Affiliated Project Application
Preamble
This description of the procedure for candidates to follow to apply for EBP affiliation and be admitted to the EBP Membership Council is established as a pilot procedure that will be followed by all new candidates, with the intention that the language will eventually become part of the EBP Governance Document. As defined in the EBP Governance: “Affiliates may be regional, national or multinational initiatives that focus on large-scale sequencing of eukaryotes. Affiliates may also be other organizations with active programs that support the goals of the EBP, such as biological resource collections, museums, genome institutes, and others.” The roles, rights, and responsibilities of EBP Affiliates are described in the EBP Governance. By becoming an EBP Affiliate, members agree to uphold and abide by the principles, guidelines, and policies set forth in the EBP Governance. To view a model of the organizational structure of the EBP as a global network of interconnected communities visit here.
Roles and Responsibilities of Affiliated Projects
Each EBP Affiliated Project is expected to fulfill specific roles and responsibilities described here:
1) Coordinate with the EBP Secretariat to maintain current Affiliated Project goals, participants, timeline, funding levels, funding sources, collaborations/partnerships, and leadership, including the project’s data coordinator.
2) Maintain details on the current number and taxonomic distribution of species to be sequenced in a publicly available spreadsheet with taxa you plan to sequence shared using the Genomes on a Tree (GoaT) platform.
3) Uphold the EBP standards for sequencing, assembly, and annotation.
4) Uphold the EBP guidelines and policies for JEDI (justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion) and ELSI (ethics, legal, and social issues).
5) Abide by the principles of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), the Nagoya Protocol on Access and Benefit-sharing, and CBD recommendations on the use of digital sequence information from genetic resources (DSI).
6) Deposit genome assemblies including raw data and detailed BioSample information in INSDC with, at most, a one-year embargo, with a possible exception in the context of Indigenous Peoples’ rights.
7) Participate in Membership Council voting.
Process for Initiatives or Organizations
For an initiative or organization to be accepted as an EBP Affiliate and consequently be admitted to the EBP Membership Council, it must submit its application to the EBP Secretariat. Importantly, any initiative or organization planning to apply for affiliate status will be expected to contact the EBP Secretariat to express their intent to apply for membership. The application of a candidate EBP Affiliate should consist of a cover letter addressed to the EBP Executive Council and signed by the leadership of the initiative or organization. The letter should describe the initiative or organization’s membership scope in terms of countries, initiatives, and institutions, an approximate number of members, and should clearly indicate that the initiative or organization aims to support the achievement of the EBP’s goals by helping to coordinate efforts and work with other EBP Affiliates. The letter should also express a clear commitment to uphold and abide by the EBP principles, guidelines, and policies. The EBP Secretariat reviews each application and may request further details or clarifications from the applicant if deemed necessary. If the EBP Secretariat considers the application complete and appropriate, then the application is sent to the Membership Council for a vote on whether to accept or reject the application to become an EBP Affiliate. If deemed inappropriate, the EBP Secretariat commits to provide a clear and comprehensive explanation of why the criteria were not considered to have been met. The applicant may appeal such a decision by requesting that the EBP Executive Council examine their original application and their responses to the EBP Secretariat’s explanations for rejection, whereupon the EBP Executive Council makes the final decision.
Application
Applications to become an EBP Affiliated Project must include the following information.
1) Provide the name of the project.
2) Describe the overall goals of the project.
3) Provide names and affiliations of participating investigators.
4) Provide a list of participating organizations not included in item #3.
5) Indicate the project’s timeline and approximate funding level and sources.
6) Give details on the number and taxonomic distribution of species to be sequenced. Please note that all Affiliated Projects will be required to prepare a spreadsheet with the taxa planned to be sequenced and that these target species lists will be publicly available and submitted to GoaT to promote coordination between EBP projects.
7) Describe collaborations and partnerships, if any, with other EBP Affiliated Projects.
8) Indicate commitment to EBP standards, guidelines and policies for sequencing, assembly, and annotation as well as all JEDI (justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion) and ELSI (ethics, legal and social issues).*
9) Indicate that you will abide by the principles of the Convention on Biological Diversity and the Nagoya Protocol on Access and Benefit-sharing and recommendations on the use of digital sequence information.
10) Describe your ethical sampling, data sharing, and publication policies, and affirm that these will be consistent with EBP policies*. In particular, we require that genome sequences are openly deposited in an INSDC database with at most a one-year embargo, with a possible exception in the context of Indigenous peoples’ rights*.
11) Provide the name and contact information for the project’s data coordinator.
12) Execution of the signature page here. Please send the required items to Nicolette Caperello at the EBP Secretariat Office Nicolette.Caperello@asu.edu.
The chairperson of this project or its designate will be a voting member of the EBP Membership Council as described in the EBP Governance Document. By signing this form, the representative and all project members agree to uphold and abide by the principles, guidelines, and policies set forth in the EBP Governance document.
*All EBP policies and reports with suggested guidelines can be found on the EBP website under the Reports tab.