Courses Policies

1. Introduction

• All training courses and activities offered by BIST are designed for our research community, in all stages.
• Participants from BIST centres will have priority when registering, but a few seats will be kept for external participants (from other institutions). We strongly believe that the contents of our training activities are also valuable for the rest of the research system, and having external participants is a good opportunity to expand networks.
• We are committed to provide a relevant offer for the research community, so please let us know if you have any not-covered training need. We will do our best to find the suitable training activity to cover it!
• All communications need to be addressed at talent@bist.eu.
• Please subscribe to our mailing lists so we can keep you updated about new training activities.

2. Registration for BIST members:

The next information is valid for all those participants that are working and/or doing research in one of the seven BIST centres (CRG, IBEC, ICFO, ICIQ, ICN2, IFAE, IRB).

• Registration links will also be accessible in the activity webpage (event part of the BIST website)
• In courses that require a payment, participants are encouraged to contact the HR/Talent/Training department in their centre, as course fees are usually covered directly by the centre.
• In other cases, participants from BIST centres will have to register themselves, mostly in these situations:
  1. Your centre is not covering your registration fee, but we still have available seats. Then you can use the general link to register, and you will have to pay for your registration (at the BIST discounted price)
  2. Some activities are free of charge and/or do not require any prioritisation or selection of the participants, so you can register directly.
• In order to avoid confusions, make sure you always use your institutional email, so you affiliation can be easily checked.
• If you are alumni from the centres, please send us an email and let us know, so you can benefit from discounted prices.

3. External participants:

• External participants need to register directly in the registration link (available in the website page of the activity).
• Once we receive your registration, and if there are available seats, we will issue an invoice that needs to be paid before the start of the event. Once the payment is received, your seat will be confirmed.
• If your institution is paying for your registration, we will need their tax details. If you anticipate that the payment will take longer than expected, please let us know, we are aware that this may happen. As long as we know, we will keep your seat for you, even if the payment is received after the start day of the course.
• If there is a group of people that wants to participate in one activity, please let us know, as we can deal directly with your institution, and in some cases offer some additional advantages.

4. Cancellation policies:

Make sure that  you register only if you are willing to attend. This may sound obvious, but managing lists, emails, and cancellations imply a cost for us (time, money, people and resources). In addition, we usually have waiting lists, so cancelling early has a real impact in other people. Be responsible and do not register “just in case”

• All cancellations need to be communicated to talent@bist.eu. If you cannot make it, please let us know as soon as possible, so we can offer your seat to another participant in the waiting list
• In some cases it will be ok to offer your seat to a colleague if you cannot attend. Let us know and we will organise it to make it work. Ideal if you are a last minute cancellation.

Cancellation policies: times and refunds:

5. Other general policies

5.1. Commitment:

• Accepted participants commit themselves to actively participate in the activities, in an adequate environment and during the whole duration of the activity. This commitment is important and will be taken into consideration in future priorisations.
• Online courses normally requires that participants are connecting from a quiet place, where they can focus in the activity. Avoid connecting from mobile phones, from the lab, from your daily walk, or from crowded places. We want all your attention!

5.2. Diversity:

• Our courses are inclusive and expect to include all our community.
• Gender balance will be actively sought in every activity, so it can happen that your seat may not be confirmed until participants from other genders register.
• If there is anything else we need to know (diets, accessibility, etc), please send an email to talent@bist.eu and let us know in advance, we will do our best to accommodate to your needs for each particular activity.

5.3. Certificates and diplomas

• We will issue diplomas/certificates of attendance and/or implementation at the end of each activity, but only to those participants who attend the whole duration of the activity (100%).
• In case you miss part of the activity, we can prepare a partial certificate, indicating the percentage of the activity that you attended.

5.4. Sustainability:

Sustainability can look in many different ways. We are committed to be sustainable in terms of time, resources, and materials. Because of this:

• We encourage you to bring your own water bottle in in-person activities.
• We will minimize the use of paper and print copies.
• We will prioritize the use of videoconferencing in activities that do not require being in person, reducing unnecessary trips and making the activity available to people abroad.
• We will individually evaluate each activity, and if a minimum number of participants is not reached, the course will be cancelled or postponed. If this happens, you will be reimbursed and informed at the right time.