• The BSDB committee invites self-nominations for a new post graduate representative. Please, include a short text (max. 1 page) explaining your motivation and intentions to serve on the committee. Deadline will be 1 June 2015.
• The BSDB has newly announced the Cheryll Tickle award for women in their mid-scientific career (~ 15 years post PhD). The Nomination deadline will be 1 July 2015.
• Similarly, the Waddington Medal nomination deadline will be 1 August 2015, and nominations for outstanding candidates are being invited.
• Finally, the BSDB is approaching its 70^th anniversary in 2018. We are concerned that documents of the pioneer days might get lost with increasing numbers of older BSDB members approaching retirement. Please, let us know if you have old documents including old newsletter (we currently can’t trace back further than 2^nd half of 1999). We will make sure that such documents are being stored and/or digitalised and kept for future research. Furthermore, we would like to reconstruct the list of BSDB chairs starting from the inaugural meeting. Any help with this would be most welcome. Just contact Andreas Prokop under comms@bsdb.org.

BSDB members are encouraged to voice their opinion about the importance of Developmental Biology. A great opportunity is now provided by The Node.  They started a debate documented as a Storify based on the following rationale:

“In the current climate of budget constraints and political pressure there is a noticeable shift in the type of science preferred by funders, with funding increasingly going to projects with clear translational potential. Developmental biology is a basic science, but it feeds into our understanding of disease and regenerative medicine. But do funders recognise this? In other words: Is Developmental Biology at risk because of the increasing emphasis on applied science?”

We encourage you to participate in this debate. If you want to leave comments, just go to the Blog post or tweet your opinion copying @the_Node in.  Contributions will reveal an insight into the current thoughts within our community but also provide arguments and facts that can be used for a science communication and outreach campaign promoting Developmental Biology, as it was decided by the BSDB committee on its last meeting.

End of March is the application deadline for the Gurdon Studentship scheme. This scheme provides financial support to allow highly motivated undergraduate students an opportunity to engage in practical research during their summer vacation. We look for students with a strong academic record and clear career vision, who have taken the initiative to establish contacts with a research laboratory where they can perform projects in the area of Developmental Biology. We expect this experience to enrich and complement their portfolio of expertise and to inspire them to pursue a career in research.

In 2014, 10 successful applicants spent 8 weeks in the research laboratories of their choices, and the feedback we received was outstanding. Please, read the student reports kindly sent to us by Benedetta Carbone, George Choa and George Hunt.

Note added in August 2015: Michelle started a postdoc position in the group of Jenny Morton in Cambridge