With 2020 finally behind us, we’re excited about what’s in store for AOS and our members in 2021. We have a bold vision for the future and a clear commitment to strengthen the professional support we provide our community members, especially for our most vulnerable members who have been affected by COVID restrictions. Our aim is to help our members thrive within this new landscape, and we can’t do it without you. Let’s do this… together! Renew your AOS membership today and play an important role in shaping the future of ornithology!
AOS COVID Relief Fund
In November 2020, our Student Affairs and Early Professional committees conducted a survey of our student, postdoc, and early career members to determine how best we could help them professionally succeed and thrive, despite disruptions caused by COVID restrictions. Respondents identified that the top two negative impacts to their career advancement have been mental/emotional stress and disruptions to timely completion of their research. When asked what support from AOS would have the greatest positive impact, the response was that “research funding opportunities” would best help them overcome disruptions they’re experiencing, which include lab limitations, field work interruptions, and increased family responsibilities for parents and caregivers. This finding was reconfirmed in a similar poll during our AOS Community Forum in December.
It’s become clear that we need to expand our support for our graduate student, postdoc and early professional members who’ve been dramatically impacted by the pandemic. Help us help them by supporting their research efforts. AOS Council has made a commitment to support this next generation of ornithologists with special funds in 2021. The AOS COVID Relief Fund will offer expanded support for the AOS research award programs, targeting students and early professionals working across the globe, as well as other forms of relief to help these members cope with the myriad disruptions to their career advancement. The ornithological community is only as strong as its next generation of diverse individuals who are advancing the scientific understanding and conservation of birds. Let’s all do our part to help this next generation succeed in overcoming the impacts of COVID.
Please contribute to the AOS COVID Relief Fund! Support AOS’s efforts to invest in our community by donating today, through Paypal or through our Member Portal. Your contribution of any amount will make a difference. THANK YOU for your generous support!
Student & Postdoc Research Funding
AOS provides annual Student & Postdoc Research Awards of up to $2,500 to support research in various areas of avian biology by undergraduates, graduate students, and postdocs. AOS encourages students and posfrom any region to apply for these awards and has extended the submission deadline to 5 February 2021.
Membership Renewal Support for Students & Postdoc Members
AOS is committed to supporting students and postdocs impacted by COVID. If the cost of membership is a financial barrier for you at this time, please enter code CRELIEF25 at checkout to receive a 25% discount on your membership renewal. This code applies to pre-college, undergraduate, graduate, and postdoc membership purchases.
Get Involved in AOS
Our members play a critical role in how we collaborate on initiatives, how we build relationships within and beyond the ornithological community, and how we help prepare future cohorts of ornithologists to lead within our discipline—in short, we rely on AOS members to help define the future of ornithology.
There are many ways to get more involved with AOS! Are you interested in reviewing papers? Learn how! Can you contribute your voice by serving on a committee? We have 28 of them! How about volunteering to help with a meeting? We’re now in the planning stages for our annual meeting in August and will be recruiting volunteers in the coming months. Whatever your interest or expertise, we have a role for you!
We hope you’ll join us in our efforts to support critical ornithological research, to remove barriers to ornithology, to back important conservation policies, and to be the most trusted, professional, authoritative resource for the American professional ornithological community and its stakeholders, beneficiaries, and partners. We are united in our vision and strengthened by our diversity. It is our goal to provide you with an outstanding professional home, and we look forward to serving you in 2021!
Mike Webster, AOS President
Colleen Handel, AOS President-Elect