Enhancing formal and professional training capacity in Biodiversity Informatics: Collaboration and funding opportunities Dimitris Koureas Natural History Museum London Jönköping, Sweden October 27-31, 2014

What is the state of play? How is defined? What could TDWG role be? Three key questions on Biodiversity Informatics training: 2 1 3

Define/Circumscribe the focal area of Biodiversity Informatics training How is Biodiversity Informatics training defined? How is Biodiversity informatics training different from training provided under : Bioinformatics Ecological informatics Health informatics Information systems and technology Data management 1

What is the current situation? MRes Computational Methods in Ecology and Evolution (was Biodiversity Informatics and Genomics) MSB Biodiversity Informatics Program Formal training - awarding academic credits Only a few dedicated master programmes Quite extensive list of programmes embedding Biodiversity Informatics training Just a few examples… 2

On-site courses Usually provided through subsidised training courses and workshops Professional training – not participating in academic credit systems What is the current situation? Online courses Training course on VREs in Leiden 2

Which could TDWG role be? Act as a networking platform bringing together people with interest and expertise in the domain 1 Liaise with existing training providers to coordinate activities and improve synergies 2 Develop a registry of facilities and people that can be contacted to host students and professionals or give lectures 3 Act as a training provider by organising related workshops & lectures through its members 4 Design comprehensive training modules that can be deployed within existing curricula 5 Participate as a direct partner in bigger consortia aiming at developing and delivering education and training activities on Biodiversity Informatics 6 3

Contributing to the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) Key action 1 Erasmus Mundus Joint Master Degrees Deadline of 4 March Key action 1: Learning Mobility of Individuals Key action 2: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices Key action 2 Sector skills alliances Deadline of 26 February 2015 Strategic partnerships in the field of education, training and youth Deadline of 30 April 2015 Funding opportunities

Working under the H2020 programme Call: SUPPORT TO INNOVATION, HUMAN RESOURCES, POLICY AND INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION Deadline Topic: New professions and skills for e-infrastructures H2020-INFRASUPP INFRASUPP Funding opportunities

New professions and skills: e-Infrastructure operators Research technologists (including those possessing computational skills, e.g. in parallel programming) Data scientists or "data librarians" Data scientists cannot be domain-agnostic, they need to be able to correctly contextualise the data they manage. A hybrid model of training new professions is required Working under the H2020 programme Funding opportunities

(1)Defining or updating university curricula for the e-infrastructure competences and promoting their adoption. (2) Developing and executing training programmes (including for lifelong learning) working as part of a team of researchers or supporting research teams. (3) Support the establishment of these professions as distinct professions from that of a researcher. Create a reference model which defines their competencies, supported by case studies and best practices relating to e-infrastructures skills, human resources management, support tools and related institutional practices. Develop alternatives means for recognising non-research contributions by research technologists and data scientists. (4) Support networking and information sharing among already practicing data scientists in research institutes and in higher education. (5) Awareness raising activities; establish and promote e-infrastructures community champions to advocate on new jobs and skills needs at schools, universities and scientific communities. One or more of the following areas: Funding opportunities

Marie Skłodowska-Curie Training Networks (ITN) Deadline Networks for doctoral training Early-Stage Researchers (ESRs) Working under the H2020 programme Topic: European Training Networks (ETN) MSCA-ITN-2015-ETN 6-10 partners (academic, non-academic, Industry) Funding opportunities

To financially support training and education activities we will need to liaise with academic, non-academic and industrial partners TDWG could act as a focal point for coordinating training activities and as a authoritative source for providing training on a programmatic or ad-hoc basis Funding opportunities

Opportunities for effective collaboration on Biodiversity Informatics training Research Data Alliance (RDA) Education and Training on handling of research data IG Global Biodiversity Information Facility Secretariat Liaise with e-infrastructure projects to coordinate actions and leverage Biodiversity informatics training Collaborate with universities that are champions in Biodiversity Informatics training

List of potential actions: Evaluate the needs of TDWG members against available methods and technologies; Develop consensus around new approaches to information sharing; Repository for sharing materials and ideas Create Task Groups to create specific products within specific time frames; Maintain and update products that continue to be useful Recommended material for use by the community

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