***NOTE: Announcement about the ISCEP program for 2024 will be sent April or May of 2023.***

The International Statistical Genetics (ISG) workshop and the Institute for Behavioral Genetics (IBG) is proud to announce its first ever International Scholar and Cultural Exchange Program (ISCEP). ISCEP will fund two to three statistical/behavioral/human genetics researchers from developing countries to attend the ISG workshop each year, held in Boulder, CO the first week of March, and to collaborate and consult with researchers at the Institute for Behavioral Genetics at the University of Colorado, Boulder the 2 weeks following the workshop. The ISCEP scholarship covers all eligible costs (airfare, hotel, registration fee, meal per diem, and visa fees) for the recipients' stay. This is an excellent opportunity to learn cutting-edge statistical genetics techniques from leaders in the field, to form connections and collaborations with researchers at the Institute for Behavioral Genetics, and to serve as a cultural and intellectual ambassador for your country of origin.

Scholarship recipients would first attend the ISG workshop the first week of March in Boulder, CO. The ISG workshop has been held yearly since 1987. It has served as one of the most important gateways to the fields of behavioral and quantitative genetics, having trained many current leaders in these fields, and the ~3,000 registrants who have attended the workshop make up a disproportionate number of authors on papers from the field (Maes, 2021). 

Scholarship recipients would then stay in Boulder, CO an extra week after the workshop, applying the skills they have learned at the workshop on real data by collaborating with a lab at IBG. More information on IBG can be found at its website (https://www.colorado.edu/ibg/). Scholarship recipients would choose from among several possible projects and would work closely with faculty, postdocs, and graduate students on it. Recipients would also be expected to give a talk to the IBG community introducing the state of genetics research in their home country and describing their previous research and future directions.

The ISCEP scholarship has been made possible by a generous donation from Regeneron Pharmaceuticals.

 

To be eligible to apply, applicants must meet the following criteria:

  • Be a national of, and currently reside in, a lower middle income or low-income country, as defined by per capita GNI (see Table E here: https://www.un.org/en/development/desa/policy/wesp/wesp_current/2014wesp_country_classification.pdf)
  • Be able to demonstrate that attendance at the ISG workshop would present a financial hardship to the attendee and/or their institution
  • Have a bachelor's degree or higher, and be a graduate student or currently working in a field related to human genetics, behavioral genetics, or statistical genetics.
  • Have an intermediate or better proficiency in the English language, suitable to be able to function successfully at the ISG workshop and in collaboration with IBG researchers.
  • Have proof of COVID vaccination status that meets the requirements to fly to the U.S. (see https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/travelers/proof-of-vaccination.html)
  • Currently have a passport valid through October 2023 or beyond, or will be able to receive one prior to travel to the U.S.
  • Be able to pay a $220 U.S. i901 visa fee. (Note: this fee must be paid by the candidate, but would be reimbursed later by the ISCEP program).

 

To apply for the 2025 ISCEP program, please fill out all information at the following site: https://forms.gle/VG3yF6NrWBkyYHA58