To assist you when applying for funding and to increase the chances of your Courses & Workshops application being selected for funding, please consider the following points regarding:
• Co-organisers should be from more than one institute.
• Topics should be timely and preferably not in an area where there is already an overabundance of meetings.
• If the topic is similar to an on-going EMBO Conference Series, please clearly indicate the unique focus of your meeting.
• Please ensure that feedback from the previous meeting is given to the EMBO Courses & Workshops office prior to submitting your application. If there was any negative feedback please indicate your attempts to rectify these issues in the current application.
• Duration should be sufficient to cover the topic in sufficient depth.
• The venue should have suitable facilities and preferably accommodation should be onsite or close-by.
• The approximate size of the various EMBO sponsored meetings should be as follows: not more than 25 participants (excluding speakers) for a practical course; not more than 120 participants (including speakers) for a workshop; greater than 100 participants (including speakers) for a conference series.
• Ideally, early stage participants should have the opportunity to attend.
• Not more than 15 % of participants should be from the host country.
• At least two-thirds of participants should be resident in EMBC Member States.
• Participants should not be restricted to pre-defined participants (whether this be an EU-network or other defined group).
• When selecting speakers and participants, you are requested to consider the commitment of EMBO to a reasonable gender balance in all EMBO activities.
• Equally you should try to avoid any significant regional bias.
• There should be enough speakers to cover the topic in sufficient depth but without making the programme overly dense.
• It is expected that at least 50 % of the speakers are different between subsequent conferences in a series.
• The programme should be sufficiently detailed to list session themes and the status of speakers (either confirmed or unconfirmed) should be clearly stated.
• Enough time should be planned for discussion and there should be sessions that promote interactions between the participants.
• Poster sessions should be held at a time that encourages maximal attendance and in a room with sufficient space.