[Neuroinfo] Call for community project proposals and mentors for INCF's participation in GSoC 2021 - expression of interest due January 15

[Malin Sandström]

Hello all,

------- Please forward this email to prospective mentors you might have in
your network ----

INCF will be applying again to Google Summer of Code, for the 11th time
running. Last year was a record year in the number and diversity of
projects, we hope to do at least as well this year!

A note on scope: we are looking for open source project ideas with some
sort of *neuro connection* - fixes or extensions to big/broadly applicable
or small/niche tools used by neuroscience researchers, efforts and
initiatives in the broad field of computational neuroscience. If your
project supports or implements *neuroscience standards or best practices*,
we are especially happy (but all projects are treated equally, when it
comes to slot assignments). This year, we are *also looking for mentors who
come without their own projects *and are willing to take on
student-proposed projects that fit their interests.

As you may have seen earlier this year, Google has announced some changes
to the program
<https://opensource.googleblog.com/2020/10/google-summer-of-code-2021-is-bringing.html>.
Projects will now be SHORTER (10 weeks instead of 12) and entry thresholds
for students will be diversified, which will allow more varied student
backgrounds. In compensation, there will be more projects.

This means, if you have a running project from previous years that you want
to continue, you may need to *re-scope* its contents and aims a bit, maybe
even split it in two (independent) parts. With a shorter time span and a
more varied student body, where not all students will be as near to
full-fledged computer scientists, we will need to put a bit more effort
into *introductions, support *and *confidence-building*. INCF will help
with this, please refer interested students to us at an early stage so we
can onboard them into our 'potential students' community.

Another important change: this time (and in years forward), we aim to *keep
all prospective students in the INCF community*, regardless of if they are
accepted to a project or not. They may well be candidates for next year,
and also, since you will be putting actual effort into project discussions,
we want to make sure it is useful.

Also, the usual reminder: there is no guarantee that INCF is accepted this
year until we hear from Google on *March 9*. Please be clear with this in
your communication with students.

The* timeline <https://summerofcode.withgoogle.com/how-it-works/>* is
similar to the years before: Applications open near the *end of January
(29th)*, they close near *mid February (19th)*. We aim to have a live
project ideas list in mid January. Orgs are announced on *March 9*, and
student applications are open *March 21 - April 19*.

*Important*: last year we were near peak capacity in the number of project
ideas on our final list, with a flurry of last-minute activity. We
therefore want interested mentors to contact us (gsoc at incf.org or
malin at incf.org) *early* with a declaration of interest and a short summary
of the intended project, latest *January 15*. If you want to mentor but
don't have a project idea, you are still welcome to join our list of
potential mentors for ideas that originate with students.

Actual project descriptions should ideally come by *January 22*, a week
before we officially go live with the project list on *January 29*, but we
will take on late requests from *previous mentors only* (including mentors
of previous non-accepted projects) on a case-by-case basis if they are well
described and properly scoped.

Project template:

Each submission should come *by email* and contain:

1) An *informative title* with relevant keywords (good-to-have: name of
tool/project, name of programming language)
2) A *project description* including a brief general intro, motivation,
aims, scope and skills/skill level needed. Please indicate 2-5 tech
keywords (Python, C++, Java, SQL, REST, CUDA, ...)
3) Name of *lead mentor* + a *named co-mentor or backup mentor* who would
be able and willing to back the main/contact mentor up in mentoring in case
something unforeseen happens (can be more than one, as long as you are
internally clear on who does what)
4) Any planned *longer absences* during the lead up/student interaction
period (*February 1 - April 19*, especially the last week) or the project
period (May 17 - *August 30*), and the plan for covering them.
5)* Format*: your choice - txt, doc, docx, pdf or a link to a webpage with
the full description(s). Anything that can be copied and pasted.

NB: Project ideas will be posted on *Neurostars.org* after the ideas list
goes live, and prospective mentors are expected to *join the forum and be
available* for questions from students during the run up to the
announcement (late Jan - early March) and the student interactions period
(March-April). This can be handled by email, mostly, if you prefer, once
you have set your NeuroStars account up.

Questions and project submissions: please email *malin at incf.org
<malin at incf.org>* AND cc *gsoc at incf.org <gsoc at incf.org>*.

Happy new year of coding!
/Malin

-- 
Malin Sandström, PhD
Community Engagement Officer
malin.sandstrom at incf.org

International Neuroinformatics Coordinating Facility
Karolinska Institutet
Nobels väg 15 A
SE-171 77  Stockholm
Sweden
http://www.incf.org
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