The IEEE Technical Committee on Computational Life Sciences (TCCLS) 2020 PhD Thesis Award consists of an honorarium of $800 and a Certificate.

TCCLS promotes research in all aspects of computational methods and tools with applications in Life Sciences, with a particular emphasis in biology, medicine and healthcare services. It provides a platform for practitioners and researchers to exchange information and resources related to the fields of bioinformatics, Systems Biology, medicine, and healthcare informatics (http://tccls.computer.org/).

For the year 2020 two awards will be presented (800$ each). At least one of the awardees shall be a woman to encourage the integration of women on equality of conditions in the major activities in society. If no woman is selected, one award will be presented.

Only candidates with the following requisites are eligible for this award:
* A member or student member of both IEEE and TCCLS (joining TCCLS is free), when the application will be submitted;
* Have completed the PhD coursework in a University, and defended the Thesis in 2019 or 2020;
* Thesis shall be on the following main field of interest: any aspects of computational methods and tools with applications in Life Sciences, with a particular emphasis in biology, medicine, healthcare services and informatics, bioinformatics, artificial intelligence, systems biology;
* Thesis will be evaluated according to the following criteria: degree of innovation in the proposed methodology or technology, potential for application in real-world situations, potential effectiveness;
* Candidate’s Supervisors can not be members of the TCCLS Executive Committee.

Candidates must send their application by December 15, 2020 (23.59 GMT) together with:
* Name and email address of the candidate
* Self-certification of IEEE membership with member number
* Title of the PhD Thesis
* Name of the PhD Thesis Advisor and his/her contact email address
* Name of the University where the PhD has been acquired
* Date of thesis defense
* An electronic copy in pdf format of the PhD Thesis
* An electronic copy in pdf format of a 2-page Summary of the contribution of the PhD Thesis, reporting how the thesis fits each of the aforementioned evaluation criteria
* An electronic pitch in a movie format, no longer than 2 minutes, where the Candidate presents a summary of the contribution of the Thesis, explaining how the thesis fits each of the aforementioned evaluation criteria
* A list of the publications co-authored by the candidate resulting from the thesis, if any
* Curriculum Vitae listing educational background of the candidate
* A one page presentation letter by the PhD Thesis Advisor.

All documents must be sent in electronic format by e-mail to the TCCLS chair (e-mail:p.soda at ieee dot org) with subject “Application for 2020 PhD Thesis <family name of the candidate>”

The thesis will be evaluated by the award selection committee reported below. Applicants will be notified of the outcome by February 15, 2021. The award will be presented during the award ceremony that will be held during on of the conferences technically sponsored by TCCLS. The winners must attend (physically or virtually) the ceremony, presenting also a short summary of the work.

All the decisions of the award selection committee are final.
Candidates shall authorize to the treatment of the personal information provided according to the European Community Law 95/46/CE regarding the protection of privacy (Italy Law 675/96).

Candidates shall authorize IEEE and TCCLS to communicate the award-winning through communication media (web, newsletter, audio-visual, press, …).

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Important dates
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Deadline for submitting the application: December 15, 2020 (23.59 GMT)
Notification: February 15, 2021
Presentation (only for winners): to be announced

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Award Selection Committee
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Ghada Alzamzmi, National Library of Medicine, US (past recipient)
Alfredo Benso, Politecnico di Torino, Italy
Zacharie Mbaitiga, National Institute of Technology, Okinawa College, Japan
Mariacarla Memeo, Fondazione Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Italy (past recipient)
Paolo Soda, Università Campus Bio-Medico di Roma, Italy
Agma J. M. Traina, University of Sao Paulo, Brasil

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For further questions please contact p.soda at ieee dot org or consult https://tccls.computer.org/?page_id=670