H3ABionet’s Introduction to Bioinformatics Training (IBT) 2020: a report of the first iteration hosted in Cameroon

The Open Bioinformatics Foundation (OBF) Event Fellowship program aims to promote diverse participation at events promoting open source bioinformatics software development and open science practices in the biological research community. Armando Blondel DJIYOU DJEUDA, a researcher from University of Douala, Cameroon, set up and host H3ABioNet‘s Introduction to Bioinformatics course (IBT), supported by this fellowship granted to him in application round 1 of 2020. Due to the rich biodiversity of sub-Saharan African countries, bioinformatics and data management are crucial in helping to advance biomedical research. [Read More]

Smart computational imaging: a report from CLEO 2020

The Open Bioinformatics Foundation (OBF) Event Fellowship program aims to promote diverse participation at events promoting open source bioinformatics software development and open science practices in the biological research community. Pengfei Fan, a researcher from Queen Mary University of London, was supported to participate in CLEO 2020 by this fellowship granted to him in the application round-1 of 2020. Find more information here. During the last two decades, we are witnessing a fascinating growth of computational imaging (CI) methods, e. [Read More]

Getting introduced to Bioinformatics and Open Science through BCC 2020

The Open Bioinformatics Foundation (OBF) Event Fellowship program aims to promote diverse participation at events promoting open source bioinformatics software development and open science practices in the biological research community. Gigi Kenneth, a biochemistry undergrad and a bioinformatics enthusiast from Nigeria, was supported to participate in Bioinformatics Community Conference 2020 by this fellowship granted to her in the application round-1 of 2020. Find more information here. I’m a biochemistry undergraduate, in my final year from the University of Port Harcourt, Nigeria. [Read More]

A Software Engineer's Experience at BCC 2020

The Open Bioinformatics Foundation (OBF) Event Fellowship program aims to promote diverse participation at events promoting open source bioinformatics software development and open science practices in the biological research community. Edidiong Etuk (Eddie), an open-source lover and a software engineer from Nigeria, was supported to take part in Bioinformatics Open Source Conference 2020 by this fellowship granted to him in the application round-1 of 2020. Find more information here. TL;DR This post is about my experience at Bioinformatics Community Conference 2020. [Read More]

Announcing OBF (travel) fellowship awardees for 2020 round 1

on behalf of the OBF Board members We are delighted to announce that four awardees have been selected to receive the OBF travel fellowship for 2020 round 1, to support their participation in virtual events. The OBF travel fellowship is now offered 2 times a year to multiple awardees towards supporting their participation in scientific workshops, conference and training events. The selection of individuals is made based on their applications, which state how their participation in the chosen event helps them promote open science practices in bioinformatics and/or enhance representation of minority groups in their communities. [Read More]

Galaxy Admin 2020 and beyond (guest post by OBF Travel Award recipient Michael Thompson)

The Open Bioinformatics Foundation (OBF) sponsors a Travel Fellowship program aimed at increasing diverse participation at events promoting Open Source bioinformatics software development and open science in the biological research community. Michael Thompson’s participation at the Galaxy Admin Training 2020 workshop in Barcelona was supported by this fellowship. Find more information here. I had the opportunity to visit the Barcelona Supercomputing Center (B.S.C) in Spain from 2nd - 6th March 2020 to participate in the Galaxy Admin Training 2020, organized by Galaxy Europe and in partnership with B. [Read More]

OBF travel fellowships update in light of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) 

In light of the current outbreak, we urge everyone to avoid travelling if possible, in order to slow the rate at which the virus spreads to vulnerable people. You may have read that the BCC (BOSC+Galaxy) committee is delaying registration whilst considering the best options. With the next travel fellowship deadline approaching on April 1st, we are issuing slightly different advice regarding the types of applications we’d like to see, compared to previous years. [Read More]

OBF Travel Fellowship 2020: Round 1 and BCC 2020

We are currently accepting applications for the first application round for the OBF Travel Fellowship 2020. This fellowship aims to promote the conference/event participation of attendees who advocate and present their work related to open-source bioinformatics software development and open science in the biological research community. In 2019, a total of 9 applicants received OBF travel fellowships to attend various conferences across the globe to present their work, gain new skills and promote Open Science practices in their respective areas of life science. [Read More]

OBF Travel Fellowship awards for December 2019

Two awardees were chosen during the latest round of the OBF Travel Fellowship program, which closed on December 1, 2019. The program, which started in 2018, provides some travel funding to selected applicants who, by attending events in open source / open science, will help to promote diversity in the community. One of our awardees is Laura Acion from the Instituto de Calculo in Argentina, who will be attending CarpentryCon 2020 (June 29 - July 1 in Madison, WI) and Use R! [Read More]

Global Community Biosummit 2019 @MIT

The Open Bioinformatics Foundation (OBF) sponsors a Travel Fellowship program aimed at increasing diverse participation at events promoting Open Source bioinformatics software development and open science in the biological research community. Arunav Konwar’s participation at Global Community Biosummit (GCBS), 2019 was supported by this fellowship. Find more information here. I recently had the opportunity to attend the Global Community Biosummit (GCBS), which took place between October 11-13 at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge, MA, USA. [Read More]