We are proudly introducing a new meeting series which will serve as a platform to (1) foster and exchange know-how in population- and phylogenetic/genomic theory and approaches and in bioinformatics workflows in the form of workshop sessions to be presented by local “specialists”, (2) to introduce new and relevant molecular genetics and bioinformatics methodologies, (3) to discuss current literature (and also citation classics) and (4) to present ongoing research within the NHM or (5) by invited guests. These meetings will further allow us to meet and socialize more frequently with colleagues working in molecular systematics and to get a deeper insight into the ongoing research of colleagues at the NHM and of external guests.

Schedule

Resources to past workshops

Frequency

Meetings will take place every second Tuesday, starting from October 19th, 2021. Workshops will be held from 10:00 to 12:00, with the possibility to meet afterwards for a joint lunch. Seminar and Journal clubs will take place between 15:00 and 16:00. Once per month, we will be meet afterwards for an informal apéro (see below), which will allow to further discuss, to exchange ideas and to socialise.

Format

We will implement a rotation system so that each time another person or research group has the opportunity to choose the topic and the meeting format and to prepare the content. We have accordingly set up a tentative schedule to distribute the time slots for the remaining year. In case you would like to actively contribute, we would kindly urge you to fill this schedule with your preferred date as soon as possible, so that we have sufficient time to organize a meeting room and send invitation mails. Presentations should be restricted to 45’ maximum to leave room for 15’ discussion, which should optimally take place after and not during the presentations. We want to keep these schedules relatively strict to avoid excessive overtimes but will of course allow vivid and in-depth discussions. Whenever possible, PhD students or postdocs should be prioritized for presenting their work or for choosing and preparing a Journal Club paper. Workshops will be recorded, so that interested people can participate and repeat the exercises even after the workshop.

Venue

Depending on the number of participants, we will meet at four different venues. In increasing capacities: (1) The meeting room next to Lisi’s office, (2) the seminar room of the Anthropology or (3) the Kurssaal, or (4) the Kinosaal. To account for the uncertain Corona situation in the near future, we want to make it possible to either participate in person or virtually via Zoom. Bioinformatic workshops will be exclusively held online so that participants can practice on their own computers, since we do not have a dedicated computer room. Please note, that due to the ongoing Corona crisis, every person (except for the speaker) has to wear an FFP2 mask during the whole meeting, whenever we meet in presence.

Mailing list and shared calendar

We will regularly inform you about upcoming events via mail and will provide a shared calendar which will be updated at least two weeks ahead of upcoming meetings. Please share this information within your group and provide us with email addresses of additional potentially interested people.

Social event

To foster social interaction among colleagues and to continue discussing the topic of each meeting, we are planning to organize an apéro once per month. Apéro’s are a wonderful Swiss and French tradition, where people come together to drink a glass of wine/beer and have some finger food to socialize after an event.

Further Questions

In case you have further questions, please contact Martin Kapun or Luise Kruckenhauser