Annual Scientific Report 2015

Train online, EMBL-EBI’s web-based training resource,
is the fastest growing part of our training programme.
In 2015 it had 214 470 visitors (compare with 132 890 in
2014), a figure based on unique IP addresses, which may
represent any number of users at a single institute. The
redesign had a positive impact on the discoverability
of Train online courses: by the end of the year, between
25 000 and 30 000 unique IP addresses were accessing
the resource every month. To keep pace with demand,
we supported our colleagues throughout EMBL-EBI
to develop or update 20 courses. We also launched
a webinar series, helping our colleagues deliver 19
web-based presentations over the course of the year.
These presentations were recorded and made available
through Train online immediately after the live event.
Over the past three years we have developed, tested
and implemented a process for supporting trainers
outside EMBL-EBI to deliver high-quality training
based on the EMBL-EBI model (Watson-Haigh et al.,
2013). In May 2015 we launched our in-house Trainer
Support Programme, basing it on similar principles.
We developed a one-day workshop that introduces
scientists with little training experience to EMBL-EBI’s
training methodology and philosophy, then pairs up
new trainers with an experienced trainer, who mentors
them and supports them as they develop and deliver
their own training. The programme enabled us to train
19 new trainers in 2015 and was extended to include
other EMBL sites and other institutes on the Wellcome
Genome Campus. We continued our trainer-support
collaborations Africa in a collaboration with the
H3Africa initiative, and with Australia through the
Australian Bioinformatics Network.
European training infrastructure
We are a partner in EMTRAIN, an Innovative Medicines
Initiative project to establish a pan-European
platform for professional development, covering the
whole life cycle of medicines research. In 2015 we
coordinated a successful workshop on continuing
professional development in the biomedical sciences
and continued to contribute to on-course®, EMTRAIN’s
comprehensive online course catalogue. Short courses
continue to be the fastest growing part of the catalogue,
and our team made a major contribution to this growth.
Another new addition is the on-course toolkit for
trainers, which provides training methods, tips and
tricks for trainers in the biomedical sciences.
Future plans
Working with our training colleagues in ELIXIR
and other European research infrastructures, we
have secured funding to support some exciting new
pan-European training projects, the following of which
began in late 2015:
Cath Brooksbank
Training Programme
PhD in Biochemistry, University of Cambridge,
1993. Elsevier Trends, Cambridge and London,
United Kingdom, 1993–2000. Nature Reviews,
London, 2000–2002.
At EMBL-EBI since 2002.
RItrain, developing an executive curriculum in
management and leadership of research infrastructure;
CORBEL, developing a curriculum for technical
operators of biomedical research infrastructures, as part
of a broader programme to develop shared services for
life science;
ELIXIR-excelerate, developing ELIXIR’s training
platform, as part of ELIXIR’s broader work plan to
develop pan-European research infrastructure for
biological data. Our focus is on a trainer support
programme for ELIXIR trainers and on developing
and collecting shared key performance indicators
for training;
BioExcel, a pilot project to develop a new Centre of
Excellence supporting academia and industry to make
the most of high-end computing in biomolecular
research. Our focus is on gathering training needs and
developing a training programme for users of the centre.
These projects will enable EMBL-EBI to contribute
towards shaping the continuing professional
development of Europe’s research community, in both
bioinformatics and transferrable skills necessary for all
successful research professionals.
Selected publications
Attwood T.K., Bongcam-Rudloff E., Brazas M.E.,
et al. (2015) GOBLET: the Global Organisation for
Bioinformatics Learning, Education and Training. PLoS
Comput. Biol. 11 p.e1004143 (DOI: 10.1371/journal.
pcbi.1004143)
Brooksbank, C., Janko, C., Johnson, C., et al. (2015)
LifeTrain: Driving lifelong learning for biomedical
professionals. J. Med. Dev. Sci. 1, 41-47 (DOI: http://
dx.doi.org/10.18063/JMDS.2015.02.001)
Brooksbank C, Johnson C. (2015) Europe: Lifelong
learning for all in biomedicine. Nature 524, 415 (DOI:
10.1038/524415c)
Watson-Haigh NS, Shang CA, Haimel M, et al. (2013)
Next-generation sequencing: a challenge to meet the
increasing demand for training workshops in Australia.
Brief. Bioinform. 14: 563-574
National School of Healthcare Science (2015) HSST
Clinical Bioinformatics (Genomics) - Wider review. In:
NHS Health Education England website. http://bit.ly/
NHSbioinformatics
2015 EMBL-EBI Annual Scientific Report 126