Target participants are PhD students in early stages of PhD and advanced Master students - please pass the info to potential participants.
The main goals of this annual workshop, based on a concept developed by Stephen Stearns and John Maynard Smith, are to develop the following skills:
• developing your scientific ideas through discussions in groups;
• thinking critically and expressing oneself clearly;
• turning a general idea into a research project;
• writing a research proposal and defending it.
Faculty:
Bill Rice (University of California Santa Barbara)
Dolph Schluter (University of British Columbia)
Tanja Schwander (University of Lausanne)
John Pannell (University of Lausanne)
Tad Kawecki (University of Lausanne)
It is you, the students, who will be in charge in this course. You will be divided in groups of 4-5 students. In those groups, you will work on your ideas. You, as a group, will decide what the important open questions in broadly defined evolutionary biology are, you will choose one, and attempt to develop a proposal for a research project that will address it. The faculty will visit the groups during the discussions to answer your questions, provide coaching and give you feedback on your projects, but they will generally take the back seat. Additionally, the faculty will give talks about their research and be available for informal discussion with individual students. At the end you will
present your projects to other participants, and we will party.
The workshop will take place in the 100-year old hotel Kurhaus
http://www.hotel-kurhaus.arolla.com/,
located in a small alpine village at an altitude of 2000 m, which will
help you to concentrate on the course while giving you also the chance
to enjoy the views, small hikes, marmots and the alpine flora.
Fee: CHF 450.- (this covers part of the cost for room and board, the
rest being subsidized by the Herbette Foundation).
Participants will receive a course certificate for 3 ETCS credits.
To apply, send a single file (pdf or rtf) containing a short motivation
letter including a brief summary of your research interest, a cv, and
the name of your scientific advisor to Caroline Betto-Colliard
<ecologie-evolution@cuso.ch>, with Cc to tadeusz.kawecki@unil.ch .
Please put "Evolutionary workshop" in the subject. Application Deadline:
February 14, 2016.
