Work Package 5 – Training and Education

Work Package leader: Anouk Berger, International Agency for Research on Cancer, BergerA@iarc.fr

Work Package 5 (WP5) aims to develop and implement resources for education and training on the use of the eB3kit, including best practices in biobanking, bioinformatics data analysis, and data sharing with respect to the relevant ethics and regulations. By ensuring that the eB3kit is well integrated and used by pilot institutes (use cases), WP5 will contribute significantly to the effectiveness and sustainability of the project.

The eB3kit will be installed and tested in real-life settings (use cases), where key professionals involved will be trained. In order to produce learning material that is perfectly tailored to eB3kit developers and future users’ needs, a learning needs assessment (LNA) has recently been launched. Following a secondary data analysis of another LNA, performed in the framework of the Low- and Middle-Income Countries (LMIC) Biobank and Cohort Building Network (BCNet), eB3kit developers and future users will be consulted.

Besides knowledge and skills specific to eB3kit components (tool-specific), other competencies (core competencies) will be considered for the effective and sustainable use of the eB3kit. Available learning resources/opportunities within B3Africa and related collaborators will be identified, in order to maximize synergies between existing laboratory capacity-building initiatives.

Finally, learning materials developed throughout the implementation of the project will be produced as stand-alone generic resources organized as a standardized learning environment.

All of the above will enhance the ability to conduct training for new and/or developing biobanks, and therefore strongly contribute to creating a sustainable network of biospecimen repository infrastructures that interact and share knowledge between Europe and Africa.