Candidate documentation_. If you are nominating someone, ask them to send a single pdf file to . This file should contain: - a brief description of the candidate's contributions to the study of evolution (1 page maximum) - the candidate's CV and a list of publications (indicating three notable papers and a description of the candidate's contributions to those three papers) - the CV should also include information on the candidate's wider, diverse contributions including to EDI and Open Research - a short description of current research (1 page maximum) - a short description of future research plans (1 page maximum) Self nominations: 1. Letter of support. Ask a colleague to write a supporting statement, as above, for your nomination. They should send this letter directly to . 2. Candidate documentation. Send the same candidate information as outlined above directly to . DEADLINE Nominations and letters of support should arrive no later than WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 15, 2025. Please take care to limit the size of attachments (total < 10MB) in any one email. The nomination committee, chaired by Josefa González, will evaluate the nominations and inform the winner approximately by end of March 2025. ASSESSMENT PROCESS The evaluation committee, after ruling out any potential conflicts of interest, will review all the material. The evaluation committee will consider the academic merit of applications. In addition, they will also consider (i) diverse contributions - /e.g./ via science outreach, teaching, mentoring, community service, EDI, mitigation of climate change impacts, etc, and (ii) engagement with Open Research, /e.g./, via sharing of research via mechanisms including Open Access, preprint servers, and sharing of data, code, protocols, etc. The evaluation committee is also instructed to take into account potential differences in access to opportunities, and to be aware of, call out and take steps to minimize, conscious and unconscious biases in their evaluations. AWARD DETAILS The prize winner is expected to attend the ESEB congress in August 2025 in Barcelona, Spain, where they will deliver the 2025 John Maynard Smith Lecture. The Society will cover registration, accommodation, and travel expenses (economy fare). The JMS Prize comes with a monetary prize of 2500 euro , the invitation to write a review for the /Journal of Evolutionary Biology/, and the possibility of a Junior Fellowship of 6 months at the Institute of Advanced Study in Berlin, Germany. For more information on the Institute of Advanced Study see https://www.wiko-berlin.de/en/ Previous winners of the JMS Prize are listed at the ESEB web site: https://eseb.org. Sincerely, Josefa González ESEB Vice-President** ---- GODFREY HEWITT MOBILITY (GHM) Award 2024 - Call for Applications Godfrey Hewitt (1940-2013) was President of the European Society for Evolutionary Biology (ESEB) from 1999-2001. He was exceptionally influential in evolutionary biology both through his research and through his mentoring of young scientists. He was also a great believer in seeing organisms in their environment first-hand and in exchanges of ideas between labs. Therefore, ESEB annually offers mobility grants for young scientists in his name. DEADLINE: FRIDAY, 31 JANUARY 2025. ELIGIBILITY The award is open to PhD students or postdoctoral scientists who are, at the closing date for applications, within 6 years of the start date of their PhD and ESEB members. In addition, applicants will be considered who are more than 6 years from the start of their PhD if they have had career breaks, worked part-time, or for other reasons have not worked continuously. Applicants who have previously received a Godfrey Hewitt mobility award are not eligible. The maximum single award will be 2000 Euros. It must be used to support fieldwork or a period of research at a lab that you have not previously visited. There is no restriction on the country of residence or nationality of the applicant. A report will be required after one year. APPLICATION PROCEDURE Your application should be sent as a single PDF file to Ute Friedrich at the ESEB office, office@eseb.org. It should include your name, current status and institution, your PhD start date, your ESEB membership number, a description of the work to be carried out (maximum 500 words), an outline budget with brief justification (maximum 100 words) and a signed statement from your PhD supervisor or postdoctoral adviser (maximum 100 words) explaining why the work cannot be funded from your home institution or your proposed host institution. Applications will be considered by a committee chaired by Andrea Betancourt. The aim will be to announce decisions before the end of March 2025. The committee will consider the following key criteria: 1. The value of the proposed mobility in terms of its expected output and impact on the applicant's career. The committee prefers projects that are:     a. Not a core component of the applicant's existing PhD or postdoctoral project, but a new venture.     b. Clearly based on the applicant's own initiative     c. Likely to be completed and have definable output within the award period     d. Have the potential to lead to larger future projects or to enhance the applicant's career in evolutionary biology 2. The need for the GHM award, i.e. the potential for the funding provided by ESEB to make a difference, in relation to resources already available through the home or host institution. Please endeavour to address these points in your application. Best wishes, Ute Friedrich, ESEB Office Manager European Society for Evolutionary Biology Homepage: eseb.org Email: office@eseb.org ---- *ESEB Conference Travel Award* These stipends are for students and young scientists who are professionally based in countries with a low GDP to attend the next European Meeting of PhD Students in Evolutionary Biology (EMPSEB) in 2025, the ESEB congress in Barcelona, Spain (https://eseb2025.com/), or the Evolution 2025 meeting (https://www.evolutionmeetings.org/) in Athens, Georgia, USA. The stipend will contribute to covering travel, living expenses, and the early bird congress registration fee (for EMPSEB or Evolution 2025). The funds will be paid out as a reimbursement after the congress, based on specification of the expenses. Note that the registration fee for the ESEB2025 congress will be waived by the organisers and thus does not need to be included in the budget. Please note that this Conference Travel Award is distinct from the Congress Attendance Aid Grant (https://eseb.org/prizes-funding/equal-opportunities-initiative/congress-attendance-aid-grant/), which is designed to promote the attendance of under-represented groups and to help with the additional costs of meeting attendance due to responsibilities for caring for dependents when attending the meetings and NOT for the costs of the applicant to attend the meeting. DEADLINE: 30 JANUARY 2025 ELIGIBILITY: - Applicants must be ESEB members before the deadline (for becoming an ESEB member, please visit https://eseb.org/society/eseb-membership/). - Applications can be submitted by scientists at various stages of their professional career (e.g., Masters and PhD students, postdocs, and lecturers). - Scientists working in a country with high GDP are not eligible (for the list of excluded countries see below). - People who received an ESEB travel stipend in the last five years are not eligible. - Applicants must apply to present either an oral communication or a poster to be eligible for the stipend. Presentation of a talk or a poster will be verified before the reimbursement, but no proof that a poster or talk is accepted is necessary at the application stage. However, please note that being chosen for a travel award does not guarantee acceptance of a poster or talk at the conference. - Please note that these stipends are given in conjunction with analogous stipends offered by the Society for the Study of Evolution (SSE; separate call) to support participation at the ESEB2025 congress or Evolution meeting 2025, so there is no need to apply to both the ESEB and the SSE awards. HOW TO APPLY: Send your application by email to the ESEB Office (office@eseb.org; subject: Conference Travel Award 2025). The application should be no more than 2 pages long and include: - Name of the applicant; - ESEB membership number; - Budget (currency = EUR), including sources of additional support; - An explanation of how attendance to the meeting will support the attendant's professional goals; - and a short CV. Please submit the application as a single PDF-file. A support letter from the applicant advisor/mentor/senior colleague is also required. Support letters should be sent to the same email address (office@eseb.org) by the applicant's mentor _BY THE DEADLINE_. Members professionally based in the following high income countries are _NOT_ eligible for the travel stipend: American Samoa, Andorra, Antigua and Barbuda, Aruba, Australia, Austria, Bahamas, Bahrain, Barbados, Belgium, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Brunei Darussalam, Canada, Cayman Islands, Channel Islands, Chile, Croatia, Curacao, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Faroe Islands, Finland, France, French Polynesia, Germany, Gibraltar, Greece, Greenland, Guam, Guyana, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Isle of Man, Israel, Italy, Japan, Korea Rep., Kuwait, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macao, Malta, Monaco, Nauru, Netherlands, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Northern Mariana Islands, Norway, Oman, Panama, Poland, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Qatar, Romania, San Marino, Saudi Arabia, Seychelles, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Martin (Dutch and French part), Sweden, Switzerland, Trinidad and Tobago, Turks and Caicos Islands, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States of America, Uruguay, Virgin Islands (US). European Society for Evolutionary Biology (ESEB) Email: office@eseb.org Website: https://eseb.org ESEB Office (to subscribe/unsubscribe the EvolDir send mail to golding@mcmaster.ca)