“Train-the-trainer” approach to improve global capacity and skills in low- and middle income-countries (LMICs)
In 2019, working together with Wellcome Genome Campus Advanced Courses and Scientific Conferences , with the support of the National Institute for Health Research , we designed and rolled out a new week-long course designed to develop and improve capacity and skills in genomic surveillance of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in low- and middle-income countries.
Building on existing learning, training, scientific and technical expertise, this first iteration of the course brought together scientists from 13 LMICs, including our GHRU’s partner centres in Nigeria, Colombia, Philippines and India.
Our train-the-trainer course aimed to improve global capacity and skills in low- and middle income-countries
- Participants from 13 countries.
- External speakers and trainers from WHO, Public Health England, University of Liverpool, University of Ibadan, University of St. Andrews, EMBL-EBI
Feedback from Participants
- “I feel that all modules are important and well carried out, and should be included in future courses. Best part for me was the people in the course (trainers, participants, visitors and organizers) – all were very happy, helpful and friendly”
- “ The pedagogy modules did a phenomenal job. The phylogeny module was exceptional.”
- “Pedagogy was very helpful. It will definitely change the the way I do workshops in my home place.”
Course Curriculum
- Bioinformatics Infrastructure and pipelines, Phylogeny, Genotypic AMR predictions
- Lab methodologies: Assembling the WGS technology suite, Phenotypic characterisation – IS/AST, Quality Assurance
- Pedagogy: Pedagogical theory, training and learning techniques, Module Design Project
- A thorough course summary and introduction can be found here.
Feedback from the trainers
Training scientists to deliver knowledge and expertise directly to others within existing or newly established surveillance programmes in their own research and public health communities is a key strategy behind building capacity, in a sustainable way, worldwide. This course was an excellent way to increase our ability to help grow surveillance capacity in LMICs, through an extended global network of AMR labs.
Dr Silvia Argimon,
The week-long programme, which we aim to run annually, provides a combination of pedagogical training on fundamental principles and practices of teaching, along with hands-on exercises specifically designed around training others in the laboratory and bioinformatics workflows for generating and interpreting AMR surveillance data – all with a focus on discussion-based, interactive learning and the importance of collaboration and sharing data. Our training is augmented by keynote seminars from scientists involved in global AMR surveillance programmes, projects and resources, including the WHO’s Global Antimicrobial Resistance Surveillance System
Genomic Epidemiologist at
The Centre for Genomic Pathogen Surveillance
