• Is the ISOP relevant to my research?
  The ISOP encompasses a number of different disciplines (ecology, parasitology, evolution, cell biology…). If the model system that you are working on is a protozoan, then the Society probably presents a good place to get to know other people in your specific field and, even better, people in other fields that could be useful to your question.
  
  
• Why bother joining the ISOP as a student?
  Being a member of a professional society (any society, not just the ISOP) shows professional involvement; one of those vague terms that scholarship/fellowship applications likes to throw around. So get involved.
  The ISOP, in particular, is good because student membership is cheap (half the price of the regular membership) at $40 USD per year. That gives you an online subscription to the Journal of Eukaryotic Microbiology, which publishes 6 issues per year. Every member also gets pages charges waived for four pages in the Journal of Eukaryotic Microbiology per year. Page charges for the journal are on par with other publications. Naturally, you still have to get your article accepted and the Journal of Eukaryotic Microbiology is an excellent place to publish. But the math on the page charge issue is a simple problem.
  You also get to be a part of an academic body that has been in existence for more than 50 years. ISOP sponsors meetings, provides student awards, travel money and is just a good way to get in touch with other academics of similar interests to your own. Ok …sales pitch over. It's good, it's useful, it's inexpensive. Join us!
  
  
• Student awards you say?
  The "Theodore L. Jahn and Eugene C. Bovee Award " is made to the graduate student presenting the best paper or poster at the annual meeting.
  
  
• Travel money you say?
  The "George G. Holz, Jr. & Robert L. Conner Travel Fund " is used for travel awards, especially for students and young investigators, to promote participation in annual meetings of the International Society of Protistologists. An application form is available.
  
  
• Getting in touch with other members you say?
  One service provided by the ISOP is to maintain a contact list of protozoologists. This will facilitate contact with potential supervisors, and collaborators. There is also a list of employment opportunities for young researchers.
  

Any actual questions that you might have can be addressed to the student representative on the executive committee, Tomás Pánek.