BIMSB Retreat Collaborative Seed Projects

Goal: spark new cross-lab collaborations through new, small, feasible projects led by early-career researchers.

Key idea

Who can apply?The call is open to all PhD students, postdocs and research associates who are members of research groups or technology platforms physically based at BIMSB
Collaboration ruleAt least two BIMSB groups/labs must be involved. Additional collaborators from Buch are welcome.
Project typeA new idea or new collaboration with a clear key experiment, realistic timeline and concrete milestones.
Funding

Two projects funded with up to EUR 4,875 each. 

Eligible costs: Funds must be used exclusively for direct, project-related expenses. This includes consumables, facility/platform usage, animal experiments, and project-specific computational resources (e.g., cloud computing credits, specialized software licenses). Ineligible costs: Funds cannot be used for personnel salaries, general-use hardware (e.g., laptops), or conference travel/registration fees.

SelectionFour to six projects pre-selected before the retreat; short pitches during the retreat; one jury prize and one public-vote prize.

 

Proposal content  (maximum 1-2 page, see the template next page)

Please include:

- Project title and participating labs

- Applicants and roles

- Scientific idea and novelty

- Key experiment(s)

- Feasibility, timeline and milestones (within 12 months)

- Budget use, up to EUR 4,875

Assessment criteria:

- Novelty and creativity

- Real cross-lab collaboration

- Clear and feasible key experiment(s)

- Good fit to the 12-month timeline

- Realistic budget

 

Timeline

3 SeptemberSubmission deadline.
9  SeptemberOrganisers pre-select four to six projects, announce the preselection
21-22 September 2026, BIMSB retreatShort pitches, jury vote, public vote, and announcement of the winners.
01 January- 31 December 2027Funded projects must be executed and all budget resources utilised strictly within this 12-month window.
2028 (date tbc)Follow-up presentation at the next retreat or a student/postdoc seminar.

 

Your details
Title*

 

 

Your proposal

 

Project information

 

 

Scientific idea, key experiment(s) and novelty (max. 300 words)

 

Briefly describe:

  • the biological question or hypothesis;

  • the central experiment(s) that will establish proof of concept;

  • why the collaboration is new;

  • what makes the project innovative.

Optional: Include a simple graphical abstract or schematic.

Nur eine Datei möglich.
250 MB Limit.
Erlaubte Dateitypen: gif jpg png svg.

 

Feasibility, timeline and milestones (max. 120 words)

 

Briefly describe the project timeline over 12 months, including the main milestones.

 

Budget

 

 

 

Privacy policy

 
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The data entered will be processed exclusively for the purpose of carrying out and organising the event. These data will only be passed on to third parties participating in the conference as sponsors and if the participant attended the respective sponsor session. Any other use of the data for other purposes is excluded.

The collected data can be seen in the input mask during registration.

 

 

 

 

Contact

If you have further questions you can email us at
Leonid.serebreni@mdc-berlin.de and anis.senoussi@mdc-berlin.de .