Bioinformatics Education Summit

The Bioinformatics education summit provides a platform for discussion, development and dissemination of advances, guidance and best practice for training and education in bioinformatics as part of a global network.

Held as a working meeting (rather than a conference or workshop), its goal is to promote the advancement of training and education through the development of resources, best practices and guidance for delivery, all of which are made openly available to the global community through its partner networks.

The first summit was held in Cape Town in 2019 under the auspices of H3ABioNet, with subsequent summits held virtually, hosted by different organisations with a key interest in training and education (EMBL-EBI, CABANA and APBionet). Outputs from previous summits have included a training guidance and resources portal (hosted by GOBLET); the third evolution of the ISCB bioinformatics competency framework and guidance on its implementation; best practices and resources for the delivery of bioinformatics training in LMICs; guidance and recommendations for virtual and hybrid course delivery; and a globally available virtual Train-the-Trainer course.

This year’s meeting will offer both in-person and virtual attendance and will focus on three main themes:

• Furthering the use and adoption of the ISCB competency framework through extending the framework itself to include health data science roles and developing further practical support for people to use it in developing training.
• Exploring how we can make our training and teaching more green, including improving compute practices for environmental sustainability
• Developing and sharing best practice for building and supporting communities of best practice in training.

There will also be opportunity to further review challenges and opportunities for developing and delivering training to participants in low resource settings, as well as participating in initiatives focused on ensuring that training materials are FAIR, train-the-trainer activities, and much more.

If you are involved in the design and delivery of bioinformatics training and education and would like to spend 3 days working with a global community of trainers and educators to develop guidance and practice with impact on a global scale, then please join us!

The workshop will start at approximately 12.00 on Monday 15 May and close at approximately 16:00 on Wednesday 17 May 2023. All times are in BST. See the time where you are here.

Main Themes:

• Competencies: Implementing, extending and accrediting competencies
• Fostering communities of practice
• Green training and compute
• FAIRify training materials
• Train the Trainer
• Training in LMICs

Programme committee and organisers

Dusanka Nikolic
Wellcome Connecting Science, UK

Alice Matimba
Wellcome Connecting Science, UK

Kim Gurwitz
EMBL-EBI

Sarah Morgan
Hogsden Consultants, UK

Treasa Creavin
Wellcome Connecting Science, UK

Lucy Criddle
Wellcome Connecting Science, UK

As this is a working meeting, priority will be given to those involved in the design and delivery of bioinformatics training and education.

How to Apply
Please complete the online application form. It is possible to attend in person or virtually. Places on site are limited. If you have any problems with the online application process, please contact the event organiser.

Application deadline: 28 March 2023

Travel visas
Citizens of many countries can travel to the UK to attend a course or conference without needing a visa. Please check the UK government website for visitor information: https://www.gov.uk/standard-visitor.

Confirmed attendees requiring a letter to support a visa application should contact the event organiser.

The Bioinformatics Education Summit is free to attend. Registration, accommodation (on site) for 15 and 16 May, and catering is being funding by Wellcome Connecting Science.  Delegates will be responsible for arranging and funding their own travel.

Bursaries

A limited number of travel bursaries (up to a maximum of 500 EURO per individual) are available for eligible applicants.

Eligible applicants can apply for a travel bursary to attend the summit if they would otherwise be prevented from attending.

For more information about the travel bursaries and for how to apply, contact the EMBL-EBI training team.

Travel bursaries are made possible through the RItrainPlus, a co-organiser of the Education Summit. The RItrainPlus project received funding from European Union’s H2020 programme under grant agreement no.101008503.

Bursary Deadline: 20 March 2023

Extra accommodation
If you wish to book onsite accommodation either side of the course dates, please contact the Conference Centre directly.

Accommodation services phishing scam – please be vigilant. More information.

This year’s meeting is organised by:

Thanks to all supporters and collaborators of the Bioinformatics Education summit: