Meet-U is a collaborative pedagogical and research initiative between several Universities within 4EU+ iniciative.
Students have to develop an algorithm/program that integrates the theoretical knowledge and technical skills they acquired during their formation to apply them to a concrete problem in Biology. They are guided through all the steps of a project realization, from conception to validation. They learn how to use popular tools for collaborative work, how to collectively conduct a project, and how to exploit cloud computing resources.
Students are in "coopetition": they collaborate within each team and teams compete with each other. Meet-U represents a unique opportunity for them to become actors of a research community and present their work to their scientific peers (jury of researchers). Meet-U also helps them develop their creativity and autonomy and create a network for their professional career.
For the research community, Meet-U is the occasion of exchanging on a common topic, becoming collectively aware of the "local forces" and increasing its visibility in the participating universities and beyond.
The subject/theme of the project and the pedagogical teams will be renewed every couple of years. This will ensure that Meet-U covers different aspects of computational biology, is in constant evolution and stays lively.
To learn more about Meet-U: Abdollahi et al. (2018) PLOS Computational Biology.