Training vision

1. Training vision Cath Brooksbank, EMBL-EBI Vicky Schneider, EMBL-EBI Anna Tramontano, CRS4

2. WP11: Training Strategy Committee • Terri Attwood, University of Manchester, UK • Thomas Blicher, Technical University of Denmark, Lyngby, Denmark • Cath Brooksbank (co-chair) EMBL-EBI, Hinxton, Cambridge, UK • Janusz Bujnicki, International Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology, Warsaw, Poland • Pedro Fernandes, Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência, Oerias, Portugal • Matthias Haury, EMBL, Heidelberg, Germany • Heta Kero, CSC - Scientific Computing Ltd., Espoo, Finland • Hans Werner Mewes, German National Center for Health and Environment, Neuherberg, Germany • Tommi Nyronen, CSC - Scientific Computing Ltd., Espoo, Finland • Vicky Schneider (project manager), EMBL-EBI, Hinxton, Cambridge, UK • Anna Tramontano (chair), CRS4, Pula, Sardinia, Italy • Kari Tuononen, University of Helsinki, Finland • Jaak Vilo, University of Tartu, Tartu, Estonia

3. WP11 Stakeholder consultation phase • Survey of bioinformatics user training throughout Europe • Gap analysis: • Subject area • Geographical spread • Technical feasibility study to compare effectiveness of elearning vs face-to-face training for bioinformatics • Recommendations for ELIXIR’s future training strategy: • Training, not education • Pan-European, not national • www.elixir-europe.org/page.php?page=reports

4. Integrate training with services • Training/outreach staff as an integral part of the funding mechanism for ELIXIR data resources, tools and standards • An early warning system to alert trainers to any major updates to a resource that will have knock-on effects on user training. ELIXIR’s training NODES must therefore include data, tool and standards nodes Funding for ELIXIR data resources, tools and standards must include training headcount

5. Provide central coordination • Build and maintain a centralised training registry of information relating to bioinformatics user training • Develop benchmarking and evaluation systems • Coordinate support and developmental opportunities for trainers • Enable the development of new training programmes and their integration with existing initiatives • Act as a central point for interaction with other pan-European training infrastructures ELIXIR’s training HUB must have the expertise and the funding to fulfil these coordination functions

6. Node suggestions • Of the 45 node suggestions received by 12 July 2010, 31 included a training component, most as part of a broader offering • Three training only nodes >1 application domain Environmental research Agricultural research Drug discovery research Medical research IT training facilities

7. What can the nodes contribute? ELIXIR ACTIVITIES • Training expertise and facilities • eLearning expertise and infrastructure • Training throughout Europe on the bioinformatics resources provided by a node • Application expertise and use cases based on their own specialty • OTHER ACTIVITIES (not within ELIXIR’s scope) • National training on ELIXIR resources

8. What do they want from the hub? Support for extramural training • Support for organising training events • Shared repository of training materials • A community that shares training expertise, including ‘train the trainer’ sessions • Support for intramural training • Training in areas of bioinformatics where they don’t currently consider themselves to be expert this would be provided to ELIXIR participants by the relevant nodes

9. A virtuous circle ‘Trainer in residence’ Training Hub Developer Trainer User

10. Next steps • WP11 to engage with originators of node suggestions to: • Clarify what is in scope and what is not • Further define what each node has to offer to ELIXIR’s training infrastructure • Recommend that full node applications for databases, tools and standards contain a training action plan, detailing resources needed to create, update and deliver user training on their services • Recommend that full applications for training-specific nodes focus on describing which parts of the WP11 strategy they can address on a pan-European level

11. Thank you cath@ebi.ac.uk