PeerJ Awards at the 5th World Conference on Marine Biodiversity

PeerJ is delighted to sponsor four awards for scientific communication by Early Career Researchers at this year’s 5th World Conference on Marine Biodiversit y. Due to the global coronavirus pandemic the conference will be held virtually, heightening the importance of clear, concise and engaging research communication. PeerJ will also be publishing a Research Collection stemming from the meeting – you can read more here.

Two awards will be awarded for spoken presentations and two for e-posters. Due to the focus on the quality of communication, even preliminary research made fascinating by its engaging presentation may win. The design and delivery of e-posters and talks is critical, and the winners will provide examples for how scientists might improve research communication in a conference setting. The winners of the awards will be chosen by members of the Conference Scientific Committee.

Please notify the Committee of WCMB2020 (wcmb2020@auckland.ac.nz) if you wish to be considered for an award. All students are eligible, as are people within two years of completing their MSc or PhD.

The winners will have their work highlighted on the PeerJ Blog and will receive a free publication in PeerJ Life & Environment (subject to peer review). The WCMB will also refund the winners’ conference registration fee.

The year 2020 is particularly significant for Marine Biodiversity research, being a deadline for both Convention on Biological Diversity Aichi Targets and UN Sustainable Development Goals , including SDG 14 on the oceans, and is a starting point for 2030 goals and the UN Decade of the Oceans .

As part of work to deepen our relationship with the Marine Biology and Biodiversity research community, PeerJ is looking to discuss new publishing ideas with societies and professional associations in this area. If you are interested please contact our Communities Team . We are also keen to recruit new researchers of Marine Biodiversity (and more widely Aquatic Biology) to our Editorial Board. If you are a PI or have authored 25 peer reviewed publications and you wish to be considered for PeerJ Life & Environment’s Editorial Board please contact us .

We look forward to featuring the award winners on the blog.