FoVea Travel and Networking Award

The FoVea 2017 Award Recipients can be found here. 

Females of Vision et al. (FoVea) is excited to announce its inaugural round of the FoVea Travel and Networking Award, funded by National Science Foundation. Submissions are due on February 20, 2017.

The FoVea Travel and Networking Award is open to female members of the Vision Science Society (VSS) in pre-doctoral, post-doctoral, and pre-tenure faculty or research scientist positions. Up to 5 female vision scientists will be awarded $1,600 to cover costs involved in attending the 2017 VSS meeting, including membership fees, conference registration fees, and travel expenses.

FoVea created this award as part of its mission to advance the visibility, impact, and success of women in vision science. A recent report from Cooper and Radonjić (2016) indicated that in 2015, the ratio of women to men in VSS was near equal at the pre-doctoral level (1:1.13), but decreased as career stage increased. The decline is symptomatic of forces that impede the professional development of female vision scientists. A key aspect of professional development is building a professional network to support scientific pursuits and to provide mentorship at critical junctions in one’s academic career. The FoVea Travel and Networking Award will help female vision scientists build their professional network by encouraging them to meet with at least one Networking Target at the VSS meeting to discuss their research and consider potential for collaboration. The Networking Target(s) can be of any gender.

The goals of the FoVea Travel and Networking award are to:

  1. Increase the visibility of women by giving them the opportunity to meet and have a one-on-one discussion with a senior scientist(s) at the meeting.
  2. Increase the productivity of women by potentially stimulating collaborative research with the Networking Target(s).
  3. Increase the networking skills of women, both those who apply for, and win the awards, and those who peruse the written reports of awardees on the FoVea website.
  4. Allow excellent female vision scientists who might not otherwise be able to attend the conference to afford it.
  5. Give awards that can be listed on female vision scientists’ CVs thereby enhancing their professional profile.

Application Instructions

Applicants are asked to email the following materials to Karen Schloss at by February 20, 2017. All application related emails should include “FoVea Award 2017” and the applicant’s name it the subject line. The CV, proposal, and letter of agreement from the Networking Target must be combined into a single PDF. The letter of recommendation should be sent in a separate email.

Application materials

  1. CV
  2. A proposal describing the applicant’s plan to network with at least one senior scientist during the VSS 2017 meeting (750 word limit). The plan should include an explanation for why the applicant chose this(these) particular Networking Target(s), a plan for what topics she will discuss with her Networking Target(s) during the meeting, and a statement of how she hopes forging a relationship with the Networking Target(s) will help advance her research/career agenda.
  3. A letter of agreement from the senior scientist(s) named as the Networking Target(s). Networking Targets can be of any gender.
  4. A letter of recommendation from the applicant’s advisor, research supervisor, or department head. Please include the applicant’s name in the subject line of the submission email.

Awardees will agree to write a report on their networking methods and outcomes after the conference by July 1st, 2017. FoVea will post these reports on its website within 9 months of the conference.

Eligibility

Applicants must be a female vison scientist who is a graduate student, postdoctoral fellow, research scientist (non-tenure track), or junior faculty member (pre-tenure).

Review Process

Applications will be reviewed by a committee consisting of three members of the VSS community with Karen Schloss as Chair. Awards will be announced in mid March.

FoVea Committee: Diane Beck, Mary Peterson, Karen Schloss, and Allison Sekuler