Join the 2024 Committee

Are you a current student studying computational biology or bioinformatics? Are you interested in being part of a community that supports students by planning events, encouraging social interactions and promoting technical skills — then come and join the COMBINE committee!

We are a purely online committee and would love to have committee members from all over Australia. Joining the COMBINE committee is a great way to improve your leadership skills, build your confidence and get involved with/ contribute to the Australian student community (and it also looks great on your CV!). You must be a student for at least some of next year, but can be a student at any stage of your educational journey (full eligibility requirements are listed below).

Applications will be open until 20/12/2023 and new committee members will be contacted early January 2024.

The 2024 COMBINE committee will be comprised of:

Executive Committee: President, Vice-President, Secretary, Treasurer

General Committee: Training and events coordinator (x2), Industry Coordinators (x2), Training and events officers (6+), Media and communications officers (x2-4), Symposium coordinators (x2)

Detailed descriptions of eligible positions are listed below.

Nominate yourself or someone else to join the 2024 COMBINE Committee via the Nomination Form.

Executive office bearers

They are the most senior roles within COMBINE and we recommend that people taking on these roles have experience in another COMBINE role, however, we encourage all applicants to apply.

Secretary

Average time commitment: 2-3hr/week

The Secretary is responsible for internal COMBINE communications. They facilitate communication between COMBINE office bearers and keep COMBINE organised.

Main responsibilities:

Take minutes at COMBINE committee meetings
Organise COMBINE documents
Manage the COMBINE email address
Facilitate internal COMBINE communication

Treasurer

Average time commitment: 2-3hr/week

The Treasurer is responsible for managing COMBINE finances. They oversee the budget process, approve spending and make payments.

Main responsibilities:

Oversee the COMBINE bank account
Approve budget request and manage reimbursements
Liaise with the ABACBS Treasurer
Prepare the annual financial report
Look out for opportunities for sponsorship or funding

General office bearers

These roles are defined by the COMBINE General Committee and may change over time. In 2024 they will consist of the following positions.

Training and Events Coordinator (2 positions)

Average time commitment: 2-3hr/week

The Training and Events Coordinator is responsible for overseeing the organisation of events and workshops across the country. These may include introductory programming workshops, specialised workshops or social events. The Training and Events Coordinator may organise events but their main role is to assist the Training and Events Officers in planning and running events. It is not required but familiarity with The Carpentries is a bonus.

Main responsibilities:

Communicate with Training and Events Officers
- Help the officers with ideas for training and events in the local community
- Help gather workshop material and find instructors
- Assist the officers with budgeting, advertising, finding venues etc
Manage the events logistics to ensure the events run smoothly

Training and Events Officers (6+ positions)

Average time commitment: 1-2hr/week

Training and events officers are responsible for organising training and events in their local area and representing the students in their local community. The local area and community is typically the city or Institution the officer is from. There is no limit to the number of these positions. We hope to have one or more representatives from as many areas and Universities/Institutions around Australia as possible.

Main responsibilities:

Representing your local student community at COMBINE meetings
Organising 2 or more events for your local community throughout the year
- Typical events in the past have been workshops and social gatherings
- The training and events officer does not necessarily have to be the person running the event, but will oversee its organisation

Industry Coordinators (2 positions)

Average time commitment: 1-2hr/week

The industry coordinator role will involve contacting and networking with potential industry partners that may be interested in increasing their presence within the Australian bioinformatics community through their involvement in various COMBINE events.

Main responsibilities:

Pitching COMBINE to professional organisations and/or companies
Recruiting professional bioinformaticians as speakers for COMBINE Fireside Chats
- Create potential mentoring opportunities and career guidance sessions for the student community
Seek sponsorships from professional organisations
Participate in monthly ABACBS professional bioinformatics subcommittee meetings

Media and Communications Officers (2-4 positions)

Average time commitment: 1-2hr/week

The Media and Communications Officers manage COMBINE’s public presence. They distribute content about upcoming events and workshops, community news and job opportunities via our various online channels. Familiarity with the platforms we use is a bonus but they are easy to use and training will be provided.

Main responsibilities:

Maintenance of the COMBINE website (wordpress based)
Managing the COMBINE social media accounts (Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn)
Manage the COMBINE mailing lists using Mailchimp
Distribute content using appropriate platforms
Promote the annual COMBINE Symposium
Put together the regular COMBINE newsletter

Symposium Coordinators (2 positions)

Average time commitment: 2-3 hr/week

The Symposium Coordinator will lead the organisation of the annual COMBINE Student Symposium. This will include forming a Symposium Committee at the start of the year and delegating positions to each member on the committee. They oversee all aspects of organising the symposium and liaise with the ABACBS conference chairs and committee. Hours of commitment will likely increase leading up to the symposium. In 2024, the symposium will be held in Sydney in December in conjunction with the ABACBS conference. Therefore, it is ideal for at least one of the symposium coordinators to be based in Sydney.

Main responsibilities:

Form a Symposium Committee and assign roles
Oversee organisation of the symposium including the main program, abstract review, best talk/best poster judging, sponsorship and social night
Manage the symposium budget
Sit on the ABACBS conference committee

Eligibility

Be enrolled as a student at an Australian university for at least part of 2024.
Identify as a student in Bioinformatics, Computational Biology or a related field.
To accept a position you must be a student member of the Australian Bioinformatics and Computational Biology Society (ABACBS). However, this is not required before nominating.
Office bearers must accept the COMBINE Terms of Reference.
The President and Vice President are required to be members of the International Society of Computational Biology (ISCB). Associated fees will be reimbursed by COMBINE.

Expectations:

All committee members are expected to fulfil their responsibilities for the entirety of the 2024 calendar year, where possible attend a 1hr meeting (via zoom) every 2 to 4 weeks, maintain communication (via slack/email) OR it is expected the committee member organise other arrangements agreed upon by the committee.
Generally, time commitment is expected to be an average of 2 hours per week. There is usually an increase in time commitment around events, and a decrease outside of events.

Nominations

Nominate yourself or someone else here.

Nominations close on 20/12/2023

If a vote is required, only financial members of ABACBS will be able to vote. See the ABACBS website to become a financial member.

If you have any questions about being on the committee please email us at combine@combine.org.au, join our slack, or contact us via any of our social media accounts.