Pedro Fernandes Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência Portugal

For Bioinformatics, the transition to an established, free-standing scientific discipline has been a difficult one. Part of the challenge has been that, being intimately connected to the forefront of data-generation and discovery in Biology, it is constantly dealing with moving targets: the massive accumulation of data and fast rates of discovery call for new methodologies, each of which must be designed, tested, validated and deployed. Bioinformatics therefore plays catch-up with the technologies, as they develop. This situation is compounded by the difficulties in defining the curriculum. In consequence, Bioinformatics Education, multidisciplinary as much as required, is not standardised, and most of what people really need cannot be taken from the formal educational system alone. Furthermore, the field moves so quickly that it is easy to become quickly out of date, and this places a growing demand on the need for specialised training, under constant update.

In Bioinformatics, training (the acquisition of specialised skills) is provided in stand-alone courses, workshops and summer courses. Practical hands-on courses can cut time/effort by a factor of 4 to 6 compared to self-tuition. However, efficient training requires tuned methodologies. The availability of such training events is still relatively scarce. Moreover, the work and cost involved in organising them is often underestimated, so care should be taken to optimise and advertise them well.

Training clearly plays an important role. The interdisciplinary character of Bioinformatics constantly creates new needs. Many of these needs occur at different stages of the traditional research career, often during PhD or Postdoctoral projects, but also at more senior levels. As Biology continues to transition into an information-based science, the need for training at all levels will continue to grow.

In planning for Bioinformatics Training it is of paramount importance to promote good practice in all aspects, from the development of suitable educational materials and course curricula, to the choice of efficient trainers and the specification of adequate learning environments.

This special session proposes to bring together opinion-makers in the field in order to promote vigorous discussions on:

- Methodologies of Training
- Layout of Training Plans (Roadmaps)
- Deployment of Training Content using IT
- Documentation
- Planning on a Multi-country Scale

Short Papers (position paper type) are welcome on a variety of related subjects, in particular in:

- Design of Training Events
- Measurement of Training Efficiency
- Planning of Training Venues
- Use of e-Learning and b-Learning Platforms in Bioinformatics
- Subject and Trainer Selection

Authors should present original work or new reviews. Mohamed Abouelhoda, Nile University, Egypt
Teresa Attwood, University of Manchester, United Kingdom
Shifra Ben-Dor, Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel
Marie-Claude Blatter, Swiss Bioinformatics Institute, Switzerland
Thomas Holberg Blicher, University of Copenhagen, Denmark
Michelle Brazas, Canadian Bioinformatics Workshop, Canada
Catherine Brooksbank, European Bioinformatics Institute, United Kingdom
Aiden Budd, European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL), Germany
Mario Cannataro, University of Catanzaro, Italy
Shahid Nadeem Chohan, COMSATS Institute of Information Technology, Pakistan
Ana Conesa, Centro de Investigaciones Príncipe Felipe, Spain
Hernan Dopazo, Centro de Investigacion Príncipe Felipe, Spain
Joaquin Dopazo, Centro de Investigacion Príncipe Felipe, Spain
Bruno Gaeta, University of New South Wales, Australia
Andreas Gisel, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR), Italy
Sophia Kossida, Academy of Athens, Greece
Jennifer McDowall, European Bioinformatics Institute, United Kingdom
Luciano Milanesi, Institute for Biomedical Technologies ITB - CNR, Italy
Federico Moran, Universidad Computense Madrid, Spain
Georgina Moulton, University of Manchester, United Kingdom
Javier De Las Rivas, Universidad de Salamanca, Spain
Paolo Romano, National Cancer Research Institute of Genoa, Italy
Kristian Rother, Academis Training Kristian Rother, Germany
Victoria Schneider, European Bioinformatics Institute, United Kingdom
Anna Tramontano, Universita di Roma "La Sapienza", Italy
Allegra Via, Universita di Roma "La Sapienza", Italy
James Watson, European Bioinformatics Institute, United Kingdom All accepted papers (full, short and posters) will be published in a special section of the conference proceedings book - under an ISBN reference and on CD-ROM support - and submitted for indexation by Thomson Reuters Conference Proceedings Citation Index (ISI), INSPEC, DBLP and EI (Elsevier Index).
All papers presented at the conference venue will be available at the SciTePress Digital Library (http://www.scitepress.org/DigitalLibrary/). SciTePress is member of CrossRef (http://www.crossref.org/).

 

Last update: 13.2.2012 · © INSTICC