The ISCB Student Council Internship Program: Expanding computational biology capacity worldwide

Education and training are two essential ingredients for a successful career. On one hand, universities provide students a curriculum for specializing in one’s field of study, and on the other, internshipscomplement courseworkand provide invaluable training experience for a fruitful career. Consequently, undergraduates and graduates are encouraged to undertake an internshipduring the course of their degree. The opportunity to explore one’s research interests in the early stages of their education is important for students because it improves their skill set and gives their career a boost. In the long term, this helps to close the gap between skills and employability among students across the globe and balance the research capacity in the field of computational biology. However, training opportunities are often scarce for computational biologystudents, particularly for those who reside in less-privileged regions. Aimed at helping students develop research and academic skills in computational biologyand alleviating the divide across countries, the Student Council of the International Society for Computational Biologyintroduced its InternshipProgram in 2009. The InternshipProgram is committed to providing access to computational biologytraining, especially for students from developing regions, and improving competencies in the field. Here, we present how the InternshipProgram works and the impact of the internshipopportunities so far, along with the challenges associated with this program.