News

Antibiotics Unearthed applications are open

After two successful years of running our citizen science project, Antibiotics Unearthed, we would like to invite members to apply for the 2017 programme. Applications are now open to run either the Undergraduate Programme, the School Partnership, or both! There is a broad scope to how the programme can fit into your teaching course structure – it could be as an additional afterschool programme, embedded into the curriculum, or anything in between. A profile of a teacher who has carried out the programme for the past two years can be found in the Schoolzone section of this issue. Further details about the programmes and how to apply can be found on the Antibiotics Unearthed pages. 

Microbiome Research Stakeholder Workshops

Last autumn, the Society’s Policy team held five successful Microbiome Research Stakeholder Workshops across the UK and Ireland. The multidisciplinary workshops collectively connected around 160 stakeholders, including scientists, representatives from industry, and government departments and agencies. Participants discussed potential opportunities of exploring and exploiting microbiomes in humans, animals, plants and the environment. Also covered were the scientific, regulatory and public issues that need to be addressed to deliver on these opportunities. The outputs from these meetings are helping to inform the development of a report for policy audiences about microbiome research and innovation, led by our Microbiome Expert Working Group. For more information about the project, visit our website or contact our Policy Officer ([email protected]).

2017 Society events

This year the Society is organising a variety of Focused Meetings, with topics ranging from agricultural and food security to the importance of a One Health approach. Our Annual Conference is taking place in Edinburgh in only two months’ time, although there is still time to register. For more information on our events for the year, please see the Annual Conference and Focused Meetings articles in this edition.

Record number of abstract submissions for Annual Conference 2017

Receiving over 600 abstracts for the Annual Conference last year was a great achievement, but the Microbiology Society is delighted to announce that there was a record number of over 900 abstracts submitted for our 2017 Conference. Thank you to everyone who submitted their work, and congratulations to those who were accepted.

If your research was accepted, why not read our ‘how-to’ guides on how to give poster and oral presentations? Both can also be viewed on the ‘Abstracts’ tab of the Annual Conference 2017 web page.

More members at the Society

We’ve good news – Society membership rose 15% in 2016 to 4,500 members. Most new members join as a result of a recommendation or referral from current members, so a large part of this growth can be directly attributed to you. A huge thank-you for helping to spread the word among your colleagues, students and friends – it clearly works! 

And don’t forget, we have resources on the website to help you tell others about the Society – posters for the noticeboard, slides to drop into a PowerPoint presentation, and literature explaining our grants offerings.

If you have any suggestions or requests for additional support, we would be delighted to hear from you. Please email Paul Easton, Head of Membership Services, at [email protected].

Microbiology Society journals

2017 brings plenty of news to share from our publishing arm. The Society’s Journal of General Virology turns 50 years old this year, and we are pleased to welcome two new Co-Editors-in-Chief to Journal of Medical Microbiology. Two of our journals are also changing their article types, and our newest journal, Microbial Genomics, has partnered with Microreact – a free data visualisation tool. Find out more in this issue.

Do you have what it takes to be a Society Champion?

If you’re passionate about microbiology and enjoy sharing this passion with friends and colleagues, why not consider becoming a Society Champion? Champions help us spread the word in a variety of ways, and in return receive Society support to extend and deepen their relationship with us. If you’re serious about microbiology and want to do that little bit more for the Society, we’d love to hear from you. Find out more by contacting Paul Easton, Head of Membership Services.

 

Deaths

The Society is sad to announce the death of Professor Sir Patrick Sissons, who joined the Society in 1982.

Please contact [email protected] if you wish to notify the Society of the death of a member whose details can be included in this section.

Antibiotics Unearthed poster session at Annual Conference

This year’s Annual Conference will host a poster session dedicated to our 2016 Antibiotics Unearthed School Partnerships and Undergraduate Programmes, taking place on Monday 3 April. Accompanying their posters will be some of the secondary school students and undergraduates involved in last year’s programmes. Please give them a warm welcome as for some of them, especially the school students, this will be their first taste of an international science conference.

Grant deadlines

Date	Grant
1 March 2017	Travel Grants – for eligible members wishing to present at a conference or attend a short course between 1 April and 30 June 2017.
31 March 2017	ECM Forum Event Fund – for ECM members wishing to host a local event from 1 May onwards.
1 April 2017	Research Visit Grants – for eligible members wishing to visit a collaborator from 1 June onwards.
	Education and Outreach Grants – for members wishing to conduct a microbiology teaching, outreach or public engagement activity from 1 June onwards.
	International Development Fund – for eligible members wishing to contribute to microbiology development activities in low-income economy countries from 1 June onwards.
3 May 2017	Society Conference Grants – for eligible members wishing to attend the 33rd International Symposium on Yeasts (ISSY33) in Cork, Ireland.

Contributions and feedback

The Society welcomes contributions and feedback from members. Please contact [email protected] with your ideas.

Benjamin Thompson

Head of Communications
[email protected]