As part of its remit to teach and improve microscopy, the Royal Microscopical Society will be offering a number of charitable bursaries and free training opportunities at Microscience 2008 in London
RMS's free training opportunities are intended to ensure that everyone, particularly those in the early stages of their careers, has a chance to attend this major biennial international conference and exhibition, covering all aspects of microscopy, imaging and analysis.
This will provide the opportunity for all attendees to update and improve their microscopy skills for career development purposes.
Many attractions of Microscience 2008 are free to all, including the exhibition, new technology workshops and the RMS Learning Zone.
Registration for the three day scientific conference also offers excellent value, particularly to early career researchers and technicians, who can register at a special rate of just £85 for the full three days.
A generous bursary fund has been established to support attendance at Microscience 2008; these bursaries contribute to the cost of registration, travel and accommodation.
In addition, employees at BBSRC Institutes can apply to the RMS for bursaries for the Society for General Microbiology (SGM) satellite meeting, running in parallel with Microscience 2008.
The use of training budgets to support attendance should also be considered, since the RMS Learning Zone is in operation for the full three days of the conference.
Operating as a free 'turn-up and learn' facility, visitors can meet renowned RMS experts and discuss the microscopical challenges that they may face.
In addition to meeting the experts and live demonstrations, a series of lectures on light microscopy, electron microscopy and digital imaging will run each day.
Held within the Learning Zone's own lecture theatre, these provide an excellent introduction to the core microscopy subjects, with certificates of attendance available to support training requirements.
"Having a good grasp of the basic theories and practices of microscopy is a vitally important step to carrying out meaningful research, and we are especially keen to support researchers in the early stages of their careers, while also encouraging the continuing education of all our members," said Debbie Stokes, RMS honorary secretary science (physical).
"Due to the many free training opportunities available at Microscience 2008, researchers and technicians should be able to access local training budgets from within their respective organisations," explained Rob Flavin, RMS executive director.
"And, with RMS bursaries available to assist conference attendance, we believe that it has never been easier - particularly for early stage career researchers and technicians - to attend Microscience.
Registration numbers are already looking very healthy, and we expect to see many academic and industrial researchers from Europe and around the world."
