The 7th International Congress on the Biology of Fish will be held July 18-22, 2006 at the Fairmont Hotel in St. John's Newfoundland, Canada. The intellectual merit of these biennial Congresses has been to disseminate basic scientific knowledge about the organismal biology of fishes and its societal implications. In addition, the objective of the Congress is to foster an environment of informational exchange among scientists at all levels, disciplines and from many countries around the world. The funds requested will be used to support travel for students, postdoctoral researchers and first-year faculty, in order to allow them to present their research results at an international meeting. Past Congresses have comprised of at least 25% graduate students and postdoctoral researchers as these new scientists have the much to offer, in terms of new results and enthusiasm, but possess the least financial resources to support travel to meetings. It also gives students and beginning investigators the chance to interact with leading fish physiologists and organismal biologists from around the world, representing over 40 nations. Symposia planned include presentations relating to basic fish biology, physiology, fish response to environmental challenges, fish health, and other topics of interest to functional biologists. The broader impact of the proposed work is that the scientific experience will be enriched for numerous, diverse junior scientists, encouraging them to pursue careers in biology and that underrepresented minorities will be encouraged to compete for the resources to attend the meeting. Candidates for travel awards will be evaluated on a combination of scientific quality and relevance of their submitted abstracts and financial need.
