WP12 - Training

Task 1: Workshops for project participants and documentation of resources developed

This task will deliver four workshops aimed at the BioMedBridges project participants during the first three years of the project, beginning towards the end of year 1. The topics of these workshops will be defined by the personnel working on each of the technical workpackages, and coordinated by a full-time scientific training and outreach officer whose duties will be divided between this workpackage and wp02 (outreach). This individual will maintain an overview of the entire programme, work with the representatives from the technical workpackages to develop the programmes for each workshop, ensure that the workshops are promoted effectively to relevant people within the project, and chair each workshop. The personnel working on the technical workpackages will therefore need to dedicate a small but significant part of their time (estimated at two person months per workpackage throughout the project) to developing their workshop programmes and delivering training.

Workshop topics

Suggested topics include (but are not limited to) the following. This is likely to evolve, and workshop topics may merge or become further specialised as the project progresses.

• Practical solutions to interoperability standards development. This workshop will be led by WP3 (standards) and the main target audience will be WP4 (technical integration). The goal will be to enable those integrating the different BMS RI data sets to do so using an agreed set of standards and molecular identifiers defined by WP3. Input from the use cases will ensure that discussions and actions remain rooted in practical solutions to real data integration problems. The technology watch group will select trainers who can educate the delegates about any new developments beyond BioMedBridges that might provide solutions to ongoing interoperability problems within the project.
• Practical solutions to secure data access. This workshop will be led by WP5 (Secure access) and the main target audience will be WP4 (technical integration). The goal of the workshop will be to enable those constructing the links between the BMS RIs’ data sets to do so in a way that respects the rights of patients and healthy volunteers without impeding legitimate research. This workshop will include sessions led by experts on ethical and legal aspects of personal data sharing, and may involve representatives from patient groups.
• Practical solutions to development of web services. This will be led by WP4 (technical integration) and the main target audience will be the use cases (WPs 6–10). The goal will be to inform the development of programmatic access to integrated data sets spanning several BMS RIs and to develop workflows that reflect the needs of researchers using the BMS RIs. Input from the use cases will ensure that discussions and actions remain rooted in practical solutions to real data integration problems. The technology watch group will select trainers who can educate the delegates about any new web service or search technologies beyond BioMedBridges.
• Practical solutions to database development and interoperability. This will be led by WP4 (technical integration) and the target audience will be the use cases. The goal of the workshop will be to stimulate the development of integrated search tools spanning multiple BMS-RIs. This workshop will also include opportunities for the different use cases to learn from each other.
  Workshops will be short and intensive (2–3 days), based on a combination of presentations, discussions, practical computer-based problem solving, and documentation writing. Each workshop will be hosted by a different BMS RI.

As these workshops are intended to define, and begin to action, a set of practical solutions, numbers of delegates will be kept small and that the ratio of trainers to delegates high – typically 5 trainers and 20 delegates in each workshop making 25 in total.

Logistics and administrative support (registrations, inviting trainers, travel arrangements, answering delegates’ queries, etc.) will be provided by the BioMedBridges project manager with support from the EMBL-EBI’s Outreach and Training Team. We will use events management systems and standard operating procedures that are already successfully running at the EMBL-EBI. The fact that we have considerable experience of running courses and workshops, and tried and tested systems for doing so, represents excellent added value for BioMedBridges.

Documentation

An outcome of each workshop will be the production of documentation to support the target audience of each workshop in implementing what they have learned. The trainers and trainees will take joint responsibility for writing clear guidelines for a specific topic. On the last day of each workshop, the delegates will define a set of frequently asked questions, and will work with the speakers/trainers to produce a clear set of answers. The BioMedBridges Scientific Training Officer will compile, edit and make this documentation available, initially to project members, and ultimately to end-users of the services developed by BioMedBridges. Members of personnel from the technical workpackages will take responsibility for keeping this documentation up to date.

Task 2: Training for end-users of the BMS RIs

In the fourth year of the project we will deliver training to end users of the integrated services developed by BioMedBridges. We will deliver two courses, which will be a combination of lectures, demos, discussions and hands-on computer-based tutorials. Personnel from the use cases will deliver these courses, and each course will be aimed at a different target audience – one focused on fundamental research, the other on translational and clinical research.

By the end of year 3 of BioMedBridges, we anticipate that the individual BMS research infrastructures will be funded and are likely to be running training programmes for their own stakeholders. Using materials developed for the abovementioned courses, and our extensive network of training contacts developed through other initiatives such as the IMI Education and Training projects, we will also make the most of any opportunities to support these training programmes. We will also identify appropriate conferences at which we can offer training
workshops.