ANNOUNCEMENT OF THE 5TH CALL FOR STSMs

The Fifth Call for STSM (Short-Term Scientific Mission)-Applications

The COST network “AQUAGAMETE” is pleased to announce the 5^th call for STSM applications. We encourage all potential applicants to consider the objectives of AQUAGAMETE and to apply according to the STSM guidelines (see COST Vademecum).

The deadline for applications is 20^th of November 2014.

The applications will be evaluated by the assessment panel until 30^th of November 2014. The missions, which are approved for funding in that call, have to be started in the period from 1^st of December 2014 to 31^st of March 2015.

The following documents (in English) are required for a valid application:

1. COST STSM application form submitted via following web site:

https://e-services.cost.eu/w3/index.php?id=91

2. Project proposal with details on the working plan with an indication of the WG(s) and specific objectives of the Action related with their work (see http://aquagamete.webs.upv.es/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/FA1205-MoU.pdf)
3. Financial request justification (how much you expect to spend in travelling, accommodation and meals during your stay);
4. A letter of motivation;
5. A letter of support from the host institution;
6. A short CV including a list of publications and the date of PhD defence (PhD title is not required).

The applications should be submitted to the STSM coordinator (psenicka@frov.jcu.cz) and office of the Chair of COST action Juan F. Asturiano aquagamete@gmail.com.

Notes:
Within 2 weeks after end of the STSM, the grantee is required to send a copy of his/her passport and a short scientific report reviewed and signed by the host to the STSM coordinator. The report, preferably in word format, should contain a summary of the results reached during the visit and a few (2-3) representative pictures, and it should not exceed 300 words. The report will be published at the AQUAGAMETE website.

Each publication produced with support of a STSM has to acknowledge the support of the COST Action. See acknowledgements text section down.

For more information visit the following web site: https://e-services.cost.eu/stsm

Acknowledgements text

Two versions, short (for posters, i.e.) and long (for papers) are proposed:

Partially funded by……./Person A had a grant from… COST Office (Food and Agriculture COST Action FA1205: AQUAGAMETE).

Partially funded by……./Person A had a grant from… COST Office (Food and Agriculture COST Action FA1205:Assessing and improving the quality of aquatic animal gametes to enhance aquatic resources. The need to harmonize and standardize evolving methodologies, and improve transfer from academia to industry; AQUAGAMETE).

Downloadable files:
STSM_5th_call
evaluation_5th_call_STSMs
COST_Vademecum_Part_1
FA1205 MoU

As a result of our 4th call for Short Term Scientific Missions, AQUAGAMETE COST Action will partially fund 17 new stays during the next months.

Researchers will travel from Spain to France (1); Czech Republic to France (2); Czech Republic to Italy (1); Hungary to Spain (1); Spain to Portugal (4); Portugal to Spain (1); Portugal to France (2); Spain to Norway (1); Spain to Israel (1); Spain to Brazil (1); Italy to Norway (1) and Slovenia to Portugal (1).

The 5th call for STSMs is expected to be launched by October 2014.

Announcement

ICES Workshop of a Planning Group on the Monitoring of Eel Quality: “Development of standardized and harmonized protocols for the estimation of eel quality.” (WKPGMEQ)
At INBO, Brussels, Belgium, 20-22 January 2015

The European eel (Anguilla anguilla) stock has been declining for several decades. Pollution by bioaccumulating toxic compounds and the impact of (new) disease agents have been suggested as possible causes for this decline. The ICES WGEEL 2012 stated, that, to improve the assessment of the impact of contaminants and diseases on effective spawner biomass and reproductive success of the European eel, national routine monitoring programmes are urgently required. The WGEEL 2012 and OSPAR recommended Member States to implement routine monitoring of eels for lipid levels, contamination and diseases. They also identified the need to develop standardized and harmonized protocols for the estimation of eel quality. This would create the possibility, to compare national data and to reliably incorporate them into international stock assessments. Measuring contaminant levels in eel relates to the Eel Regulation (Council Regulation No 1100/2007), to the 2013 EC Directive dealing with Priority Substances under the Water Framework Directive (2013/39/EC and 2008/105/EC) and to the Commission Regulation No 1881/2006 setting levels for a number of contaminants in foodstuffs to protect public health, a.o.

The Workshop aims to design standardized and harmonized monitoring protocols, and to facilitate the integration of eel quality parameters in quantitative assessment of the reproductive potential of the stock.

Objectives:
a ) design standardized and harmonized protocols for the estimation of eel quality with regard to the bioaccumulation of contaminants (including sampling, analysis and reporting).
b ) design standardized and harmonized protocols for the estimation of eel quality with regard to diseases (including sampling, analysis and reporting).

A report will be prepared and finalized by 28 February 2015 for the attention of ICES.
Webpage : http://www.ices.dk/community/groups/Pages/WKPGMEQ.aspx

Experts involved in the monitoring, analysis or reporting of contaminants in and/or diseases of the eel are invited to sign up for participation to this workshop by sending an email on their application before 1st of October, 2014 to Claude Belpaire Claude.Belpaire@inbo.be and Olga Haenen Olga.Haenen@wur.nl

The fourth call for STSMs has been announced. Please take a look to the STSM “Calls” section in this website for complete information.

Dear colleagues,

The AQUAGAMETE COST Action (aquagamete.webs.upv.es/web) is pleased to announce the 2^nd AQUAGAMETE Training School.
The 2^nd AQUAGAMETE Training School is aimed towards young researchers (PhD students, young post-docs and MSc students) as well as representatives from industry.

The course will be focused on Molecular basis of fish gamete quality integrating different aspects and covering topics such as:

– Transcriptomic analysis of gamete quality, including practical microarray analysis of gamete quality
– Gamete quality assessment including practical cytometry analysis and embryonic outcome
– Scientific conferences on genomics & toxicogenomics, epigenetics, overview of gamete quality issues in fish and shellfish

The 2^nd AQUAGAMETE Training School will highlight the most recent developments in each topic, promoting a strong interaction between experienced trainers working on different aspects of Molecular basis of fish gamete quality and trainees.

The course will take place between 23^rd – 27^th June 2014 at the INRA Fish Physiology and Genomics laboratory (Rennes, France, http://www6.rennes.inra.fr/lpgp_eng/ ) facilities and counts with the collaboration of IFREMER and University of Lorraine.

The number of participants will be restricted to 16 persons (priority will be given to students and early stage researchers with no experience in Genomics and with a professional project related to gamete quality). Financial support from the AQUAGAMETE COST Action (for travelling, meals, and accommodation, up to 800 euros) will be available for trainees.

Registration is available until de 11^th May and both for students (free registration fee) and for industry representatives (300 euros). It includes access to all lectures and laboratorial practices, and support material.

The laboratory is located on Rennes University campus that is easily accessible by regular bus lines. A list of hotels will be provided to participants.

The application deadline is 11^th May 2014 and complete applications must be sent via e-mail to aquagamete@gmail.com . Eligible candidates will be announced before the end of May. For more detailed information please contact Julien Bobe (Julien.Bobe@rennes.inra.fr).

Applications should include:

• Application form;
• short Curriculum Vitae in the area (only for students);
• motivation letter for participating in the training school, which should indicate the academic/professional status of the applicant;
• letter of recommendation from the applicant’s supervisor or employer
• Financial Support justification (only for students)

We would appreciate if you could forward this announcement via e-mail to colleagues or students who may be interested in participating. More information available soon at:  http://aquagamete.webs.upv.es/

Best regards
Catherine Labbé, Christian Fauvel, Julien Bobe

Downloadable files:
Aquagamete_TSWG1_2014
Application form for training course

AQUAGAMETE COST Action will support 14 new STSMs (Short Term Scientific Missions) during the last three months of its first grant period (March 2013 – May 2014), reaching a total of 31 supported stays.

The granted researchers will travel from Denmark to France (1); Czech Republic to Japan (1); France to Spain (1); Hungary to Spain (1); Czech Republic to France (3); Czech Republic to Spain (1); Spain to Portugal (1); Spain to Slovenia (1); Spain to France (1); Israel to France (1); Portugal to Italy (1) and from Serbia to Hungary (1).

We wish all you a nice trip and a lot of success!

 COST Domain Coomiittee of Food and Agirculture and Action TD1203 are organising a Strategic Workshop on the topic of Food Waste in the European Food Supply Chain: Challenges and Opportunities,in Athens (Greece), 12-13 May 2014, http://www.cost.eu/events/foodwaste .  The draft programme will be soon uploaded on the website.

 We have a Call for Expression of Interest https://forms.cost.eu/food-waste-abstract-submission-form. The call is mostly focused on Early Stage Researchers, <Ph.D.+8 years, but not exclusively. A number of grants will be awarded to the most competitive applications.

The deadline for submission is Friday, 28 February 2014.

The AQUAGAMETE COST Action (http://aquagamete.webs.upv.es/) announces the special session on Biology of Aquatic Species Gametes, which will take place in San Sebastián (Spain) in October 2014, within the Aquaculture Europe 2014 Conference.

Researchers are invited to submit their abstracts (for posters or oral communications) before May 1st, following the indications published in the Conference website (http://www.easonline.org/component/content/article/39-uncategorised/259-aquaculture-europe-2014). Early Stage Researchers (ESR) are especially encouraged to participate.

Looking forward to meet you there,

Dr. Juan F. Asturiano (Action Chair)
Dr. Ákos Horváth (Action Vice-Chair)

The third call for STSMs has been announced by the coordinator, Dr. Martin Psenicka. Please take a look to the STSM section in this website for complete information.

Last week Víctor Gallego defended his Doctoral Thesis, entitled “Sperm physiology and quality in two marine teleosts: Anguilla anguilla & Takifugu niphobles”, on different aspects related to eel and pufferfish sperm and supervised by Dr. Juan F. Asturiano, in the Universitat Politècnica de València, Spain.

The court was formed by Dr. Olvido Chereguini (President), from the Instituto Español de Oceanografía, Dr. Elsa Cabrita (secretary), from the University of Algarve (Portugal), and Dr. Alicia Felip from the Instituto de Acuicultura de Torre de la Sal (CSIC).  He obtained the highest mark.

Víctor has enjoyed an FPI grant from the Spanish MICINN and a previous grant from the UPV.

The final document is a compendium of 5 previously published articles (in Aquaculture and Theriogenology), with an introduction and general discussion, and its pdf can be downloaded here: PhD Thesis (Victor Gallego).

Congratulations, Dr. Gallego!