The AGA grants awards each year to members to support special events that further the purposes of the Association, particularly to encourage student participation and enhance diversity and inclusion (Table 2). Eligible events include specialized workshops, short courses in some aspect of organismal genetics, and meetings in areas of great current interest, but any event that would advance the purpose of the Association is eligible for support.
Table 2. Recipients of the 2023 Special Events Awards.
1. The Ontario Ecology, Ethology, and Evolution Colloquium (OE3C) is a provincial conference organized by (graduate) students for students. With three international plenary speakers, four local panelists, student travel bursaries, and student presentation awards, this event is designed to give students an international experience close to home. Most students do not have funding to attend conferences, and the AGA funding will sponsor travel bursaries to students from equity-deserving groups.
2. The 5th Genomics of Disease in Wildlife Workshop (GDW2023) The outbreak and transmission of disease-causing pathogens are affecting wildlife populations worldwide, often with devastating consequences. The 5th Genomics of Disease in Wildlife’ Workshop (GDW2023) is a weeklong intensive workshop on the application of powerful genomic tools to monitor, detect and reconstruct the role of pathogens impacting wildlife populations. Lectures and computer labs cover typical workflow for analysis of genomic sequence data from both host and pathogen. Invited speakers provide a range of perspectives in advancing the field of disease genomics. The AGA support will be a major factor for workshop diversity and success by providing scholarships, most notably for international attendees with limited resources.
3. ConGen 2023: Training Population/Conservation Genomicists ConGen (short for Conservation Genetics) is a special course and workshop for graduate students, post-docs, and early-career scientists that provides training in conceptual and practical aspects of population genomic data analysis. The course emphasizes conservation, evolutionary, and comparative genomics of natural and managed populations to help develop our “next generation” of conservation, ecological, and evolutionary geneticists. AGA funding will allow under-funded students to participate by paying for their travel. Participants often take the course materials (slides, worksheets, software, data sets) back home to teach others in their lab which broadens impacts and promotes the proper use of genetics/omics for these research fields.
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