Call for nominations for the Bioinformatics Service Platform (BSP) Committees: Steering Committee, Education and Training Committee and Services and Support Committee

The Department of Science and technology (DST) has invested in a National Bioinformatics Service Platform (BSP), with the aim of providing a range of user-centred and well-coordinated computational bioinformatics services to the South African biotechnology industry and life science researchers. The BSP service will encompass access to bioinformatics expertise, computational infrastructure, human capital development activities and research partnership opportunities.

The BSP would like to call for nominations for people to serve on the Steering Committee, the Education and Training Committee, and the Services and Support Committee. Candidates must have a sound understanding of the needs of bioinformatics services and/or training of non-bioinformaticists, and have at least five years of experience in one or more of the following areas:

• Provisioning of high-end computational bioinformatics services.
• Deploying and/or developing computational bioinformatics tools.
• Implementing comprehensive bioinformatics education programmes.
• Involvement in life sciences and/or biomedical research that is substantially dependent on bioinformatics services.

(1) Steering Committee

The BSP Steering Committee will be appointed by the DST, based on a nomination process. Ethnicity, gender and geographical representation will be taken into consideration for the composition of the committee. Members will serve a term of up to three years, with one third of the group rotating each year (therefore, for the first committee, some members may only serve one or two years). Outgoing members in the first two years may put themselves forward for re-election, but cannot serve for longer than three years at a time. Members should include representatives from various stakeholder communities, including bioinformatics users, bioinformatics service providers and commercial enterprises providing or requiring bioinformatics support.

This committee will provide high-level oversight of the platform and the service manager's activities, and will meet quarterly.

(2) Education and Training Committee and Services and Support Committee

These two advisory committees will meet regularly to develop the strategic direction of the platform under these two activities. The committee coordinator will be involved in these meetings and will be responsible for implementing the strategies. The chair of each of these committees will sit on the steering committee.

The Education and Training Committee will provide –

·         coordination and planning of bioinformatics training for different stakeholders;

·         guidance on bioinformatics education activities;

·         coordination and planning of bioinformatics events.

The Services and Support Committee will provide –

·         guidance on service models;

·         guidance on support needs;

·         advice on infrastructure development (equipment).

Should you be interested in joining one or more of these committees, please send an email to Mr Edward Rakate at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. along with your CV.

The closing date for nominations for all committees is 17 April 2014.