This year, FEMS selected Dr Valerie de Anda, Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of Texas at Austin, to receive the Award and attend FEMS2019. The Jury of the FEMS-ASM Mäkelä-Cassell Travel Award 2019 for Early Career Scientists selected her abstract from various very good nominations as it is “well-done and impactful”. Dr Valerie de Anda’s abstract on Brockarchaeota has also been selected for an oral presentation in the Workshop Extreme environments that will be held on Tuesday 8 July 2019 14:30 – 17:00 in the Clyde Auditorium.