Latin American Lichenologists at IAL9

(versión en español abajo)

Dear Lichenologists

We are very excited to let you know that we raised $2,760.00 through our GoFundMe Campaign to sponsor Latin American Lichenologists participating in the IAL9! Unfortunately, as you all know, this international event had to be postponed in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic. The IAL9 organizing committee recently announced that the IAL9 will take place this August 2021 as a 100% online conference. We all regret that this experience will not be the same as an in-person meeting, but we believe that students and professionals from Latin America will nevertheless still be thrilled to participate. Because the IAL9 will be online-only, registration fees have substantially been reduced.
The good news is that this will allow us to sponsor at least 20 Latin American Lichenologists to attend IAL9, many for the first time in their lives!

To apply, click here: https://forms.gle/Ce48skTZ55z8Ep1aA

Eligibility: Latin American Students and Professionals (at any level)

With the questionnaire above you can apply to receive our Latin American Lichenologist Scholarship. Any student or professional lichenologists from Latin American countries is eligible.
For your application we need some basic information (your contact email, name, the institution where you work/study, the country you are from). We also need to know what type of participation are aiming for: do you plan to only participate or will you be presenting a poster, a lighting talk or a regular talk?
We anticipate that more than 20 candidates will apply and we will have a committee of professional lichenologists decide who wins our scholarship based on your answers to the following three questions (please be as brief and succinct as possible):

What is your principal research interest in lichens and what does your work focus on?
As outlined above any lichenologists from Latin America is eligible, but in assessing your application we would like to sponsor a wide range of interests and talents.

Why would you like to attend IAL9?
Choosing between applicants based on their qualification and research alone can be challenging. We would like to know, what particularly excites you about the IAL9? Why do you want to attend?

Who would you like to meet during the IAL9? Why?
Big international scientific events are much about networking, getting to know one another, having the opportunity to meet and exchange ideas.
Perhaps as a professional you would like to meet someone "in person"? Someone with whom you have already collaborated or someone with whom you would want to work in the future?
As a student perhaps you have a role-model, someone whose research you admire?
Meeting people at this IAL9 will of course only be virtual, but the organizing committee nevertheless plans several events that are not just formal presentations and conferencing. During "Happy Hours" there will be ample opportunity to informally meet, discuss and exchange ideas.

We very much hope that despite the unusual online format of this IAL9 we will nevertheless have a great international meeting of lichenologists for the first time "virtually" in Latin America.
And we do all invite lichenologists worldwide to attend. With the GoFundMe campaign we are very excited to be able to support lichenologists from Latin America.

This scholarship would not have been possible with the very generous support of the following donors:
Adam Flakus, Adriano Spielmann, Carlos Pardo De la Hoz, Carroll Steger, Catherine Anderson, Daniel Stanton, Daphne Stone, Elea Asselineau, François Lutzoni, Frank Bungartz, Freda Chapman, Gisela Ziemmeck, Harald Komposch, James Honeycutt, Jennifer Rycenga, John Villella, Karsten Mohr, Katherine Drotos, Keith Gostel, Manu Dal Forno, Nicolas Magain, Nicole Gunter, Northwest Lichenologists, Paul Bungartz, Robert Klips and FIVE anonymous donors.

DISCLAIMER:
All our donors very generously gave us money to support Latin American Lichenologists. In our original campaign, we outlined that this financial support would be used to attend the IAL9 in Brazil via travel grants. Nobody at the time could have anticipated that a global pandemic was to strike soon, which would make in-person events difficult or impossible. It was a very difficult decision to move the event entirely online, but we assure your funds are still being used for the exact same purpose, supporting attendance of the IAL9 by Latin American Lichenologists. This still agrees with the original fundraising terms of our GoFundMe campaign.

Thank you all very much and please share this application widely on social media and with anybody you think might be interested in applying.

See you online soon,

Manuela Dal Forno and Frank Bungartz

_____________________________________________

Estimados Liquenólogos,

Con gran alegría comunicamos que recaudamos $2,760.00 dólares americanos gracias a nuestra campaña de GoFundMe que servirá para el soporte financiero para que Liquenólogos de América Latina puedan participar en el IAL9!

Lamentablemente, como saben, nuestro evento fue postergado desde el 2020 dada la pandemia del nuevo coronavirus. El comité de organización del IAL9 acaba de anunciar que el evento se llevará a cabo virtualmente como un congreso 100% en línea en el próximo agosto del presente año. Lamentamos profundamente que por ahora no podamos reunirnos personalmente en Brasil; y aunque estemos conscientes de que no es la misma experiencia, esperamos una gran adhesión de estudiantes y liquenólogos profesionales. Dado que nuestro congreso se hará únicamente en línea nos fue posible reducir sustancialmente los gastos de registración.
A esta buena noticia se añade que dados los precios reducidos, podremos apoyar por lo menos 20 Liquenólogos de América Latina para su participación en el IAL9, ¡muchos de los cuales participarán por la primera vez en sus vidas!

Para aplicar haga clic aquí: https://forms.gle/Ce48skTZ55z8Ep1aA

Elegibilidad: Estudiantes y Profesionales de América Latina (cualquier nivel)

Con el cuestionario arriba pueden aplicar para la Beca de Liquenólogos de América Latina cualquier estudiante o liquenólogo profesional de los países en América Latina.
Para su solicitud necesitaremos algunas informaciones básicas, tales como su correo electrónico, su nombre, su institución de adscripción, y el país de donde proviene. Además, necesitaremos saber cómo participará en el congreso, ¿ presentará usted un póster, una charla flash, o una charla regular?
Anticipamos que más de 20 candidatos solicitarán la beca. Por ello, un comité de liquenólogos profesionales eligirán los ganadores de la beca con base en sus respuestas a las siguientes preguntas (por favor respóndelas lo más breve y sucinamente posible):

¿Cuál es su principal interés con los líquenes y cuál es el enfoque actual de su investigación?
Aunque cualquier Liquenólogo de América Latina sea bienvenido a solicitar la beca, queremos asegurarnos de que apoyaremos a un rango amplio de intereses y talentos.

¿Porque desea usted atender a el IAL9?
Diferenciar a las solicitudes basadas únicamente en su calificación y tipo de investigación puede resultar difícil. Por ello, desearíamos saber ¿qué exactamente le parece lo más interesante sobre el IAL9? ¿Cuál es la principal razón por la que desea atender?

¿ A quién quisieras conocer en el simposio IAL9? ¿Por qué?
Eventos científicos de grande porte conlleva establecer redes de contactos, vincularse con sus colegas, tener la oportunidad de reunirse e intercambiar ideas.
Quizás como liquenólogo profesional ¿desee usted conocer a alguien "personalmente"? Alguien con quien ¿ya tiene alguna colaboración establecido o alguien con quien le gustaría trabajar en el futuro?
Como estudiante ¿tal vez busque un ejemplo a seguir?, ¿alguien por quien tenga mucha admiración por el tipo de investigación que conduce?
Reunirse con gente en este IAL9 se hará de manera únicamente virtual, pero el comité de organización tiene planificado diversos eventos menos formales, además de presentaciones y conferencias, para facilitar dichas interacciones. Asií, planeamos proveer varias oportunidades de reunirse informalmente para discutir e intercambiar ideas.

Estamos seguros de que no obstante el formato inusual del IAL9, con toda la reunión haciéndose exclusivamente en-línea, tendremos un congreso internacional excepcional – una IAL por la primera vez "virtual" en América Latina.
¡Invitamos a todos los liquenólogos del mundo a atender! Con la campaña de GoFundMe estamos bien emocionados en proveer soporte financiero para liquenólogos de toda América Latina.

Esta campaña nos fue posible solamente gracias al generoso soporte de los siguientes donantes: Adam Flakus, Adriano Spielmann, Carlos Pardo De la Hoz, Carroll Steger, Catherine Anderson, Daniel Stanton, Daphne Stone, Elea Asselineau, François Lutzoni, Frank Bungartz, Freda Chapman, Gisela Ziemmeck, Harald Komposch, James Honeycutt, Jennifer Rycenga, John Villella, Karsten Mohr, Katherine Drotos, Keith Gostel, Manu Dal Forno, Nicolas Magain, Nicole Gunter, Northwest Lichenologists, Paul Bungartz, Robert Klips y cinco donantes anónimos.

DESCARGO DE RESPONSIBILIDAD:
Todos los donantes generosamente contribuyeron a nuestra campaña para el soporte de Liquenólogos en América Latina. En el anuncio original de la campaña especificábamos que utilizaríamos el dinero exclusivamente para becas de viaje y registración para el IAL9 en Brasil. En esta época nadie pudo anticipar una pandemia global, un desastre que significa que es casi imposible organizar este congreso físicamente. Era una decisión sumamente difícil organizar el congreso exclusivamente virtual. Todavía el objetivo de su donación original no ha cambiado; todavía utilizaremos el dinero exclusivamente para el soporte de Liquenólogos en América Latina, para su participación virtual en el IAL9 – de acuerdo con el objetivo original de nuestra campaña GoFundMe.

Muchísimas gracias a todos. Por favor les pedimos distribuyan este anuncio ampliamente con cualquier persona que pueda estar interesada en aplicar a la beca.

Nos vemos en línea,

Manuela Dal Forno & Frank Bungartz



ORIGINAL TEXT:

This is a crowdfunding initiative dedicated to help Latin American Students and Professionals attend the 9th Symposium of International Association for Lichenology (IAL9) in Bonito, Brazil, August 2-7, 2020 (https://doity.com.br/ial9/).

BACKGROUND:
For the first time ever an International Symposium of Lichenology will now take place in Latin America !!!
This is a unique opportunity for lichenologists from Latin America to meet their colleagues from all across the world.

Lichens are beautiful and unique organisms that are ecologically enormously important, but often neglected. Lichenologists are scientists, who study these organisms. Particularly in the Tropics, the biodiversity of lichens is enormous, but still very poorly understood.

Photo above: The beautiful Teloschistes chrysophthalmus on a twig of the small tree Zanthoxyllum fagara in the Galapagos Islands, Ecuador.

Unfortunately the economic situation in Latin America is dire. Most universities on the South American continent are chronically underfunded. The political situation is difficult. Almost daily another country from Latin America is in the news - and all too often it is bad news!

For most students and even for academic professionals, it is almost impossible to raise the funds to attend international conferences - even if these take place in Latin America!
This means scientists from rich countries still dominate the field and professionals from Latin America are too often left out, not because of bad intentions, but caused by the lack of financial resources.

International conferences like the IAL9 are enormously important venues for networking. Scientists meet face-to-face, present and discuss their research results, develop new ideas and start collaborations. Bringing Latin American students and professionals into this community, have them participate in presentations and discussions is fundamentally important - a crucial aspect of Knowledge Transfer to Latin America.

With the money raised here we will sponsor competitive scholarships that will financially support Latin American students and professionals to travel to and attend the IAL9.