SAFE Labs

CNIDevoLab_2025: We encourage all lab members to seek and apply for training opportunities to develop new expertise and networking, and we values initiatives to disseminate the lab research at conferences or outreach events. Depending on funding availability and specific circumstances, we aim at providing one opportunity per year to each lab members – this of course remains as a rule of thumb and strategies will be discussed case by case.

We expect lab members to discuss their intentions prior to applying to any event, in order to define priorities, agree on the budget and the eventual work that will be disseminated. We consider conferences and courses as an enriching opportunity, and we expect any lab member attending such an event to make the best use of it. Also for this reason, in general we encourage lab members to present their scientific results, even if of course several factors need to be considered, such as the stage of the project.

Individual fellowships might include an additional budget for conferences and courses, but in general we provide equal travelling opportunities to lab all members. We encourage lab members to seek for additional funding in order to cover the costs, and to behave responsibly with regard to travel expenses.

OttLab_2025: Conferences are an important part of your science life. Let me know if you want to attend a conference in advance. As a graduate student your goal is to attend 1-2 international conferences to present your work (poster or talk). This is typically during the second half of your thesis. Your graduate program might support conference registration and/or travel costs when you present. For postdocs networking becomes another important aspect. I support about one international conference per year (if funding permits). Make use of Berlin’s and Germany’s local conferences! The threshold for attending these is much lower. Let me know if you want to attend. After the conference, share a particular exciting talk/poster/insight from the conference at the next lab meeting as your update!

ReinhardLab_2025: Attendance at conferences is a crucial part of science to build networks, to learn about new fields, the obtain the latest updates, to disseminate results and to find new positions. Lab members are encouraged to attend conferences – conference attendance time is work time! As a rule of thumb, lab members should present at least a poster if they want to attend a conference, but exceptions can be discussed. PhD candidates and postdocs are also requested to plan ahead far enough so that there is time to apply for travel grants. Details can be found as well in section “Equal access to resources”.

RossiLab_2025: I encourage all lab members to seek and apply for training opportunities to learn new expertise, and values initiative to disseminate the lab research at conferences.

TRAINING/SCHOOLS: I support both PhD students and postdoctoral researchers to apply and attend at least one competitive training school during their tenure in the lab. I will sponsor applications (e.g. with recommendation letters) to these initiatives when they align with a project interest or planned career development. Expression of interested must be communicated in time to apply for travel grants/fees waivers, and in any case 1 month in advance. When funds are available, and application to fees waivers are not successful, the lab will cover the costs.

CONFERENCES: I encorage PhD students and postdoctoral researchers to attend at least 1 conference per year to disseminate our work, learn the state of the art in the field, and expand our networks. To sponsor and finance conference attendances, I require lab members to submit an abstract and present at least a poster. Exceptions to this rule can be allowed on the first year of tenure in the lab, but must be discussed on a case by case basis. Each postdoctoral researcher and PhD student has a budget of £1000 per year to attend conferences/workshops/symposia. This can be accumulated across years if that is the preference, and can be used for one expensive conference or multiple inexpensive conferences. If lab members have additional funds through grants or their PhD programme, these can be used in addition to the £1000 annual budget. Federico is happy to make an exception to this rule and provide extra funds if allowed by current grants, and an excellent opportunity arises (e.g. a unique conference, an invitation to give a prestigious talk) that would exceed this budget, but lab members should discuss with Federico before making any commitments.

Research assitants, master’s students and undergraduates are also encouraged to attend conferences if they have work to present. They should discuss these opportunities in advance with Federico. Often, there are grants available from conference organisers to support attendance, and if this is not the case, or the application for funds is unsuccessful, I will consider funding attendance on a case-by-case basis.

TreurLab_2025: The full document is still under construction, but as an example some snippets are provided here:

For PhD students, relevant courses can be followed through the Amsterdam UMC Doctoral school but there are also other (inter)national options. We will decide together with you which courses are the most useful (and there needs to be sufficient budget available). Some possible options are the summer the International Statistical Genetics Workshop in Boulder, or short courses in Population Health Sciences at Bristol Medical School.

Scientific conferences that we often attend and may be interesting for you to present your research at are the annual conference of the Behavior Genetics Association (BGA) (the BGA will be in Amsterdam in 2026), the annual meeting of the World Congress of Psychiatric Genetics, and the Mendelian randomization conference in Bristol. Other than that, there may be many different possible conferences more focused on your topic of research that could be interesting. Please feel free to share with the group when you come across potentially interesting conferences.

We encourage everyone to apply for grant opportunities that allow you to fund your own trip, for instance this one for PhD students at Amsterdam UMC. This will increase (y)our budget to attend workshops and it is great practice to try and obtain some small grants early on in your career!

RadzisheuskayaLab_2025: I encourage all lab members to participate in conferences and courses. If you find a conference or course that interests you, please feel free to discuss the possibility of attending with me.

However, our travel budget is quite limited, as is typical for junior labs. Attending a national conference on a yearly basis is usually feasible, but large international conferences tend to be more expensive. Therefore, you should expect to attend an international conference approximately once every three years. If you’d like to attend more frequently, you can seek additional funding through ICR student, postdoc, and SO associations, or professional societies such as Genetics or Biochemistry.

We will decide if presenting at conferences is appropriate based on the status of your project.

If you travel abroad for business purposes, contact HR in advance to obtain travel insurance information.

CoenLab_2025:

Conference attendance Each postdoctoral researcher and PhD student has an annual budget of £1000 to attend conferences. This can be accumulated across years if that is the preference, and can be used for one expensive conference or multiple inexpensive conferences. Lab members should discuss their conference plans with me before committing to attend a particular meeting. Lab members do not need to present anything when attending their first conference after joining the lab, but should present at any future conferences, or organize a workshop/symposium, if they are planning to attend. If lab members have additional funds through grants or their PhD programme, these can be used in addition to the £1000 annual budget. I am happy to make an exception to this rule and provide extra funds if allowed by current grants, and an excellent opportunity arises that would exceed this budget (e.g. a unique conference, an invitation to give a prestigious talk). Lab members are encouraged to supplement this funding with applications to grants, either from the conference itself (e.g. fee waivers for new attendees), or from external sources.

Master’s students, undergraduates, and lab technicians are also encouraged to attend conferences if they have work to present. They should discuss these opportunities in advance with me. Often, there are grants available from conference organisers to support attendance, and if this is not the case, or the application for funds is unsuccessful, I will consider funding attendance on a case-by-case basis.

Summer schools and courses: Typically, I expect both PhD students and postdoctoral researchers to attend a competitive training school and/or a conference by the end of their second year in the lab. The lab will support applications (e.g. with recommendation letters) to these initiatives when they align with a project or planned career development. When funds are available, and application to fees waivers are not successful, the lab will cover the costs for at least one such opportunity. Some courses that can help to develop the experimental and computational skills we use in the lab include:

AeryJonesLab_2026:

• Every lab member can travel to present at one conference per year. If you want attend more than one conference in a single year or travel to a conference without presenting something, discuss with me so we can determine how we can fund your travel in a way that’s fair to other lab members. These trips are fully funded; I only support travel if I can reimburse 100% of transportation, meals, and hotels.
• Each lab member can attend 1 major external workshop during their time in lab (e.g. Neuromatch) with a tuition budget of about $1000 per person. Tuition for additional courses will be considered on a case-by-case basis.