Science and Synthesis Proposal Categories
Proposals for sabbaticals, working groups and catalysis meetings are accepted twice a year, at June 15 and December 1 deadlines. Proposals for post-doctoral fellowships are accepted at the December 1 deadline. Proposals for short-term visitors are considered four times a year, with deadlines on January 1, April 1, July 1 and September 1. Decisions on applications are made within four months of the application deadline.
(Including the Distinguished Scholar Program and Faculty from Minority Institutions)
Post-Doctoral Fellowships
One important aspect of NESCent's mission is providing professional training for postdoctoral fellows in the field of Evolutionary Biology. NESCent Postdoctoral Fellowships provide two years of funding to support ambitious, synthetic research on any aspect of evolutionary biology and relevant disciplines. Products might include (but are not restricted to):
- Synthetic papers and reviews
- Databases allowing others to build on the postdoctoral fellow's foundation
- Software or mathematical tools that solve a major analytical problem
Sabbaticals
Half-salary "Traditional" sabbaticals
Stipends equivalent to half-salary to allow visiting faculty to carry out their own synthetic projects. These can involve a wide range of 
activities. We are especially interested in projects of grand scale and ambition. Sabbatical fellows may join visiting working groups, or even propose a working group to coincide with a sabbatical.
Full-salary "Targeted" sabbaticals
The Center will pay stipends up to the equivalent of a full salary for targeted sabbaticals (monthly stipend equal to 1/12 of 9-month salary at home institution). Targeted sabbaticals currently include a program for faculty from minority-serving institutions, to provide an opportunity for both research and educational scholarship, and the Distinguished Scholar program, designed to allow senior researchers to archive extensive data collections.
Short-Term Visitors
Short-term visitors are supported to enable synthetic research on any aspect of evolutionary biology and relevant disciplines. Visitors will work on-site at NESCent for periods of 2 weeks to 3 months. Proposals can include any type of synthetic evolutionary project, but we particularly welcome collaborative projects. Such collaborations might include collaborations with NESCent in-house scientists or informaticians; joint proposals from two or more investigators to spend time together at NESCent; or proposals from leaders of working groups to work on their project with NESCent informatics staff.
Catalysis Meetings
These one-time meetings bring together ~ 30 scientists from diverse disciplines
to focus on a major question or research area in evolutionary biology. These meetings are intended to identify avenues for scientific synthesis, and classes of primary data that must be collected before grand-scale synthesis is possible. These meetings are intended to increase the scale and ambition of our scientific vision. By allowing interaction beyond the "usual suspects," these meetings will facilitate the assembly of networks to collect the primary data needed for synthesis, and networks that will apply for funding such as NSF Research Coordination Networks or NESCent's "working groups."
Working Groups
Working Groups involve small groups of scientists (10-12 participants) collaborating intensively on the analysis or synthesis of data, models or both, to address a major question in evolutionary biology. The working groups will typically meet 3-4 times over two years, with each meeting lasting 3-7 days; however the number of participants, number of meetings, and duration of each meeting is flexible, depending on the needs and goals of the group.
Resources
- Contact us: Kathleen Smith, Director of NESCent or Joel Kingsolver, Associate Director of Science and Synthesis
- NESCent Facilities Gallery: http://www.nescent.org/about/FacilitiesGallery.php
- NESCent IT Policies: http://www.nescent.org/informatics/policies.php
