The 2024 edition of the EMBL-EBI ‘Managing a bioinformatics core facility’ course was organised once more with the collaboration of RItrainPlus.
The course took place on 29-31 October 2024 at EMBL-EBI training facilities in Hinxton, UK. In total, 14 managers (including 7 female and 7 male participants) from institutions placed in three different continents joined the course as participants to be trained on the skills and knowledge necessary to effectively run bioinformatics core facilities.
Briefly, the programme focused on strategies for designing and resourcing core facilities services, understanding funding and finances, and implementing project management approaches. Participants engaged in interactive sessions to share experiences, discuss challenges, and explore solutions to meet the evolving demands of the molecular life science field.
As a novelty, the 2024 edition of the course introduced a session on “Impact pathway logic” which aimed to help participants design frameworks to assess and demonstrate the impact of their core facilities.
The feedback collected at the end of the course showed great satisfaction among the participants, with 62.5% of the respondents rating the course as ‘Excellent’ (5 out of 5) and the remaining 37.5% rating it as ‘Very Good’ (4 out of 5). All the respondents stated that they would recommend the course. Some reflections from the participants are included below.
“I’m impressed by the “Managing a Bioinformatics Core Facility” course. In just three days, it provided valuable knowledge to participants from diverse backgrounds—bioinformatics, IT, and medicine—at various experience levels. The course was expertly designed, with well-chosen trainers from different regions and practices. I now feel confident returning home, equipped with the methods, tools, and key questions (as guideposts for my roadmap) in an area where I previously didn’t know where to begin. Plus, I’ve gained a strong professional network along the way. Special thanks to Patricia (Carvajal) and Barbara (Etzi).”
“The course was everything I expected and much more. I liked that everything was straight forward and organized on high level. The speakers were very well assorted to the subjects that they were presenting. The material was perfectly build around most common challenges that bioinformatics facility managers can face. The mix of theoretical and practical parts was very beneficial to the entire learning process. I really enjoyed taking this course.”
Once more, we want to thank all our organisers and trainers for their time and dedication, all of the course participants for their enthusiasm and interest. An additional thanks to RITrainPlus for supporting participants for attending this course under the Staff and Knowledge Exchange programme scheme, and for promoting and disseminating the event through its networks.
