Data-driven Life Sciences course 2024

SciLifeLab as the coordinating entity of the DDLS programme is very proud to see that the development of training materials and delivery of courses on a national level is coming along. With the aim for SciLifeLab to establish a national course catalogue in data-driven life science, the contribution from the DDLS programme and its fellows, researchers and group members are key. This training collection (and others) will be found at the SciLifeLab Training Hub in the Training Portal (https://training.scilifelab.se/) and here all material is to be found to be openly accessible. The mission of the Training Hub is to make the course material FAIR so that learners beyond the course instances have access to the knowledge. With this the impact of training will increase.

In the fall the course “Data-driven life science 2024” will be given online following an onsite hackathon at SciLifeLab Solna (preliminary dates October 9-11). This course is free and is composed of 6 free-standing modules that is created by the DDLS fellow Wei Ouyang (wei.ouyang@scilifelab.se) together with DDLS fellows colleagues and staff-scientists at SciLifeLab such as the Bioinformatics platform. This course is its first of its kind within SciLifeLab where it is built-up by 6 freestanding modules each individually available to apply to and to get a certification from. The material will be openly available and made FAIR as to be accessible via the Training Hub portal. It is hence a course that with its design fosters a culture of Open Science and community building. Another beneficial part from this design-development-delivery of the course and its modules is that it targets a great range of professional development trajectories, from master students to PhD students and post-docs as well as to researchers and other experts wanting to be upskilled in the topic. The modules focus on skills rather than profession and this is something that the SciLifeLab Training Hub believes will come strong in the future as lifelong learning is key for any research infrastructure to be sustainable and resilient.

Module design

The “Data-driven life science 2024” course consists of a basic module and 5 elective modules. Each module is a stand-alone short-form course with 3 sessions per module. Completing all 6 modules earns a total of 7.5 ECTS. One of the principal objectives of this course is to instill in the learners a data-driven mindset essential for life science research. This is in alignment with the goals and objectives of both the SciLifeLab roadmap as well as the core part of the DDLS programme. More importantly, the modules aim to teach you the art of “learning how to learn”, which involves honing your ability to independently acquire new knowledge and skills. This is in perfect alignment with the Training Hub mission and objective, which is to quality assure the training  designed-developed-delivered from SciLifeLab. The modules will incorporate ChatGPT as this is a tool that serves as an excellent application to facilitate this self-directed learning process. Instead of focusing solely on the course content, the modules and the instructors encourage you to embrace this broader, skill-centric approach to education. The course will use this self-directed learning approach extensively in the computer lab and journal club sessions.

Course/Module information

Start date:                                               August 27, 2024 (week 35)

End date:                                                 October 6, 2024 (week 40)

Format:                                                    Online over Zoom

Duration:                                                 1 Module/week

Frequency:                                              One Module spans 3 days in a week (approximately 24-30 hours for a Module)

Deadline for registration: August 9

Course announcement: https://training.scilifelab.se/events/data-driven-life-sciences-course-2024