********************Jobs******************** The Complutense University of Madrid has announced 43 permanent positions for candidates with Spanish I3 certification. Candidates need to possess the I3 certification and an accreditation for teaching at Spanish Universities (Contratado Doctor or higher) in order to be eligible. Details of the call are available here: https://www.ucm.es/investigadores-i3-2020 The research group Evolutionary Biology and Conservation (www.ucm.es/bcveng) will support competitive candidates, as it has done successfully in previous editions of this and other programs directed to the attraction of talented researchers. Our Department (Biodiversity, Ecology and Evolution) is allowed to support three proposals, so that candidates will need to be prioritised before the call closes. We are looking for candidates who can send us their proposals as soon as possible. Prospective candidates please send the following documents to jperez@ucm.es asap, and no later than June 17, 2020: - Curriculum Vitae (preferably CVN format, see https://cvn.fecyt.es/). - ANECA Certificate of Accreditation (highest category awarded). - Spanish I3 Certification. Best regards Javier Perez-Tris JAVIER PEREZ TRIS ********************Jobs******************** Full-time Research Technician (40 hours/week) on polygenic adaptation in Drosophila using experimental evolution at the Institute of Population Genetics, Vetmeduni, Vienna Two full-time Research technician (40 hours/week) positions are available in the group of Neda Barghi at the Institute of Population Genetics, Vetmeduni, Vienna. The main focus of the project is to study the genomic and phenotypic changes of Drosophila experimental populations as they adapt to a new environment. We will combine genomic, phenotypic and gene expression data. The technicians will be responsible for maintenance of Drosophila stocks, and performing the selection experiments and high-throughput phenotyping assays. S/He will assist in developing a new protocol for maintenance of Drosophila in large populations. We are looking for a reliable, highly organized and motivated candidate with good communication skills. S/He should have Bachelor's degree in Biology, Genetics, Molecular Biology, or a related field, and be willing to acquire new skills and contribute to the development of new protocols in Drosophila selection experiments. Excellent written and spoken English skills is a must. Experience with the Drosophila system, molecular biology and NGS library preparation is highly valued. The positions will start September 1st, 2020 and are limited for 1-year with the possibility of extension up to 3 years depending on successful evaluation. The gross salary is 1,994.6€/month. In case of interest, please send your CV, including the required/desired skills for this position, to Neda Barghi (neda.barghi@vetmeduni.ac.at). You can visit the lab webpage here: https://www.vetmeduni.ac.at/en/population-genetics/research/research-groups/barghi-lab/ Deadline for applications is June 30, 2020, but all applications will be considered immediately after receipt of the application documents. Neda Barghi ********************Jobs******************** 40 Faculty positions AGIS, CAAS, Shenzhen The Agricultural Genomics Institute at Shenzhen (AGIS) is one of the 33 national institutes under the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS). Started at Shenzhen in 2014, it focuses on genomics and big data biology as well as their applications in agriculture, food, and environment. AGIS hosts a total of 300 faculties and staffs, and has secured competitive grants with an accumulative value of 200 million RMB up to the end of 2018. Moreover, the institute has published more than 100 scientific articles in Cell, Nature, Science, Nature Genetics, Nature Methods, and other high-impact journals. AGIS aims to become an international leader of agricultural genomics and an incubator of next-generation technologies and innovative start-ups. We welcome highly competitive and skilled scientists, technological developers, and innovative entrepreneurs to join us in developing and applying innovative ideas in the fields of agriculture, environment, and food industry. We believe genomics can make our world better. POSITIONs Leading Talents Youth Talents Benefits and Supporting Funds 1. Grants: PI can receive research grants of more than 4 million RMB including 3-7.5 million research start-up funds, 1-3 million equipment funds and 1-5 million overseas talent funds; Provided 60 m2of office and laboratory space; Assisted in applying for research grants and in the recruitment of postdoctoral fellows and graduate students. 2. Benefits: AGIS provides talents with competitive salaries, for details, please consult us. 3. Living allowance The selected talents can receive a subsidy of 5.7 -12 million RMB including: "Young Talents Plan" of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences: 1 million RMB for home-purchasing settling-in allowance; "Pearl River Talent Plan" of Guangdong Province: 1.5-5 million RMB; "High-level talents at home and abroad in Shenzhen": 3.2-6 million RMB. Research Field Bioinformatics, algorithm development, biocomputing Biochemistry and molecular biology Genomics Crop genetics and breeding Animal genetics and breeding Horticulture Plant protection Ecology and environmental science Genomics for food safety CONTACT Add No.7 Pengfei Road, Dapeng New District, Shenzhen 518120, China http://www.agis.org.cn Fax: +86-755-8925 2003; Tel: 0755-89252003 For more details, please contact us at Dr. Li-Jing Bai,bailijing@caas.cn,zonghechu@caas.cn Yongfeng Zhou ********************Other******************** Dear colleagues, The Evolution and Comparative Genomics COSI of the ISCB is organizing a webinar series (as part of the ISCBacademy). The first seminar will take place next week, Friday June 12, at 11:00AM EDT: Fast Coalescent-Based Computation of Local Branch Support from Quartet Frequencies presented by Erfan Sayyari (from the team of Siavash Mirarab at UCSD). Participation is free for any member of ISCB, but registration is required. Please follow the link below. https://www.iscb.org/iscbacademy-upcoming#sayyari The format of webinars is that abstract/papers are presented by their first author to promote presentations by young researchers, and questions and answers are exchanged throughout the presentation to value discussion and attendee input. If you are interested in presenting, or you want to suggest an article of interest, please send an abstract to webinar@evolcompgen.org with "Abstract for Webinar" as the title of your message. Hope many of us can you. All the best, Aida Ouangraoua, on behalf of the organizing committee. "Aida.Ouangraoua@USherbrooke.ca" ********************PostDocs******************** HUXLEY FELLOW in ECOLOGY & EVOLUTION: The BioSciences department of Rice University (http://biosciences.rice.edu/) seeks to fill a Huxley Fellow position in ECOLOGY or EVOLUTION. The position is a two-year appointment with a third year extension possible, with a tentative start date of September 1, 2020. The start date is flexible but the Fellow will be expected to start during fall semester 2020. Our prestigious Huxley Fellow Program aims to recruit outstanding postdoctoral researchers who merge excellence in teaching and research. The Huxley Fellows receive faculty status, employee benefits, competitive salary, and research funds for independent or collaborative research. Collaborative interests with the existing faculty in the EEB research area are a plus. An application (curriculum vitae, statement of research interests and statement of teaching) and three letters of recommendation should be submitted at this link: https://jobs.rice.edu/postings/23761 Application review will begin June 15, and will continue until the position is filled. For further questions and informal inquiries please contact Dr. Julia Saltz (julia.b.saltz@rice.edu), Huxley Fellow Search Committee Chair. Rice University is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer and values a diverse faculty. People from groups under-represented in STEM are encouraged to apply. Julia B. Saltz Assistant Professor, Biosciences at Rice University Lab: GRB E309, office: GRB E300E julia.b.saltz@rice.edu Saltzlab.com (she/her) Julia Saltz ********************PostDocs******************** Research Project The postdoctoral researcher will work on a project that aims at understanding the genetic basis of urban adaptation in Anopheles mosquitoes (BFU2017-82937-P, MINECO/AEI/FEDER, EU). Identifying the genomic basis of environmental adaptation is a growing field of research. Advances in whole genome sequencing and other high-throughput technologies allow us to identify and characterize the genes and traits more relevant for environmental adaptation. Most of our knowledge so far comes from the analysis of one type of genetic variant: single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). Other types of variants such as transposable element insertions, that are complex mutations likely to play a role in adaptation, are largely ignored. Our laboratory is at the forefront of the research aimed at elucidating the contribution of transposable to adaptation. We are experts in population genomics, transposable element dynamics, and in the detection of signatures of natural selection. In this project, we will apply our proven expertise in these research fields to elucidate the role of transposable elements in adaptation in Anopheles. Adaptation to urban environments in Anopheles mosquitoes is highly relevant because it has direct consequences for the ability of these mosquitoes to transmit malaria. We are using the latest technological advances in long-read sequencing techniques to generate new reference genomes that allow us to de novo annotate transposable elements in these genomes. We will then use state-of-the-art methodologies to look for signatures of selection both in SNPs and in transposable element insertions to get a comprehensive picture of urban adaptation in Anopheles. Duties The postdoctoral researcher will be responsible for the analysis of patterns of demography and selection in natural populations of Anopheles mosquitoes in the context of urban adaptation. Among others, the tasks involved in the postdoctoral research project will be identifying signatures of selective sweeps, identifying evidence of population differentiation, and looking for associations between genetic and environmental variables in the genome sequences of several natural Anopheles populations. Candidate requisites A PhD in Evolutionary Biology or a related field, good organizational skills, and good writing skills are required. Previous professional experience will be considered. What do we offer? We offer a full-time position. Salary will depend on the experience of the candidate. The candidate will join a research team of three postdoctoral researchers and three PhD students. The lab also offers extensive networking opportunities as we are co?\leading the European Drosophila population Genomics Consortium (droseu.net) that brings together 61 research labs across 27 countries, and the Spanish excellence network in Adaptation Genomics (adaptnet.es). Application process Please send your CV (including the contacts of potential references) and a brief letter of motivation to: josefa.gonzalez@ibe.upf-csic.es. Please include "Urban adaptation position" in the subject of your e-mail. Application deadline: 15th June 2020. Josefa González | CSIC Tenured Scientist Institute of Evolutionary Biology (CSIC-UPF) Passeig Marítim de la Barceloneta 37-49/ 08003 Barcelona/ Spain. www.gonzalezlab.eu +34 932309500 ext 6058 @GonzalezLab_BCN Co-organizer of the European Drosophila Population GenomicsConsortium(DrosEU) Science Outreach La Ciència Al Teu Mon euroscitizen.eu melanogaster.eu Most recent preprints/publications:T-lex3| TEs & Insecticides|DrosEU ----- Research Project The postdoctoral researcher will work on a project funded by the European Research Council that aims at identifying the genetic basis, the molecular mechanisms, and the functional traits relevant for environmental adaptation (H2020-ERC-2014-CoG-647900). Understanding how organisms adapt to their environments is a long-standing problem in Biology with far-reaching implications: adaptation affects the ability of species to survive in changing environments, host-pathogen interactions, and resistance to pesticides and drugs. Despite recent progress, adaptation is to date a poorly understood process largely due to limitations of current approaches that focus (i)on a priori candidate genes; (ii) on signals of selection at the DNA levelwithout functional validation of the identified candidates; and (iii) on small sets of adaptive mutations that do not represent the variability present in natural populations. As a result, major questions such as what is the relative importance of differenttypes of mutations in adaptation?, and what is the importance of epigenetic changes in adaptive evolution?, remain largely unanswered. To gain a deep understanding of adaptation, we need to systematically identify adaptive mutations across space and time, pinpoint their molecularmechanisms and discover their fitness effects. To this end, Drosophila melanogaster has proven to be an ideal organism. Besides the battery of genetic tools and resources available, D.melanogaster has recently adapted to live in out of Africa environments. We and others have already shown that transposable elements (TEs) have substantially contributed to the adaptation of D. melanogaster to different environmental challenges. We are using state-of-the-art techniques, such as Oxford nanopore sequencing technology andCRISPR/Cas9 genome editing, to systematically identify and characterize indetail adaptive TE insertions in D. melanogaster natural populations. Only by moving from gathering anecdotic evidence to applying global approaches, we will be able to start constructing a quantitative and predictive theory of adaptation that will be relevant for other species as well. Duties The postdoctoral researcher will be responsible for the in silico characterization of candidate adaptive mutations identified in natural populations of Drosophila melanogaster. He/She will investigate the role of epigenetic marks in gene expression changes across tissues, and the role of transposable elements in rewiring xenobiotic stress response networks. Among others, the tasks involved in the postdoctoral research project include the integrative analysis of several genomicdatasets obtained in our laboratory: RNA�\seq, ChIP�\seq for histone marks and for transcription factors, and HiC datasets. Candidate requisites A PhD in evolutionary biology, evolutionary bioinformatics, or a related field, good programming skills, and good organizational and writing skills are required. Experience with state�\of�\the�\art approaches to analyze the different genomic techniques used in the lab is required. Previous professional experience will be considered. What do we offer? We offer a full�\time position. Salary will depend on the experienceof the candidate. The candidate will join a research team of three postdoctoral researchers and three PhD students. The lab also offers extensive networking opportunities as we are co�\leading the European Drosophila population Genomics Consortium (droseu.net) that brings together 61 research labs across 27 countries, and the Spanish excellence network in Adaptation Genomics (adaptnet.es). Application process Please send your CV (including the contacts of potential references) and a brief letter of motivation before the 15th June 2020 to: josefa.gonzalez@ibe.upf�\csic.es. Please include "ERC�\Bioinformatics position" in the subject of your e�\mail. Application deadline: 15th June 2020. Josefa Gonz�'lez | CSIC Tenured Scientist Institute of Evolutionary Biology (CSIC-UPF) Passeig Mar��tim de la Barceloneta 37-49/ 08003 Barcelona/ Spain. www.gonzalezlab.eu +34 932309500 ext6058 @GonzalezLab_BCN Co-organizer of the European Drosophila Population GenomicsConsortium(DrosEU) Science Outreach La Ci��ncia Al Teu M��n euroscitizen.eu melanogaster.eu Most recent preprints/publications:T-lex3| TEs & Insecticides|DrosEU "GONZALEZ PEREZ, JOSEFA" ********************PostDocs******************** The EvoFlor network at University of Granada (http://wpd.ugr.es/~evoflor/) and MESSY lab at University of Cádiz (https://www.oscargodoy.com/) are seeking a postdoctoral researcher that would be interested in joint development of an application for Marie Skodowska-Curie Actions Individual Fellowships (https://ec.europa.eu/research/mariecurieactions/actions/individual-fellowships_en). We are seeking a highly motivated biologist (or similar) interested in questions related to evolutionary biology, species coexistence and/or population genetics and willing to combine tools from ecology and genetics to answer broad question on biodiversity evolution. Please find the abstract of the tentative project below. The candidates need to have a PhD degree or four years of equivalent experience. This year the deadline of the call is September 9th, 2020. To ensure that we have enough time to prepare the application, we would be thankful to receive a letter of interest, stating your interest and experience, and a CV by June 20, 2020, sent by e-mail to mabdelazizm@ugr.es and oscar.godoy@uca.es. Evoflor is a multidisciplinary network of researchers studying diverse aspects of the evolution of plants, animals and their interactions. We integrate genetic, genomic, and ecological studies from theoretical and experimental perspectives. Our main study system comprises different species of the Brassicaceae family, although we also work in other disparate systems. The University of Granada (UGR), founded in 1531, is one of the largest and most important universities in Spain. Located in Southeast Spain and with over 60.000 undergraduate and postgraduate students and 6.000 staff, the UGR has a powerful presence in a city of 250.000 inhabitants. UGR offers a total of 89 degrees, 110 master's degrees and 28 doctoral programs through its 123 departments and 27 centers. Consequently, the UGR offers one of the most extensive and diverse ranges of higher education programs in Spain. The UGR is a leading institution in research, located in the top 5/10 of Spanish universities by a variety of ranking criteria, such as national R&D projects, fellowships awarded, publications, or international funding. UGR is one of the few Spanish Universities listed in the Shanghai Top 500 ranking (http://sl.ugr.es/0aw0). The edition of the ARWU places the UGR in 201-300 position in the world and as the 2nd highest ranked University in Spain, reaffirming its position as an institution at the forefront of national and international research. With more than 3,500 researchers and technicians engaged in various forms of predoctoral staff, postdoctoral contracts, incorporation of doctors and researchers, the UGR publishes annually more than 2,500 publications, with a percentage higher than 50 % in the first quartile; having a relative growth rate of production well above of the average for Spain and the EU. The UGR stands out especially in production levels in different areas including Earth Science and Instruments Science. The goal of Mediterranean Ecological and Synthesis lab (MESSY lab) is to understand the ecological and evolutionary processes maintaining biodiversity and their links to ecosystems functioning. For that, we combine detailed field observations and process-based experiments with a unique interface of ecological theory and modelling toolboxes. This interface of theory, modelling and experiments is not specific to any taxonomic group. The University of Cádiz (UCA) is a medium size University close to the gulf of Cádiz in the Atlantic Coast of South West Spain. Although officially established in 1979, UCA can trace its origins back to the 15th century. The University of Cádiz is located in the range of 150-200 European universities in the first edition of Times Higher Education Europe Teaching Rankings (international classification focused on the analysis of excellence in teaching). The UCA stands out in the following sections: teaching & inclusive learning environment, resources for the delivery of the degree certificates effectively and commitment & results. The UCA is above the Spanish average in 9 of the 15 items that appear in the survey made to students. UCA appears in five subjects of the ARWU ranking that selects the 500 best universities in each area of knowledge: Oceanography (range 151-200), Mathematics (range 301-400), Chemical Engineering (range 301-400), Environmental Science & Engineering (range 301-400), and Energy Science & Engineering (401-500). Abstract: Geneticists have long recognized the importance of genetic diversity on the performance of populations and as the raw material for evolution. Yet, the demographic consequences of such variation for the assembly of ecological communities is poorly understood. To solve this critical gap of knowledge, the proposal aims to experimentally manipulate genetic diversity through outcrossing, hybridization and polyploidization to investigate the effects of multiple sources of genetic diversity on the stabilising and equalising mechanisms responsible for maintaining biodiversity within ecological communities. In this framework, the candidate will address the multidisciplinary nature of this research by applying novel theoretical advances in coexistence theory and the associated mathematical toolboxes to a competitive experiment that contains artificial plants generated by using plant breeding techniques. This is a collaborative project between the EvoFlor network at Department of Genetics of the University of Granada, MESSY lab at University of Cadiz (Spain) with collaboration with Meise Botanic Garden (Belgium) and aims to provide mechanistic answers to two main questions: 1) what is the relative contribution of multiple sources of genetic diversity within plant species to coexistence mechanisms (i.e. stabilising and equalising)? And 2) which combination of phenotypic traits canalises differences in competitive ability between genetic variants? This project will provide a deeper understanding of the ecological consequences of genetic diversity for community assembly processes as there has not been previous attempts to evaluate the effect of multiple sources of genetic diversity on stabilising and equalising mechanisms, and will establish these relationships to allow predicting under which competitive environments novel genetic profiles can coexist with their progenitors. Overall, this proposal aims to establish a fluent dialogue between the field of genetics and ecology by studying the multiple effects of genetic diversity on maintaining biodiversity.   All the best. M. Mohamed ABDELAZIZMOHAMED PhD Room #8, Third Floor - Biological Building                                   Department of Genetics                                                           Faculty of Sciences                                                                              Campus Fuentenueva University of Granada Granada, Spain, 18071 tel: +34 958 246317                                                   http://www.mabdelaziz.es/ fax: +34 958 244073                                       http://www.viajarpormarruecos.blogspot.com/   "FELIX QUI POTUIT RERUM COGNOSCERE CAUSAS" mabdelazizm ********************WorkshopsCourses******************** Dear all, There are a few spaces left if you are interested in learning about the Flora of Alaska as well as getting familiar with some unique approaches to delivering a systematic botany course online, this might be one for you. One of the hallmarks of systematic botany courses is the hands-on learning experience in a laboratory setting. To create a similar lab experience for the online offering, we have carefully chosen technology that will allow students from all over the state (and even outside Alaska) to collect data in their home communities, perform plant dissections and have a hands-on learning experience within the flora's native environment. Instead of traditional course materials like textbooks, students will purchase an inexpensive wide-angle macro lens that connects to their smartphone or tablet. This 2-inch lens lets students take high-resolution, detailed photos of flora on the go with classifying metadata, such as GPS location attached. The technology not only lets students mimic lab spaces in their own natural areas but also expands their digital networks through the submission of images to iNaturalist, enabling them to share and collaborate with enthusiasts around the world and contribute citizen science data to research. Students don't just sit at their computers in this class, they go outside, touch with their hands and share what they discover. The course design includes carefully videotaped lectures using the Learning Glass platform, video dissection demonstrations, virtual biome exploration using a 360 camera, and selected interactive reading materials. This course is an exciting intersection of curiosity for wild plants, an exploration of Alaska's plant communities and an accessible introduction to the science of botany. Class URL: https://introtoflora.community.uaf.edu/ Where: University of Alaska Fairbanks (USA) Instructor: Dr. Steffi Ickert-Bond (Professor of Botany and Curator of the Herbarium (ALA) at the University of Alaska Fairbanks) Course goals: The objective of this class is to introduce you to several aspects of Alaska's unique flora. Class modules and hands-on exercises are designed to familiarize you with the identification, description, and morphology of our local flora. In addition, you will get familiar with dissection of flowers, using technical keys, seeing scientific (Latinized) names, and learn vocabulary that comes with describing and talking about plants, and curate images that you will take of the plants in your immediate surroundings. Student learning outcomes: On completion of this class, you will be able to identify and describe several common plant families and species that are native and common to Interior Alaska and be more comfortable with floral dissection and taking photographs of flowering plants that will aid in their identification and classification. Dates: The 1-credit class will run from 22 June- 20 July and is fully asynchronous. Registration: You can register at https://ecampus.uaf.edu/register/summer-2020-registration/ and select 52841 BIOLF195. The class costs $273. More info: You can read more about the class and watch a video dissection of Brassicaceae at https://news.uaf.edu/online-botany-course-utilizes-student Best, Steffi Steffi Ickert-Bond, Ph.D. Professor of Botany and Curator of the Herbarium (ALA), UA Museum University of Alaska Fairbanks 1962 Yukon Drive Fairbanks, AK 99775-6960, USA Phone: 907-474-6277 (office) 907-474-5285 (WRRB lab) Fax: 907-474-5469 Ickert-Bond lab website http://www.frontierbotany.info Herbarium website and Facebook http://www.uaf.edu/museum/collections/herb/ https://www.facebook.com/ALAHerbarium/ Search 270,000 digitized ALA specimens: http://arctos.database.museum/home.cfm Steffi Ickert-Bond ********************WorkshopsCourses******************** Dear all, the 3rd edition of the Physalia course on Phylogenomics will take place online from the 23rd to the 27th of November. Instructors: Dr. Michael Matschiner and Dr. Milan Malinsky (University of Basel (Switzerland)) Course website: https://www.physalia-courses.org/courses-workshops/course21/ Overview: While genomic data promise unprecedented insights into the evolution of the tree of life, they also pose new challenges that must be addressed to avoid misleading results and to fully leverage the potential of the genome-scale data sets. These challenges include the identification of orthologuous sequences that are suitable as phylogenetic markers, the selection of appropriate models of sequence evolution, and the detection of gene-tree discordance due to incomplete lineage sorting and introgression. In this workshop we will present theory and exercises to infer time-calibrated phylogenies from multi-locus, RADseq, and whole-genome data sets while accounting for these confounding factors. Programme: ( https://www.physalia-courses.org/courses-workshops/course21/curriculum-21/ ) Other upcoming Physalia courses: ( https://www.physalia-courses.org/courses-workshops/ ) Should you have any questions, please feel free to contact us at ( mailto:info@physalia-courses.org ) All the best, Carlo Carlo Pecoraro, Ph.D Physalia-courses DIRECTOR info@physalia-courses.org http://www.physalia-courses.org/ Twitter: @physacourses mobile: +49 17645230846 https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/physalia-courses "info@physalia-courses.org" ********************WorkshopsCourses******************** The 6th annual Avida-ED Active LENS Workshop will be held July 1 'V 2, 2020. This year, responding to COVID-19 pandemic restrictions, we are holding an on-line workshop using Zoom. The purpose of the Active LENS workshop is to train instructors in the use of the Avida-ED software package, developed to help students learn about evolution and the nature of science, so that workshop participants can both implement classroom interventions using this software and also train other educators. Avida is a digital evolution software platform used to study evolutionary processes, and harness evolution to solve engineering problems. Avida-ED is a free, browser-based, user-friendly version of Avida developed specifically for educational purposes, with a graphical user interface and visualizations that allow the user to observe evolution in action. (Seehttp://avida-ed.msu.edu/for more information and to run the software in your web browser.) Organisms within this software (Avidians) are self-replicating computer programs, competing for computational resources supplied by the environment. Their replication is imperfect, resulting in mutations in some of their offspring, which may alter the ability of those organisms to make use of their environmental resources. Populations studied over the course of generations therefore display all of the elements necessary for evolution by natural selection: variation, inheritance, selection, and time. Avida-ED thus provides not a simulation of evolution, but an actual instance of it. Avida-ED has been developed for undergraduates and advanced placement high school students to learn about the nature of science and evolution in particular. Users have significant control of the environment and are able to change parameters such as the world size, the mutation rate, and what resources are available. Individual organisms can be saved in a virtual freezer, analyzed individually to watch how they perform tasks and replicate themselves, and used to start new evolutionary runs. Because digital organisms grow and divide much faster than even the fastest microbes, Avida-ED allows users to test evolutionary hypotheses over the course of hours or minutes. By generating hypotheses, collecting data, and analyzing results, users will gain experience not just with concepts in evolution, but with the nature and practice of science as a whole. Workshop participants will join a growing community of educators using digital evolution to let their students directly observe evolutionary processes through inquiry-based exercises that advance reform-oriented active learning. The application form for the Active LENS Workshop must be completed online on the following page: https://avida-ed.msu.edu/active-lens-train-the-trainers-workshop-2020-edition/ Registration for the course is $50. (Note: Participants who complete the course will receive a certificate and a refund of the course fee.) All applications received by June 15th will receive full consideration, but late applications will be considered if room is available. If you have any questions or difficulties with the application, contact Diane Blackwood (blackwo5@msu.edu). Louise S. Mead, PhD Education Director BEACON Center for the Study of Evolution in Action Michigan State University 567 Wilson Rd., 1441 Biomedical and Physical Sciences East Lansing, MI 48824 517-884-2560 "Mead, Louise" ********************Conferences******************** Dear EvolDir, Join us for the next week of our successful and popular online seminar series in Evolution and Ecology. We are a group of postdocs from the research groups of Alexei Maklakov, Simone Immler and Judith Mank at the University of East Anglia, UK, and the University of British Columbia, Canada. Now that many departmental seminar talks and conferences have been cancelled or postponed, we believe there is a great opportunity to replace that otherwise missing stimulus, and to keep our international research community connected. To that end, we are inviting some of the most exciting scientists in the community to share their research. When: 5-6PM BST / 9-10AM PDT, up to 3 seminars/week Mon, Wed, Fri Where: talks live-streamed to our YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMsYvoHLNVm4rbcTLj162zQ , post your questions for our speakers via Slack Publicity: upcoming talks promoted on Slack & Twitter @EvoEcoSeminars (https://twitter.com/EvoEcoSeminars) How to join: our Slack 'Evolution and Ecology Seminars' here https://join.slack.com/t/evolutionecol-xl54980/shared_invite/zt-ev4fe0io-M7B~D6p74blV_ZRcDtmAcg Our talks this coming week are: --- Mon 8 June Prof. Thorsten Reusch (GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research, Kiel, Germany) "Clonal reproduction is not an evolutionary dead end" --- Wed 10 June Dr. Christopher Wheat (Dept. of Zoology, Stockholm University, Sweden) Title TBC --- Fri 12 June Prof. Bill Sutherland (Dept. of Zoology, University of Cambridge, UK) Title TBC --- Please follow our Twitter feed and join the Slack group for details of future upcoming talks. Hope that you can join us! Feel free to circulate to anyone who may be interested! Many thanks, Dr. Elizabeth Duxbury Dr. Andreas Sutter Dr. Iulia Darolti Dr. Wouter van der Bijl ---- Dr. Elizabeth Duxbury Senior Postdoctoral Research Associate Prof. Alexei Maklakov Group School of Biological Sciences University of East Anglia Norwich Research Park UK "Elizabeth Duxbury (BIO - Staff)" ********************Conferences******************** Dear Colleagues, The MEEGID XV congress will be held at Tulane University, New Orleans, 2-5 November 2021 (not 2020). https://www.elsevier.com/events/conferences/meegid Please circulate. Hoping to see you in New Orleans, Best regards, Michel Tibayrenc, MD, PhD Editor -in-chief Infection, Genetics and Evolution (Elsevier) http://www.elsevier.com/locate/meegid Maladies Infectieuses et Vecteurs Ecologie, Génétique, Evolution et Contrôle MIVEGEC (IRD 224-CNRS 5290-UM1-UM2) IRD Center BP 64501 34394 Montpellier Cedex 5 France E-mail : michel.tibayrenc@ird.fr Website : https://www.micheltibayrenc.com/ See announcement of the MEEGID XV congress at: https://www.elsevier.com/events/conferences/meegid michel.tibayrenc@ird.fr