The first Train-the-Trainer course – A great success

In April, SciLifeLab delivered its first instance of the Train-the-Trainer training programme and its current four modules covering how learning works, creation of SMARTIE Learning Outcomes and assessment amongst other things. The material is built from the ELIXIR-GOBLET Train-the-Trainer initiative. The SciLifeLab course instance in April targeted specifically staff-scientists at SciLifeLab and other national and international Research Infrastructures with the aim to capacity build the trainer community in training skills. Within ELIXIR and via the European Project STEERS, training skills has been recognised as a core skill for research infrastructure staff as part of the research infrastructure to maintain sustainability and resilience. In line with this, SciLifeLab adopts this notion and now has the Train-the-Trainer course as part of its core-skill course catalogue for SciLifeLab staff-scientists and others.

The SciLifeLab Train-the-Trainer course was fully online and delivered one afternoon, once a week across 4 instances turned out to be a great success. In the end, the course received 46 applications from a spread of national and international applicants. Twenty-seven applicants were accepted. Of these the majority was from the SciLifeLab ecosystem of platforms, sites and Capabilities and in addition we accepted participants from the European Project PHENET, the SciLifeLab/MaxIV/ESS project InfraLife, ENCCS, ELIXIR and the Human Technopole. The high application rate for the course, both from a national and international level, mirrors the demand of training skills across infrastructures and organisations that have training as part of their service and support strategy. Also, the recognition of SciLifeLab having the skills to train and capacity build others is directly shown with this high number of applications. The feedback after the course was overwhelmingly positive, with a 4.7/5 course satisfaction score, and all survey respondents indicated that they recommend the course to others, that they felt their pedagogical knowledge had been improved, and that the course was held at a level that matched their training. SciLifeLab intends to deliver this course annually in addition to creating and adding more modules to the programme, to meet the needs of the community to deliver core-skills training for staff-scientists, managers and technology experts in Research Infrastructures as well as to offer greater flexibility and customizability for participants. Such a dedicated training catalogue and training programme will be of great importance and produce strong impact for the career developmental trajectories for staff-scientists within Research Infrastructures, national and international ones. Here, SciLifeLab with its Training Hub aims to take the lead nationally, showcasing that Research Infrastructures carries a breadth of core knowledge and skills that are indispensable for lifelong learning, retaining knowledge and growing staff-scientists in their professional development.

Looking ahead, SciLifeLab will in September provide another course from the training catalogue of core skills, “FAIR Training Material by design”, which aims to teach experts, trainers and course/content creators how to make their training materials FAIR. This course is a collaboration between VIB, NBIS and SciLifeLab Training Hub and will be delivered at SciLifeLab Uppsala on 18–19th of September (link to course information and application). “The course is an important step towards SciLifeLab aim to implement and adopt Open Science and FAIR,” says Jessica Lindvall, SciLifeLab Head of Training, and continues “There is a cultural shift that is needed for Open Science to become Science, and here we at the Training Hub believes training plays a pivotal role for this going forward and where training is a impactful and powerful means to reach this goal. SciLifeLab, as a national Research Infrastructure, has a unique position with its gold treasure of knowledge and skills in the staff-scientists working in the ecosystem and can therefore with great impact capacity build the research community”.