IMPRS Events 2015

Monday: Lectures and practical application Jon Wright: The conceptual context of characterizing multivariate phenotypes, genotypes and functional units Niels Dingemanse: The evolutionary ecology of multivariate phenotypes Dirk Metzel: A comparison of Bayesian vs Frequentist vs approaches in statistics Alastair Wilson: Multivariate quantitative genetics. Partitioning correlations within vs. between individuals, and between-individual correlations in G and PE. Implementation of exploratory factor analysis in multivariate mixed models. Modelling platform: ASREML/R or MCMCglmm Geir Bolstad: Demonstration of R-package “evolvability” - tools for understanding multivariate genetic variation and effects on rates and directions of evolution Tuesday: Lectures and practical application Yimen Araya-Ajoy: Multi-level multivariate phenotypic variation (i.e. within vs. between individuals) Geir Bolstad: Analyses of allometry; Random regressions in ontogenetic allometry, relationships between ontogenetic, static, and evolutionary allometry. Ned Dochtermann: Multivariate hypothesis testing: when to use confirmatory factor analysis vs. PCA, path analyses and Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) Wednesday: excursion Thursday: Student Introductory Presentations + Working on own data Friday: Working on own data + Student presentations of preliminary results Speaker Prof. Jonathan Wright, Dr. Geir Hysing Bolstad, Dr. Thor Harald Ringsby and Dr. Irja Ratikainen (Centre for Biodiversity Dynamics, Norwegian University of Science and Technology), Prof. Ned. A. Dochtermann (North Dakota State University), Dr. Alastair Wilson (University of Exeter), Prof. Dr. Dirk Metzler (Ludwig Maximilians University of Munich), Prof. Niels J. Dingemanse, PhD-candidate Yimen Araya-Ajoy (Max Planck Institute for Ornithology) [more]

day 1: LM Linear Regression, multiple Regression ANOVA, ANCOVA (least-square method, parameterisation, interactions, tests (marginal and sequential), model selection, model assumptions, predictions, introduction to Bayesian data analysis); day 2: LME linear mixed models (maximum likelihood, restricted maximum likelihood, random and fixed effects, likelihood ratio test / bootstrap, random slopes-random intercept models, evt. further model types depending on the participants wishes); day 3: LME (model matrix, simulating posterior distributions of model parameters, predictions, posterior probabilities of hypotheses, preparing data for work on own data); day 4: work on own data and presentations. Prerequisite for participation: Basic knowledge in R programming is required. Particularly, it is assumed that you are familiar with working with the R Console and an editor, reading the data and producing the most common graphics (histogram, scatterplot, boxplot). [more]

Being a scientist means one must have many skills and talents – intimidatingly so sometimes. And writing papers is one of the most important ones. It’s the currency into which we turn our research and also the most important means for the community to judge us by. Luckily, like most aspects of science it’s a skill that we can improve and this course will help you with this. We will spend a couple of very intensive days together, where we will use your own paper in progress, interspersed with other exercises, such as writing an abstract for a Nature paper, and lots of discussion to help you detect your own weaknesses and work on them in a peer review approach. Together we will identify what makes a paper good and how to structure it properly. We will think about the differences between scientific language compared to other forms of writing (with a mind on mistakes non-native speakers commonly make), as well as many important details such as citing literature, picking the right journal, cover letters and dealing with reviewers etc. Our aim is to have a solid draft of your paper by the end of the course meaning we write a section a day, so the more mature your draft is when you bring it to the course the better a foundation we have to work on. Requirements: This is an advanced course, we expect you to have taken a basic writing course before. Good English language skills are a requirement. We will NOT help you analyze your data. Please bring a fully analyzed dataset including what you think are going to be your main figures and tables (no more than 3 each). Please send us an outline (not a draft) of your paper, with a brief summary for each of the major sections introduction, methods, results and discussion in bullet points latest one week before the course. Bring a draft – the more advanced the better – with you to Hegne. We’ll be sending more information and reading material more shortly before the course. Find more info about us here: http://www.orn.mpg.de/641895/Sociality-and-Movement [more]

The workshop aims to support PhD students during their first big research project. Generally a PhD student is well adapted to conduct his/her research but encounters difficulties with i.e. time management, lack of coordination/cooperation with others, insecurities if and how to ask for support and is maybe also not prepared to fulfil the different roles which are expected by him/her. This workshop will strengthen the management and communication skills of the participants and help them to deal with unexpected and frustrating situations. Participants will learn management and communication skills by: - defining goals and objectives in a smart way - planning their workload with efficiency and effectiveness - being clear about their different roles during a PhD project - improving their collaboration ability - learning techniques for a successful delegation. First day: Planning a project: Setting goals + Time management Introduction to project management, Defining aims and objective according to SMART principle, Planning and Structuring the workload of a project, Using time management to be more efficient, Defining different roles Second day: Delegation and communication Dealing with the supervisor, Successful delegation, How to prevent and avoid risks, How to deal with stress and frustration, Communication exercises Dr. Valeska Russo holds a PhD in inorganic Chemistry. After 10 years as project manager and trainer at Siemens and Nokia Siemens Networks, she started to teach project management and science related soft skills for PhD students, Postdocs and young group leaders in 2009. She focuses on management, communication and presentation and also teaches methods of awareness and stress reduction to reach a good work-life balance. [more]

This is an introductory course to students planning to analyse genomic sequence data. The course will familiarize with some tools and websites characteristically used in genome analyses with a focus on steps downstream computer-intense genome assembly and read mapping, e.g. extraction of information from a genome browser, read coverage and expression difference calculations, SNP calling and annotation, scans for selection signatures, Linux and R for txt-file manipulations, etc.. Far from being complete, the course aims to provide a starting point for own idiosyncratic sequence projects. Participants need to install Linux (e.g. in Virtualbox) and R (e.g. as R-studio) on their computers, but we will also provide a few installed computers in our seminar room. [more]

This writing event is a unique opportunity for young researchers who have already been taught the principles of scientific writing to put those principles to work in a stimulating and supportive writing atmosphere. During the writing lab you will develop the text of a research article with the aim of having a first draft in hand by the end of the week. You will receive guidance from two writing mentors who are native English speaking biologists, benefiting from their extensive experience in research, writing, journal editing and teaching. In addition, you will work together with a writing partner thus ensuring that you remain motivated and productive throughout the week. A morning class of 1-2 hours will prime each day's writing activities by reminding participants of the do's and don'ts when writing each section of a research article with the IMRaD format (Introduction, Materials & Methods, Results, and Discussion plus Abstract and Title). This will be followed by structured writing exercises and one-to-one feedback sessions with assigned mentors and writing partners. Completing a first draft by the end of the week is an ambitious but achievable aim. This task is made realistic by dividing it into several intermediate steps, each corresponding to a single IMRaD section. These steps come with strict deadlines thus maintaining writing momentum throughout the week. By the end of the week you will be significantly closer to having an article that can be submitted for publication. Preparation and requirements All participants should have already attended Science Craft's two-day workshop on Scientific Writing or an equivalent introductory writing course. Ideally, you should also have gathered sufficient results to form the basis of a research article with a clear narrative and "take home message" in mind. If you are not yet at this point then you should, as a minimum, have a completely analysed dataset in hand to use as a starting point for your writing. In advance of the writing lab, all participants should submit an abstract (max 250 words) as well as some additional material related to your planned research article. We strongly encourage you to keep a "lab book" detailing your experimental work in the months preceding the writing lab. The lab book should explain why each of your experiments was performed and contain a brief outline of experimental procedures as well as a concise statement of each result. Participants The writing lab is intended for 10 participants and will be led by two writing mentors: Dr. Adam Wilkins and Dr Brian Cusack. Adam holds a PhD in Genetics and was editor of Bioessays for nearly 20 years. He is currently an editor for the journal Genetics. Adam has published extensively in the fields of molecular, developmental and evolutionary biology. Adam has taught courses on Scientific Writing at a range of research institutes for the past 9 years. Brian holds a Ph.D. in Genetics and has performed postdoctoral research in the field of evolutionary genetics. He is the first author of several research articles published in top-tier journals and has been an instructor of Science Craft's Scientific Writing workshop since 2012. [more]

Day 1: Indroduction Introduction to experimental design theory (difference between experiment and observation, confounding, importance of randomisation, types of experimental designs, implications for data analysis); practical ( randomization with the software R, simple power calculations); Day 2: Introduction to experimental design theory (power); practical (simple power calculations) Exercise: students design an experiment based on a given research question. The proposed designs are discussed in class. Day 3: Applications - Each participant is asked to send a description of one planned experiment (or one running experiment if none is planned) to steffi.vonfelten@oikostat.ch until February 21st, 2015 (e.g., drawing of the spatial layout and text description, what measurements are taken and when?). Course participants will present the design of their own experiments. Each experimental design will be discussed in class and will also receive some feedback by the course teacher. Prerequisite for participation: basic knowledge of statistics and the software package R would be an advantage but is not absolutely required. [more]

At our annual selection symposium, all shortlisted applicants for the upcoming PhD projects are invited to present their most relevant research in 10 -15 min talks and get to know the IMPRS. Besides the public presentations and a 30 min interview, there also is plenty of time for informal exchanges among applicants, students and faculty during social evening events and site visits to all three locations. Sunday 22: Arrival and welcome dinner at MPIO Radolfzell Monday 23 + Tuesday 24: Presentations and interviews (U Konstanz, A703) Wednesday 25: Guided tours MPIO Radolfzell + Seewiesen, farewell dinner Thursday 26: Departure Successful applicants will be informed around Mid-April and are expected to start their PhD projects latest in September. [more]

day 1: 2-3 Short inputs depending on participants projects short presentation of participants projects day 2 and 3: guided work on own project day 3: presentations of projects prerequisite for participation basic knowledge in statistics, participation in at least 2 of the Modules 1 – 3. Participants bring their own data. They are requested to send a short description of their projects to the teachers at least one week before the start of the workshop. [more]

The seminar “Grants and Fellowships for Post-Docs in Horizon 2020” aims to inform about funding opportunities for individuals within the European Research Framework Programme Horizon 2020, particularly about the Marie Sklodowska Curie Fellowships and the European Research Council Grants (ERC). The talk takes place at the following dates in your institute: Seewiesen: May, 5th at 11 am, seminar room in Haus 4 Radolfzell: May, 13th at 1 pm in the seminar room In case you prefer the date at the partner premises, just give us a short notice and we’ll try to get a video transmission from Seewiesen to Radolfzell or vice versa. If you are interested in an individual consultation regarding any question on European funding, just contact the speaker in order to make an appointment. [more]

This two-day workshop enables life scientists to to write clearly and with impact! The participants learn how to construct a “take-home” message that tells the story of their research, choose words that communicate their science clearly, and structure their paper into a flowing narrative. [more]

This course is intended for the attendants of R for Biologists I or scholar familiar with R programming who want to go in depth in particular areas. The course will have a changing topic from a series of recurrent fields such as GIS in R, analysis and visualization of animal movement, comparative phylogenetic methods etc. The submission of a course reader is prerequisite for a successful attendance. Requirements: R programming skills. Information and registration with kamran.safi@uni-konstanz.de. Further information see https://lsf.uni-konstanz.de/qisserver/servlet/de.his.servlet.RequestDispatcherServlet?state=verpublish&status=init&vmfile=no&publishid=47473&moduleCall=webInfo&publishConfFile=webInfo&publishSubDir=veranstaltung. [more]

Telmo Pievani (U Padova): Sharing Discoveries: New Frontiers and Projects in Communication of Science / Henning Krause (Helmholtz Association): Research Communication 2.0 / Carin Bondar (‘Biologist with a Twist’; independent writer & presenter): Sex, Science and Storytelling: The Art of Effective Communication / Kees Moeliker (Improbable Research / Natural History Museum Rotterdam): The Duck, his Mate and (other) Improbable Research / Daniel Mertens (Schillermertens): “Silent Post” - Scientific Communication / besides presentations from the IMPRS faculty and PhD candidates and award of the "Best Student Paper". [more]

The teaching week addresses the new IMPRS students to give an insight into the different labs and research groups, their research focus and methods, and to give the new students the opportunity to get to know each other, exchange experiences and to discuss possible collaboration with other labs. The teaching week is obligatory for all incoming graduate students, everybody else interested is warmly welcome to join! In 2015, research groups and labs from the MPIO Seewiesen will present their research topics and methods, in a mixture of lectures, experiments, and tours through their facilities. 26.09.15 "Intro in our IMPRS" by the IMPRS coordinator Mäggi Hieber Ruiz; 28-30.09.15 presentation of the research groups; 28.09.15 "Student life: hurdles and difficulties that can arise during a PhD", by the PhD candidates; 29.09.15 presentation of the Officers for Equal Opportunity + for Conflict Management; 29.09.15 workshop "Scientific Ethics + Integrity" by the MPIO Ombudsperson Henrik Brumm; 01-02.10.15 workshop "Mastering your PhD" by Valeska Russo, ProSciencia. [more]

The workshop aims to support PhD students during their first big research project. Generally a PhD student is well adapted to conduct his/her research but encounters difficulties with i.e. time management, lack of coordination/cooperation with others, insecurities if and how to ask for support and is maybe also not prepared to fulfil the different roles which are expected by him/her. This workshop will strengthen the management and communication skills of the participants and help them to deal with unexpected and frustrating situations. Participants will learn management and communication skills by: - defining goals and objectives in a smart way - planning their workload with efficiency and effectiveness - being clear about their different roles during a PhD project - improving their collaboration ability - learning techniques for a successful delegation. First day: Planning a project: Setting goals + Time management Introduction to project management, Defining aims and objective according to SMART principle, Planning and Structuring the workload of a project, Using time management to be more efficient, Defining different roles Second day: Delegation and communication Dealing with the supervisor, Successful delegation, How to prevent and avoid risks, How to deal with stress and frustration, Communication exercises Dr. Valeska Russo holds a PhD in inorganic Chemistry. After 10 years as project manager and trainer at Siemens and Nokia Siemens Networks, she started to teach project management and science related soft skills for PhD students, Postdocs and young group leaders in 2009. She focuses on management, communication and presentation and also teaches methods of awareness and stress reduction to reach a good work-life balance. [more]

Regular German classes to practice and improve your German with the guidance of a professional instructor: Thursdays, 14:30-16:00! [more]

Day 1: Introduction to R (work with console and editor, read data, save data, basics in programming R, graphics); Basics in statistics (refreshing descriptive statistics (mean, sd, se, median, quartiles), hypothesis testing, classical statistical tests using R) Day 2: Introduction to simple linear models using R (One-way/two-way ANOVA, simple linear regression, ANCOVA, R lm function / General Linear Models) [more]

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TARGET GROUP: This workshop targets PhD students and Post-doctoral fellows who have taken Conference Presentation part I, and who wish to further improve their presentation skills and focus in particular on the context of conferences. OBJECTIVES: This is an activity-based training is led by a theatre professional whose expertise is in helping the speaker effectively communicate the importance and relevance of the work and the core message in the talk. This course aims to focus on further development and special focus of key communication skills in the context of conferences. DESCRIPTION: This one-day course provides a limited number of participants who have already taken the workshop “Conference Presentation”, the opportunity to deliver a typical conference presentation and focus on the key aspects of conference presentation challenges. Attention will also be given to structural elements and language dynamics for improving overall speech and communication. The session will also include dealing with question and answer sessions as well as other peripheral details involved in the overall conference experience. CONTENTS IN BRIEF: • Engaging the audience in one’s talk • Affirming the strengths and individual style of the speaker • Improving body language • Effectively promoting oneself • Develop strong tactics for effective communication • Dealing with challenging Q&A sessions. METHODS: • Voice and body techniques • Partner work/role-play • Language practice and analysis • Trainer PPT input • Improvisation, videotaping and feedback • Tailored training for individual participants needs. [more]

In this three-day course we will give you a concise introduction on general acoustics and how to analyze sound. More specifically, we will focus on how bats perceive their world through echolocation and point out distinctive features of the ultrasound realm. You will apply your new knowledge using a very powerful sound analyses program, SASLab Pro. [more]

This two-day workshop enables life scientists to write clearly and with impact! The participants learn how to construct a “take-home” message that tells the story of their research, choose words that communicate their science clearly, and structure their paper into a flowing narrative. [more]

Social network analysis is becoming a widely used tool for studying social behaviour of animals. However, getting started with animal social networks is often challenging. This workshop will introduce the fundamental concepts that are central in using this method correctly, including: - How to define edges and construct networks - How to visualise networks - How to interpret network metrics - How to perform permutation tests - How to test hypotheses with network data - Outstanding questions and future directions in animal social networks The formal parts of the workshop will be mostly discussion-based. This will be followed by some worked examples, and plenty of time for students to work on their own data. By the end of this workshop, participants should have a better understanding of considerations and assumptions that arise from using social data, and how statistical methods can address issues such as non-independence and sampling bias. Damien Farine will be starting as a Primary Investigator at the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology in December. Damien specialises on using quantitative approaches for studying the evolution and maintenance of sociality. He has been involved both in the developed of quantitative tools and their application in a range of empirical studies. His research on birds (both in wild and in captive experiments) and wild baboons uses simultaneous tracking of animal groups to gain insight into mechanisms that underpin the formation of social networks and the evolutionary consequences of group living. [more]

This course will allow for one week of intense introduction in R a powerful opensource programming environment widely used in scientific research. We will begin with understanding how we can wrok with R to make our lifes as biologists from a wider range of subdisciplines easier. Consequently, we will want to undestand how data can be mined, rearranged and basic visualisations made. This is not a statistics course, it is intended to give a general all purpose introduction in R, from where further exploration can be achieved without the usually steep initial learning curve. [more]

Annual retreat of the IMPRS PhD students 2015 program: workshops offered by the PhD students for the PhD students! Attendance at this retreat is obligatory for all students. [more]

Being a scientist means one must have many skills and talents – intimidatingly so sometimes. And writing papers is one of the most important ones. It’s the currency into which we turn our research and also the most important means for the community to judge us by. Luckily, like most aspects of science it’s a skill that we can improve and this course will help you with this. We will spend a couple of very intensive days together, where we will use your own paper in progress, interspersed with other exercises and lots of discussion to help you detect your own weaknesses and work on them in a peer review approach. Together we will identify what makes a paper good and how to structure it properly. We will think about the differences between scientific language compared to other forms of writing (with a mind on mistakes non-native speakers commonly make), as well as many important details such as citing literature, picking the right journal, cover letters and dealing with reviewers etc. Our aim is to have a solid draft of your paper by the end of the course meaning we write a section a day, so the more mature your draft is when you bring it to the course the better a foundation we have to work on. Requirements: This is an advanced course, we expect you to have taken a basic writing course before. Good English language skills are a requirement. We will NOT help you analyze your data. Please bring a fully analyzed dataset including what you think are going to be your main figures and tables. Please send me an outline (not a draft) of your paper, with a brief summary for each of the major sections introduction, methods, results and discussion in bullet points latest one week before the course. Bring a draft – the more advanced the better – with you to the course. I’ll be sending more information and reading material more shortly before the course. [more]

This three-day workshop enables life scientists to effectively create figures based on quantitative data that add impact to their publications. The workshop is divided into two one-day modules: Principles and Applications. On the first day, the Principles module focuses on understanding the purpose of a figure, choosing the most appropriate plot type, and the science of perception. The first day is primarily concerned with the art of visual communicaiton and integrates participants’ own examples into the teaching process. On the second and third day, the Applications module focuses on the practical implementation of the data visualisation principles discussed on the first day. This is done using the R statistical programming environment with the participants’ own data. Sample Submission Participants are asked to provide a sample visualisation of their own results that will be used as a teaching example on the first day. Requirements Participants should already be proficient with R. A detailed list of suggested R functions and concepts is provided in a pre-workshop self-assessment for participants. Participants are strongly encouraged to bring in their own data sets and computers for practical work on the second day and should have the following cross-platform software pre-installed: R – v3.0 or later (http://www.r-project.org/) RStudio – v0.97 or later (http://rstudio.org/download/desktop) JGR – v1.7-14 or later (http://rforge.net/JGR/index.html) [more]

day 1: LM Linear Regression, multiple Regression ANOVA, ANCOVA (least-square method, parameterisation, interactions, tests (marginal and sequential), model selection, model assumptions, predictions, introduction to Bayesian data analysis); day 2: LME linear mixed models (maximum likelihood, restricted maximum likelihood, random and fixed effects, likelihood ratio test / bootstrap, random slopes-random intercept models, evt. further model types depending on the participants wishes); day 3: LME (model matrix, simulating posterior distributions of model parameters, predictions, posterior probabilities of hypotheses, preparing data for work on own data); day 4: work on own data and presentations. Prerequisite for participation: Basic knowledge in R programming is required. Particularly, it is assumed that you are familiar with working with the R Console and an editor, reading the data and producing the most common graphics (histogram, scatterplot, boxplot). [more]

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Day 1: Binomial model - refreshing LM and LMM - introduction Bayesian data analysis - logistic regression, binomial model - model assumptions, overdispersion - tests, predictions Day 2: Poisson model - Poisson model - model assumptions, overdispersion - tests, predictions - depending on participants wishes: zero-inflation Day 3: GLMM - including random effects - glmer-function - depending on participants wishes: introduction to WinBUGS and more complex models Day 4: projects - work on own data and presentations Prerequisite for participation Modul 1 and 2, basic knowledge in statistics, linear models (ANOVA) and linear mixed models [more]