ECDC Virtual Academy (EVA)

E-learning

This course focuses on the basics of outbreak investigation. It introduces knowledge of concepts, basic principles, and the succession of actions. At the end of the course, the participant will have sufficient knowledge and basic skills to work in an outbreak investigation team. The course uses a basic teaching model: ‘introduction, demonstration, exercise and reflection’. Course design is modular, with text, graphics, media (video lectures) and quizzes embedded in each module. The course is designed as an unmoderated, self-paced course, i.e. participants can set their own schedule. The different sections are intended to be done sequentially, but the course does not need to be completed all at once.

Duration: 6 to 8 hours of active learning.

Audience: This course targets public health professionals with no prior knowledge of outbreak investigation. It may also be used as a refreshment module prior to taking advanced courses in outbreak investigation.

Objectives: Upon completing the course, the participant will be able to: 

• Recognise the steps necessary to conduct an outbreak investigation; 
• Describe the activities involved in each of the 10 steps of outbreak investigation; 
• Discuss the different application of the outbreak investigation steps for different situations.

Participation: This course is open for public enrolment.

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E-learning

The course focuses on planning, conducting and generating rapid risk assessments and introduces basic concepts, principles and the succession of actions. At the end of the course, the participant will have sufficient knowledge and basic skills to be involved in a team producing rapid risk assessments. The course uses a basic teaching model: ‘introduction, demonstration, exercise and reflection’. The course design is modular, with text, graphics, media (video lectures) and quizzes embedded in each module. Two case studies are introduced to exemplify the various steps. The course is designed as an unmoderated, self-paced course, i.e. participants can set their own schedule. The different sections of the course are intended to be taken sequentially, but the course does not need to be completed all at once.

Duration: 3 to 5 hours of active learning.

Audience: Public health professionals with no prior knowledge of producing rapid risk assessments.

Objectives: Upon completion of the course, the participant will be able to:

• Recognise the components (steps) of rapid risk assessment production;
• Describe what is expected to be done in each step;
• Contribute to a team working on rapid risk assessment production.

Participation: This course is open for public enrolment.

E-learning

PRECEPT (Project on a Framework for Rating Evidence in Public Health) was initiated by ECDC to help translate the concepts and principles of evidence-based medicine into the area of public health, in particular infectious disease epidemiology, prevention, and control. PRECEPT presents a methodology for assessing and grading the strength of the evidence in such decision-relevant domains as burden of disease, risk factors, diagnostics, and interventions. The course is designed as an unmoderated, self-paced course, i.e. participants can set their own schedule. The different sections of the course are intended to be taken sequentially, but the course does not need to be completed all at once. A knowledge assessment tool is available in a mini simulation format.

Duration: Approximately 2 to 3 hours.

Audience: Public health professionals from all career levels with limited or no experience with evidence-based methods, in particular professionals involved in the conduct of evidence appraisals and the development of public health guidance. The course can be useful for any health-related professional or student. Basic knowledge of different study designs and possible sources of bias is helpful.

Objectives: Upon completion of the course, the participant will be able to: 

• Understand, name, and explain the different steps and domains of PRECEPT; 
• Identify and frame relevant questions in the different domains; 
• Understand the concept of study validity and apply quality appraisal for different study designs in different domains; 
• Apply the GRADE approach to different domains to determine the strength of a body of evidence.

Participation: This course is open for public enrolment.

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E-learning

This online course aims to improve skills in writing and reviewing scientific abstracts. The examples used will have a field epidemiology focus, such as outbreak investigations. Training methods include online lectures and exercises. Because this is a self-paced course, participants can decide on the distribution of time they wish to invest on each module of the course.

Duration: 2 hours.

Audience: Public health professionals in the field of disease prevention and control.

Objectives: After completing this course, participants will be able to:

• Explain the importance of writing a good abstract;
• Identify the key components of an abstract;
• Outline the steps in writing an abstract; and
• Outline the steps in reviewing someone else's abstract.

Participation: This course is open for public enrolment.

E-learning

IMPORTANT: Please note that this course is being updated.

This EpiPulse e-learning course is available only to EpiPulse users. It is is divided into different modules and is self-paced, meaning that participants can advance at their own pace for example by pausing in between or leaving and coming back later. The course also contains reference material, such as video tutorials and FAQs. You can always come back later to look at this or to take a module again.

Duration:  Approximately 3 hours.

Audience: EpiPulse users.

Objective: Upon completion of this e-learning course, participants will be able to:

• Understand what EpiPulse is and why it should be used;
• Contextualise EpiPulse in the current European regulatory environment; and
• Understand the functionalities of EpiPulse.

Participation: This course is only available to users of EpiPulse.

E-learning

The course is designed as an unmoderated, self-paced course, i.e. participants can set their own schedule. The different sections of the course are intended to be taken sequentially, but the course does not need to be completed all at once.

Duration: 2 to 3 hours.

Audience: Public health professionals, laboratory scientists, epidemiologists working on influenza surveillance.

Objectives: This course aims to enhance knowledge of the basic bioinformatics tools available for the analysis of sequencing data and of the interpretation, comparison and analysis of influenza sequence data, with a focus on haemagglutinin and neuraminidase genes. Upon completion of the course, the participant will be able to: 

• Understand Sanger and Next Generation Sequencing data analysis pipelines for HA and NA gene sequences; 
• Retrieve sequences from public databases (GISAID and Genbank);
• Understand HA and NA gene sequence alignments, mutations and SNP analysis for resistance (BioEdit); 
• Use phylogeny software: basic concepts and instructions for phylogenetic analysis (MEGA); 
• Visualise and annotate phylogenetic trees.

Participation: This course is open for public enrolment.

E-learning

This course will focus on the legal context of data-sharing in communicable disease prevention and control, particularly on issues relating to the exchange of health data in joint databases and between different legal systems. The course will provide the participants with essential knowledge in overcoming these challenges. The course uses a basic teaching model: ‘introduction, demonstration, exercise and reflection’. The course design is modular, with text, graphics, media (video lectures), and quizzes embedded in each module. The course is designed as an unmoderated, self-paced course, i.e. participants can set their own schedule. The different sections of the course are intended to be taken sequentially, but the course does not need to be completed all at once.

Duration: 3 hours.

Audience: The course will be useful for public health professionals working in communicable diseases surveillance, data collection, data administration, and clinical research.

Objective: Upon completion of the course, participants will be able to: 

• Understand the basic concepts of Regulation (EU) 2016/679 and its impact on the management and analysis of health data in the context of communicable disease surveillance; 
• Understand the relationship between EU legislation and national legislation applicable for public health data; 
• Recognise the challenges in data-sharing during essential public health operations such as outbreak investigations and public health surveillance;
•  Understand the concept of ‘open access’ and how it is applied to scientific publications and research data; 
• Identify a question related to data-sharing in public health and consult a legal expert for advice.

Participation: This course is open for public enrolment.

E-learning

This course is designed for health professionals and is available in all 24 official EU Languages. Similar courses are arranged differently targeting trainers and coaches, law enforcement officers, and social workers. This course in migration and health was created by the consortium Train 4 Migrant & Health in 2019 and is the property of the European Commission. Audience: Public health professionals. Objectives: By the end of this course, participants will:  Understand the complexity of the health needs, challenges, and risks faced by migrant populations; Recognise factors of vulnerability and be able to assess migrants' health conditions;  Be familiar with practical tools to deal with people in acute stress;  Be familiar with tools to deal with and communicate efficiently with migrant populations. Participation: This course is open for public enrolment.

E-learning

This online tutorial is designed to support the users of The European Surveillance System (TESSy) on how to use the recently added functionalities to report COVID-19 cases.

Duration: 10 minutes.

Audience: Public Health Professionals.

Objectives: At the end of this e-learning, you should be able to: 

• Understand how to access TESSy;
• Report a single case of COVID-19 using the online form;
• Report multiple cases of COVID-19 using a CSV file;
• Report aggregated cases of COVID-19 together with testing data; Understand the importance of reporting case-based data even when reporting in aggregated format.

Participation: Although this tutorial is open to any learner, only officially nominated contact points in each EU Member State will have access to TESSy to report cases.

E-learning

The aim of this micro-learning is to provide information on the measures for infection prevention and control (IPC) at the household level when assisting suspected or confirmed COVID-19 cases with mild symptoms.

Duration: 15 minutes.

Audience: Public Health Professionals.

Objectives: After completing this course, you will be able to:

• Identify the instructions to give to your patients who are taking care of a probable or confirmed case of COVID-19 in the household.

Participation: This course is open for public enrolment.

E-learning

In this e-learning course on how to design a functional exercise (FX), also known as a command post exercise (CPX), we are looking at the basic concepts of how to design and run an FX. This course will be especially useful as a primer to people who will be planning, design, conducting, and/or evaluating an FX. 

Duration: 60 minutes

Audience: Public health professionals seeking to learn how to design functional exercises.

Objective: On completing this course, participants should be be able to: 

• Understand how to develop the aims and objectives for a functional exercise; 
• Understand the key elements of exercise design; 
• Understand the key differences between a functional (FX) and a table-top exercise (TTX); 
• Identify the existing ECDC tools to assist you in designing your simulation exercise with a focus on public health.

Participation: This course is open for public enrolment.

Webinar

This webinar series is a complement to the e-learning on EpiPulse. Webinars will be an hybrid between demonstration of key functionality of EpiPulse and questions from the audience.

⏳ Duration: 45-60 minute webinars (From April 2021)

👥 Audience: This webinar series is available only to users of EpiPulse.

🔑 Participation: This webinar is <open/not open> for public enrolment. < details on participation if the course is not open e.g. Participation is through invitation by... >. By enrolling in this series you will be automatically subscribed to the announcements board for this webinar series.

🎯 Objectives: The overall objective of the webinars is to create a space for the users of EpiPulse to see demonstrations of EpiPulse key functionality and enable them to ask questions. Each webinar will have specific objectives.

By enrolling in this series you will be automatically subscribed to the announcements board for the webinar series, to which you may unsubscribe later.

Training material

This information on the migration from EPIS, TESSy and TTT to EpiPulse is information to read before taking the e-learning for EpiPulse users, and takes approximately 30 minutes to complete. 

Upon completion of reading this information, you will be able to:

• Understand the migration from previous surveillance systems to EpiPulse 
• Understand which changes have been made in reporting of information
• Understand who has which permissions

This information will be especially useful to former users of EPIS, TESSy and TTT who will be using EpiPulse in the future.

E-learning

This course on antimicrobial stewardship will strengthen the capacity of EU and EEA countries regarding healthcare-associated infections (HAI) due to multi-drug-resistant organisms (MDRO) in acute care settings and promote the implementation of appropriate measures. The course is designed as a non-moderated, self-paced course, i.e. participants can decide when to start it, interrupt and come back to continue at any time.

Duration: 1 hour of learning time.

Audience: The target audience for this course is healthcare professionals from EU/EEA member states with current or future responsibility for the prevention and control of HAIs working at national or local level. Typically, these are mid-career professionals involved in infection control programmes to prevent HAIs at hospital level, including infection control/hospital hygiene practitioners, hospital physicians and specialist physicians, hospital epidemiologists, clinical microbiologists, and public health microbiologists.

Objective: On completing the course, participants will be able to: 

• Understand the challenges related to antibiotic prescription, the burden of anti-microbial resistance (AMR), and the principles of antibiotic stewardship; 
• Identify guidelines for the treatment of specific conditions and formularies, both at the national and local level; 
• Understand the implementation of antibiotic policies; 
• Understand the measurement of drug usage and the prescribing indicators in relation to structure, process, and outcomes; 
• Identify drug usage over time and interpret prescribing surveillance data; 
• Understand the elements and performance measurement for an antimicrobial stewardship program (AMS); 
• Identify interventions to improve antibiotic prescribing practices for hospitalised patients and measure intervention effect, barriers, and possible solutions.

Participation: This course is open for public enrolment.

E-learning

This course on after-action reviews (AARs) and in-action reviews (IARs) is part of a broader plan by ECDC to raise awareness of the importance of planning for public health emergencies, as well as improve the methodology of analysis to advance this important field of research. It is designed as a non-moderated, self-paced course divided into eight modules, and takes approximately 90-120 minutes to complete. This course is tailored to any public health expert interested in improving their methodological understanding of AARs. It is also suitable for anyone not familiar with AARs but interested in pursuing one.

Duration: 90-120 minutes.

Audience: General preparedness experts.

Objectives: On completing of the course, participants will be able to: 

• Explain most important characteristics and phases to construct a good quality AAR;
• Differentiate the methodologies and designs for AARs;
• Select a methodology coherent with the scope of an AAR;
• Understand the importance of a stakeholder analysis select/develop relevant trigger questions; and
• Assess lessons learned through the AAR process.

Participation: This course is open for public enrolment.

E-learning

In this e-learning course on how to design a table-top exercise (TTX), we are looking at the basic concepts of how to design and run a TTX. This course will be especially useful as a primer to those who will be planning, designing, conducting and/or evaluating a TTX.

Duration: 30 minutes.

Audience: Public health professionals seeking to learn how to design functional exercises.

Objective: On completing this course, participants will be able to: 

• Understand how to develop the aims and objectives for a table-top exercise; 
• Understand the key elements of exercise design; and
• Utilise existing ECDC tools in the designing of simulation exercise with a focus on public health.

Participation: This course is open for public enrolment.

E-learning

The course will be available as a non-moderated, self-paced course, i.e. participants can decide when to use it, interrupt and come back to continue it at any time. The different sections of the course are intended to be taken sequentially but the course does not need to be completed all at once.

Duration: 3 to 5 hours

Audience: Professionals with a public health background who have an interest in becoming familiar with the tools, standards, and practices adopted at a technical level for the early detection of health threats in the EU and internationally.

Objectives: On completing the course, participants will be able to:: 

• Understand the process of early detection of health threats at ECDC; 
• Identify epidemic intelligence tools and platforms; 
• Cite examples of best practices on epidemic intelligence among the experts in prevention and control of communicable diseases.

Participation: This course is open for public enrolment.

E-learning

This four-hour course will provide public health and communication experts with strategies, knowledge, and hands-on skills to recognise, monitor and increase capacity to address online vaccine misinformation. This self-paced e-learning course consists of 6 modules which will introduce you to basic concepts of misinformation, social listening, health and vaccine literacy, prebunking and debunking techniques to counter misinformation, and evaluating interventions that aim to address online vaccine misinformation.

Duration: 4 hours.

Audience: Risk communication and public health experts at national and regional levels in the EU/EEA.

Objectives: The course aims to provide participants with a broad understanding of what online vaccination misinformation is, and what steps can be taken to address it. Through this, it aims to improve the capacity of EU/EEA countries to counter vaccine misinformation in an evidence-based manner.

Participation: This course is open for public enrolment.

E-learning

This e-learning course is designed for front-line managers of institutions hosting or serving people who are medically or socially vulnerable to the impact of COVID-19. It is a non-moderated and self-paced course. You can decide when to start it, interrupt and resume to continue at any time. In total, the course is designed to take from 1.5 to 2 hours to complete. The version 2.0 of this course, from March 2022, introduces vaccination to the course and contains revised infection prevention and control measures and contact tracing practices aligned with the most recent ECDC guidance.

Duration: 1.5 to 2 hours.

Audience: Front-line managers of institutions hosting or serving people who are medically or socially vulnerable to the impact of COVID-19.

Objective: After completing this course, participants will be able to:

• Define some groups that are medically or socially vulnerable to COVID-19;
• Identify the good practices developed in the EU/EEA in order to support these populations;
• Identify the special provisions to mitigate the challenges of people in:
  • Long-term care facilities (LTCFs);
  • Prisons;
  • Migration and detention centres.
    
    

Participation: This course is open for public enrolment.

Interactive lecture

This interactive video lecture focuses on the social behavioural aspects related to the prevention and control of healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) due to multidrug-resistant organisms (MDROs) in acute healthcare settings. The aim is to strengthen the capacity on this topic in EU/EEA countries and to promote the implementation of appropriate measures. The lecture is interactive, with questions and exercises, and self-paced, meaning you can rewind, advance, pause, and continue at any time, open to all users.

Duration: 30 min.

Audience: Healthcare professionals working at national or local level in EU/EEA countries with current or future responsibility for the prevention and control of HAIs and MDROs.

Objective: After following this lecture, learners will be able to utilise the Theory of Planned Behaviour to understand antibiotic stewardship and infection prevention and control (IPC) practices relevant to MDRO control in acute healthcare settings.

Participation: This is a guest access course; no enrolment needed.

Training material

Welcome to the online One Health module for MediPIET fellows of cohort 4(2021)

E-learning

 This course aims to outline the preparedness cycle as applied to infectious diseases. It intends to present, in a light and engaging manner, the various areas of work of the preparedness cycle at large and explain how they relate to one another. Each work area is further described, providing access to useful tools and asking a few questions along the way to ensure learners' understanding.

Duration: 30 min.

Audience: This course is intended for people who need to interact with infectious diseases preparedness teams, as well as for those who have a basic understanding of what preparedness is and wish to learn more, such as health professionals, policy-makers, communicators, academics, and local community leaders, among others.

Objectives: On completing the course, participants will be able to:

• Define what preparedness is, and its related concepts;
• ​Identify the different stakeholders involved in preparedness; and
• Identify assessment tools to facilitate preparedness.

Participation: This course is open for public enrolment.

Instructor-led

The workshop will strengthen capacity and prepare participants with the knowledge, skills and support, to adapt relevant training resources to the specific country context, in the area of recovery following public health emergencies. In addition, the workshop will bring together country experts to exchange experiences, views and gain skills on how to tackle this issue at the national level as well as the cross-border dimensions. 

⏳ Duration: 3 half - days (5 Dec, 6 Dec and 7 Dec 2023) 

📌Location: Instructor-led web-based 

👥 Audience: Public health professionals, who as part of their professional responsibility are involved in the Recovery process, whether it be in the management of the recovery process or in the transition from the response to recovery phase during an outbreak of infectious disease.

🎯 Objectives: After completing this course, the participants will be able to: 

• Outline the wide range of activities that recovery encompasses  
• Recognise the importance of recovery as part of the preparedness cycle  
• Integrate insights from different disciplines to understand the multifaceted nature of the recovery process 
• Assess the response to a public health event using the after-action and in-action review (AAR and IAR) framework
• Implement an action planning process to take lessons identified and transform them into recommendations to be used in an action plan. 
• Prepare an activity to cascade learning in their institutions or country of origin based on the content of the workshop

🔑 Participation: This course is not open for public enrolment and participation is through invitation.

Instructor-led

In the context of public health preparedness, a recovery workshop is aimed at developing processes to strengthen the capacity and prepare participants with the knowledge, skills, and support to develop action planning based on the outcomes of after-action reviews (AARs) and in-action reviews (IARs) so that improvements to future response activities can be captured and embedded in practice. This course is a blend of presentations and practical exercises.

Duration: 7-9 March 2023/2.5 days

Audience: Health professionals in public health institutes and ministries of health from EU’s Southern Neighbourhood who are actively working in preparedness or response to public health emergencies.

Objectives: After completing this course, participants will be able to: 

• Consider the broad scope of recovery but focus on PH preparedness;
• Identify resources that help with reviewing, consolidating, and incorporating lessons identified in in-action and after-action reviews into the future preparedness planning process; and
• Share examples from participants own experiences of good practice in identifying and implementing lessons learnt to improve preparedness.

Participation: The participants are nominated by ECDC National Correspondents from the ENP partner countries.

Instructor-led

The emergence of pandrug-resistant bacteria and serious cross-border threats to heath are two major aspects of the field of emergency preparedness and response. They will be dealt together in a simulation exercise (SimEx) providing an opportunity for countries to share knowledge, capabilities, experiences and best practices on how to respond individually and collectively to the challenges of such potential threats.

Duration: TBD.

Audience: Health professionals in public health authorities and ministries of health and experts from across One Health sectors who are actively working in preparedness or response to antimicrobial resistance across EU’s Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) partner countries.

Objectives:

The aim of the exercise is to explore the response to the emergence of a novel strain of a difficult-to-treat, pandrug-resistant bacterium in a healthcare setting, with the potential for cross-border spread. After completing this course, participants will be able to: 

• Identify gaps in current arrangements to detect, verify, and ascertain the public health impact; and
• Assess the risks associated with serious healthcare-associated infections and antimicrobial resistance.

Participation: The participants are nominated by ECDC National Correspondents from the ENP partner countries.

Instructor-led

This refresher training course is designed for experts who have attended one of the previous trainings in Epidemic Intelligence (EI) and Rapid Risk Assessment. It will offer them an opportunity to meet in person with ECDC's EI team and expand their EI skills and knowledge. It will provide a thorough hands-on review of the EI methodology, tools, and processes applied at ECDC. This course is a blend of presentations and practical exercises.

Duration: 15-16 February 2023/2 days.

Audience: Public health professionals from the ENP partner countries who attended one of the previous virtual trainings in Epidemic Intelligence and Rapid Risk Assessment in English in either 2021 or 2022.

Objectives: After completing this course, participants will be able to: 

• Identify and apply all the EI steps; and
• Describe the reasons for implementing EI.

Participation: Participants are nominated by ECDC National Correspondents from the ENP partner countries.

Instructor-led

This workshop will train National Focal Points (NFPs) in the use of REDCap as an outbreak investigation tool. At the end of the course, participants will have sufficient knowledge and basic skills to coordinate an outbreak investigation using REDCap at country level by creating an ad hoc questionnaire on REDCap from a template or from scratch being familiar with its most used features, including security/user rights and survey distribution. The workshop will follow the model of ‘introduce, demonstrate, exercise, and reflect’. It will consist of a short theoretical part and a series of exercises aimed at developing and distributing a questionnaire based on a real-life disease outbreak.

Duration: Early Q2 (or late Q1): 1 day.

Audience: For users of REDCap.

Objectives: After completing this course, participants will be able to: 

• Design a questionnaire on Redcap using skip logic; 
• Field embedding and piping features; and
• Allocate specific roles to distribute the questionnaire to individuals using Data Access Groups.

Participation: This course is not open for public enrolment. Participation is through invitation by the national coordinator in consultation with the focal point of the respective disease programme and function area which is guided by the framework of collaboration between ECDC and the Coordinating Competent Bodies of Member States.

*REDCap logo extracted from https://projectredcap.org/ 

E-learning

This course is based on online lectures, exercises, and participation in forum discussions. The course is moderated and partially self-paced: the only elements that have a fixed timeframe are the deadlines for the peer review assignments (writing and reviewing an abstract).

Duration: Date and time to be announced in EVA.

Audience: Epidemiologists working at the national or subnational level in an EU/EEA country.

Objective: The objective is to strengthen skills in writing, reviewing and editing scientific abstracts, with a focus on field epidemiology topics.

Participation: This course is open for public enrolment.

Instructor-led

In this workshop, EU and European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) partner countries gathering together to discuss next steps on how to improve surveillance, preparedness, and response to West Nile Virus (WNV).

Duration: Q1 (TBC)

Audience: Health professionals in public health authorities and ministries of health who are actively working in preparedness or response to WNV surveillance and control capacities across EU’s Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) partner countries.

Objectives: After completing this course, participants will be able to: 

• Understand/describe epidemiological trends and drivers for WNV;
• Enhance and promote One Health approaches for surveillance and early warning;
• Describe vector control strategies, measures for prevention, and outbreak response; and
• Share examples from countries’ experiences, such as AARs, lessons learned, and updating West Nile virus preparedness plans.

Participation: Participants are nominated by ECDC National Correspondents from the ENP partner countries.

Webinar

The overall aim of this webinar organised by ECDC, the European Clinical AIDS Society (EACS) and the Centre of Excellence for Health, Immunity and Infections (CHIP) is to increase general practitioner and nurse knowledge and awareness of integrated testing, including indicato-guided testing, why this is important, and what can be done to increase testing for HIV and related co-infections in practice.

Date: 21 March 2023, 15:00 CET

Duration: 60 minutes

Audience: This webinar is aimed at (i) nurses and (ii) physicians working in general practices in EU/EEA countries.

Objectives: At the end of the webinar, participants should:

• Have an increased understanding of common HIV indicator conditions and co-infections, such a viral hepatitis, STIs and tuberculosis;

• Have an increased knowledge of existing integrated testing guidance, including indicator-guided testing, and why this is important; and

• Understand how to implement indicator-guided testing in practice.

Instructor-led

Public health simulation exercises aim at supporting authorities and institutions in strengthening their capacity to respond to events involving communicable diseases, as a part of their preparedness plan and strategy. This course is for experts who are responsible for putting in place general preparedness exercises planning processes.

Duration: Q2/2 days

Audience: Public health professionals from the ECDC response networks. 

Objectives: After completing this training, participants will be able to: 

• Recognise the steps involved in conducting a rapid risk assessment;
• Describe what is expected to be done in each step; and
• Produce a rapid risk assessment within a team setting.

Participation: Participants are nominated by ECDC National Correspondents from the ENP partner countries.

Instructor-led

TBD

Duration: 1–2 day, virtual F2F

Audience: The primary audience will be EVD-LabNet network members; however, microbiologist from other ECDC networks and other public health experts will be invited to the training or part of the training.

Objective: TBD

Participation: The participants are nominated by national focal point for emerging and vector-borne diseases.

Instructor-led

TBD

Duration: 1–2 day, virtual F2F

Audience: The primary audience will be epidemiologists or other public health specialists who are not laboratory experts.

Objective: TBD

Participation: The participants are nominated by national focal point for emerging and vector-borne diseases.

Instructor-led

Instructional video on the concept and conducting of Influenza virus culturing on embryonated eggs/cell culture. The video includes the overall principle and assay design instructions as well as tips, trick for successful method application and troubleshooting advice and refer the learner to additional sources.

Duration: available from Q4 2023

Audience: The learner should be or will be involved in the microbiological surveillance of influenza.

Objective: By the end of this course, the learner will be able to: Describe the concept and reason for culturing influenza viruses as part of microbiological surveillance of influenza including advantages and disadvantages of different methods (cell culture/ egg culturing). Explain the reason and steps of sharing isolates and original samples with a WHO Collaborating Centre for Influenza.

Participation: Self-enrolment on EVA.

Instructor-led

This 5 day instructor-led training is part of the AURORAE Training Programme. It's organised by the Robert Koch-Institut (RKI), in Germany. 

The course aims to provide basic SARS-CoV-2 whole genome sequencing wet lab and sequence analyses training to make participants familiar with all steps from sample sequencing to consensus sequence to lineage/variant assignment and sequence deposition. 

Duration: Five days 9 to 13 October 2023

Location: Robert Koch-Institut (RKI), in Germany

Audience: This course in designed for beginner level molecular biologists with basic knowledge of bio informatics with a  specific interest in SARS-CoV-2.

Objectives:  

The course will allow participants to understand the concepts and processes and will facilitate application of the knowledge independently in their laboratories. Likewise, a brief introduction to SARS-CoV-2 neutralization assays and troubleshooting approach will allow discussion on the technology with an expert for those participants interested in the methodology.

Upon completion of this workshop, participants will be able to:

• You will learn the laboratory approach to whole genome sequencing of SARS CoV-2 from samples using the Oxford Nanopore Technology
• You will be able to analyze your SARS CoV-2 sequencing data and perform variant calling using cloud-based tools
• You will be able to share your SARS CoV-2 sequences with the scientific community
• You will learn about the detection of neutralizing antibodies against SARS CoV-2

Participation: This course is not open for public enrolment. Participants are selected by ECDC focal points in the countries. Participants should part of the ECOVID-LabNet or a national public health institute or associated institute in countries of the EU/EEA, the Western Balkan (Albania, Kosovo, Montenegro, Serbia, North Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina) or Türkiye.

Instructor-led

TBD

Duration: 3–4 day, virtual F2F

Audience: The primary audience will be EVD-LabNet network members; however, microbiologist from other ECDC networks and other public health experts will be invited to the training or part of the training.

Objective: TBD

Participation: The participants are nominated by national focal point for emerging and vector-borne diseases.

E-learning

Three-hour self-paced online training on SARS-CoV-2 sequencing and bioinformatics

Duration: 3 hours training, available from Q2/3 2023

Audience: The learners will include public health experts that are or will be involved in the production, handling, or analysis of SARS-CoV-2 whole genome sequence data but also any other interested individual with relevant molecular biology background.

Objective: By the end of this course, the learner will be able to: Describe the WGS workflow from sample to sequence and methods for variant determination Describe the steps to visualise and analyse for example variant proportions over time from own data and using online resources such as Nextstrain and others. Describe the steps to reporting results to ECDC TESSy databases and to public databases such as GISAID or the COVID19 data portal.

Participation: Self-enrolment on EVA. This course is part of the digital learning journey and builds on another course.

E-learning

Instructional video on the concept and design of Respiratory pathogens multiplex PCR using qRT-PCR or another relevant PCR assay. The focus lies on viruses but may include bacteria as well. The video includes the overall principle and assay design instructions as well as tips & trick for successful method application and troubleshooting advice and refer the learner to additional resources. and bioinformatics

Duration: available from Q4 2023

Audience: The learner should be or will be involved in the microbiological surveillance of influenza, SARS-CoV-2, RSV, or other respiratory pathogens.

Objective: By the end of this course, the learner will be able to: Describe the concept of multiplex PCRs, their application in surveillance, especially in ILI/AR/SARI sentinel surveillance with an emphasis on influenza, SARS-CoV-2, and RSV. Recognise tools to adopt existing multiplex PCR assays or to design multiplex PCR assays. Describe the steps to visualise and analyse data, for example subtype/lineage proportions over time from own data and using online resources such as Nextstrain and others. Describe the steps to reporting results to ECDC TESSy databases.

Participation: Self-enrolment on EVA.

Instructor-led

“Bridging the Gap” targets beginners in bioinformatics with the aim to strengthen programming knowledge and skills for use and development of bioinformatics tools in the public health context.

Duration: 15-26 May 2023.

Audience: This course is intended to be for beginners in bioinformatics or public health professionals, who are expected to have a future role in using whole-genome sequencing for public health and pathogen surveillance.

Objective: Upon completion of the 2-week course “Bridging the gaps in Bioinformatics”, the participants should be able to: 

• Process sequencing data (from raw data to genomes)  
• Critically evaluate data quality at all steps of the process 
• Write basic python/bash scripts, to extract relevant information from processed data 
• Write a basic processing pipeline 
• Understand the importance and underlying principles of good coding practice, code documentation and code sharing 
• Perform basic analysis supporting epidemiological investigations, including interaction with public databases 

Participation: The participants are nominated by National Focal Points.

Access to training materials: The materials are publicly accessible here.

Instructor-led

ECDC Summer School 2023: Preventing infectious diseases by informing policy: the role of advocacy, and social and behavioural sciences.

Duration: 23-25 May (2.5 days).

Audience: The Summer School has been designed  for public health professionals with an interest in social and behavioural sciences and in health policy making who, as part of their professional responsibilities, are involved in activities that have direct contact with policy-makers at the national or regional level.

Objectives: The overall aim of this course is to provide participants with an overview of the role of social and behavioural sciences, as well as of advocacy, in informing science-based policy to prevent and control communicable diseases.  

Participation: This course is not open for public enrolment. Participation is through invitation by the national coordinator in consultation with the focal point for training which is guided by the framework of collaboration between ECDC and the Coordinating Competent Bodies of Member States.

Instructor-led

This course aims to provide participants with an introduction to the potential role of social and behavioural sciences in outbreak prevention and control, and information on how to develop a behavioural and cultural insights (BCI) unit.

Duration: Q3/TBC.

Audience: Designed for colleagues who may already be working with social and behavioural sciences in national contexts, as well as those working in ministries of health or national institutes of public health who would benefit from strengthening their background in this area.

Objectives: The course will provide an introduction to qualitative research, and will include practical skills in conducting, analysing, and reporting qualitative research. Following participation in this training, attendees will be able to: 

• Understand where social and behavioural sciences fit into infectious disease control efforts more broadly;
• Understand how behavioural and social sciences are essential to public health preparedness and response;
• Describe some of the main methods for conducting social and behavioural research relevant to emergency situations; and
• Understand how social and behavioural sciences could be implemented into the work of national centres for disease control.

Participation: The participants are nominated by ECDC National Correspondents from the ENP partner countries.

Instructor-led

Face-to-face workshop (2 week-long). Organised for ten “country teams” of one bioinformatician, one microbiologist, one epidemiologist to promote the collaboration of inter-disciplinary teams within the public health institutions. 

Duration: 19-30 June 2023

Audience: Country teams (one epidemiologist, one microbiologist, one bioinformatician).

Objective: The overall objective of this training is to improve the knowledge of and capacity for applied genomic epidemiology and bioinformatics for public health action, by: 

• Enhancing participants’ knowledge and skills in genomic epidemiology and bioinformatics; 

• Furthering participants’ knowledge and use of open source tools for integrated analysis and visualisation of WGS and epidemiological data; 

• Supporting participants’ deeper understanding of how the interdisciplinary interpretation of such integrated results can inform infectious disease prevention and control; 

• Promoting the collaboration of inter-disciplinary well integrated teams within the public health institutions.

Participation: The participants are nominated by National Focal points

E-learning

Duration: 45 minutes.

Audience: frontline health workers involved in the planning, counselling, prescription, and administration of recommended vaccines and who have a role in promoting vaccine acceptance.

Objective: to introduce the concept of vaccine acceptance, the main themes of behaviour change related to vaccine acceptance and to present communication as a supportive tool to help persons to take important decisions for their health.

Participation: this pilot course is for the participants to the face-to-face training on vaccine acceptance held by ECDC in December 2022 in Romania, and for the ECDC National Focal Points for Training.

Instructor-led

This 3-day course is part of the Genetic Epidemiology and Bioinformatics Training programme (GenEpi-BioTrain). The course extends understanding of SQL to people expected to have future roles in using whole-genome sequencing for public health and pathogen surveillance. The emphasis will be on hands-on experience and will be supplemented with lectures from experts where the topic will be on what they used SQL for.

Duration: 3 days (5-7 September 2023)

Location: Statens Serum Institut, Denmark

Audience: This course is intended for beginners in bioinformatics who are not expected to have any knowledge of SQL.

Objectives:  After completing this course, you will be able to:

• Comfortably search within a SQL database.
• Write and understand basic SQL code.
• Perform complex searches and join tables within a database.
• Create and alter tables.
• Perform functions for complex SQL actions.
• Create stored procedures for automated SQL processes.
• Understand the usefulness of a SQL database and how it can make data more manageable.

Participation: This course is not open for public enrolment. Participation is restricted to the participants selected for block 1 of the GenEpi-BioTrain.

Instructor-led

This course aims to provide participants with an introduction to the potential role of social and behavioural sciences in outbreak prevention and control, and information on how to develop a behavioural and cultural insights (BCI) unit.

Duration: 2 days, 12-13 September 2023.

Audience: Designed for colleagues who may already be working with social and behavioural sciences in national contexts, as well as those working in ministries of health or national institutes of public health who would benefit from strengthening their background in this area.

Objectives: The course will provide an introduction to qualitative research, and will include practical skills in conducting, analysing, and reporting qualitative research. Following participation in this training, attendees will be able to: 

• Understand where social and behavioural sciences fit into infectious disease control efforts more broadly;
• Understand how behavioural and social sciences are essential to public health preparedness and response;
• Describe some of the main methods for conducting social and behavioural research relevant to emergency situations; and
• Understand how social and behavioural sciences could be implemented into the work of national centres for disease control.

Participation: The participants are nominated by ECDC National Correspondents from the ENP partner countries.

Webinar

The aim of this virtual training is to introduce participants to theoretical and practical aspects of analysing SARS-CoV-2 amplicon sequence data (mainly ARTIC amplicon panels) from single patient samples. Participants will get insights into the background of amplicon panels, analysis steps and tools, as well as data quality control.

Duration: Two half-days on 25 and 26 September 2023

Location: Online - Find the link after enrolment. 

Audience:  Experts interested in analysing amplicon sequencing data of SARS-CoV-2 with the DRAGEN COVID Lineage on the Illumina BaseSpace cloud. A free Illumina BaseSpace account is required and should be registered before the training.

Objective:  After completing this training, you will be able to conduct a basic analysis of SARS-CoV-2 amplicon sequencing data to detect mutations and determine the variant. You will have a basic understanding of the analysis steps and quality control parameters.

Participation: This course is open for public enrolment from 11 to 25 September.

Instructor-led

This course aims to strengthen skills in performing influenza virus multi-level testing including virus isolation, antigenic and genetic characterisation and antiviral testing, and to independently generate raw reads data, use an external automated pipeline to generate consensus sequences, perform lineage/subtype assignment and assess and interpret global data.

Duration: 5 days (25-29 September 2023)

Location: Laboratory of Microbiology, School of Medicine, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece

Audience: This course in designed for beginner level bioinformaticians involved in the molecular/genomic surveillance of influenza viruses. 

Objectives:  After completing this course, you will be able to:

Participation: This course is not open for public enrolment. Participants are selected by ECDC focal points in the countries. Participants should part of the ECDC ERLI-Net or a national public health institute or associated institute in countries of the EU/EEA, the Western Balkan (Albania, Kosovo, Montenegro, Serbia, North Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina) or Türkiye.

Photo by CDC on Unsplash

Instructor-led

This course expands understanding of hospital-acquired infections (HAI) and the use of whole genome sequencing (WGS) to confirm and resolve outbreaks with methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), carbapenem-resistant Enterobacterales (CRE) and C. difficile in hospitals.

Duration: 3 days (27-29 September 2023)

Location: Copenhagen, Denmark

Audience: This course is intended for bioinformaticians with limited knowledge of HAI and the typically causative bacteria, i.e. MRSA, CRE and C. difficile. 

Objectives:  After completing this course, you will be able to:

Participation: The participants are nominated by National Focal Points.

E-learning

Three-hour self-paced online course on SARS-CoV-2 sequencing and bioinformatics.

Duration: Will be available in October/3 hours.

Audience: Will include public health experts that are or will be involved in the production, handling, or analysis of SARS-CoV-2 whole genome sequence data, as well as any other interested individuals with a relevant molecular biology background.

Objectives: TBD. Beginner's level.

Participation: Self-enrolment on EVA.

Instructor-led

This online follow-up session is part of the project "Country support for the prevention and control of HIV/AIDS, sexually transmitted infections and viral hepatitis in EU/EEA countries" through which ECDC seeks to support EU and EEA countries build capacity in hepatitis, HIV and STI prevention and control by providing opportunities for technical and scientific exchange.

⏳ Duration: 10 October 2023, 12:00-16:00 CET

📌Location: Web-based

👥 Audience: Public health professionals covering the different disease areas (STIs, HIV/AIDS and hepatitis) who are responsible for testing policy and guidelines and/or have experience organising and implementing testing in EU/EEA countries.

🔑 Participation: By invitation only.

🎯 Objectives: The overall aim of this online follow-up session organised by EACS and CHIP is to continue to support the implementation of the HIV and viral hepatitis testing guidance as well as STI testing standards in an integrated manner in EU/EEA countries. At the end of the online session, participants will have:

• • • Analysed and discussed roadmap implementation successes, good practices, challenges, and solutions; and
    • Prepared an updated country-specific roadmap of actions needed to strengthen integrated testing guidance implementation.

Instructor-led

Methods and tools for evidence-based public health with a focus on infectious disease epidemiology, prevention, and control – 4-day introductory course (in person/online).

Duration: TBD (Q4 2023/Q1 2024).

Location:  TBD.

Audience: The workshop is offered to colleagues of different professional backgrounds and levels working at national and sub-national public health institutions in the EU/EEA countries, and especially recommended to experts involved in the development and provision of public health risk assessments, and guidelines/guidance documents. The practical examples used during the course are mainly taken from the area of ECDC’s remit, i.e. infectious disease epidemiology, prevention and control. The workshop is targeted at beginners in the field of evidence-based practice, and prior knowledge in in this field is not needed. However, basic knowledge in epidemiology (e.g., different study designs) has proven to be helpful to fully benefit from the workshop.

Objectives:  At the end of the workshop the participants will:

• Understand the meaning and implications of evidence-based decision-making and be able to give an own definition;
• Be able to describe different review types as well as the characteristics and key elements of a systematic review incl. the differences between systematic reviews and meta-analyses; 
• Have performed all relevant steps of a systematic review and meta-analysis themselves; 
• Have enhanced their critical appraisal and risk of bias assessment skills; 
• Know how to get from evidence to recommendations, assess and grade the level of evidence and the strength of recommendations, and develop evidence-based guidelines/guidance; 
• Have been equipped with plenty of hands-on tips and a set of checklists, tools and information sources for further reading and study.

Participation: TBD.

Instructor-led

The overall aim of this face-to-face workshop organised by ECDC, EACS and CHIP is to improve the knowledge and technical capacities of public health professionals and civil society organisations working within or across HIV, viral hepatitis and sexually transmitted infections (STIs) at the national/regional level to use ECDC surveillance and monitoring data/reports and tools.

⏳ Duration: 2 days

📌Location: ECDC Headquarters (Stockholm, Sweden)

👥 Audience: National representatives from (i) ministries of health, (ii) public health institutes working in the areas of HIV, viral hepatitis and/or STI, and (iii) civil society organisations working in these areas from Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland and Romania.

🔑 Participation: By invitation only.

🎯 Objectives: At the end of the workshop, participants should: 

• Be familiar with ECDC surveillance and monitoring data/reports and tools; 

• Have analysed and discussed data gaps in surveillance and monitoring data/reports, barriers, opportunities or challenges; and 

• Have developed a ‘Data for impact plan’ to identify what existing HIV, viral hepatitis and STI-disease data/reports and tools they plan on using to make the case for action in their country/region, as well as what data gaps remain.

Instructor-led

The overall aim of this short course from ECDC is to strengthen capacity in the requesting Member States on the application of scientific principles and concepts to investigate and control outbreaks of healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) in acute care hospitals. EVA will be used for both the pre- and post- course activities and for providing access to the training materials.

Duration:  19-20, 25-26 Oct 2023 (half-days).

Audience: Specialists in public health, epidemiology, microbiology, and infection prevention and control who are involved in outbreak investigations in healthcare settings. Risk managers who are responsible for analysing outputs from outbreak investigations, as well as trainers who provide training on related outbreak investigations within their country.

Objectives:

• Create or participate in the creation of the outbreak control team;  
• Conduct an on-site investigation;  
• Confirm the outbreak, diagnosis, case definition;  
• Count cases and orient the data according to time, place and person characteristics;  
• Develop hypothesis compatible with descriptive data and with the suspected source and the vehicle;  
• Test hypothesis, verify biological plausibility and compatibility of epidemiological results with other information;  
• Develop recommendations for control measures and subsequent prevention measures, and verify that control measures are effective;  
• Write a report and communicate results and recommendations. If appropriate, write a scientific article.  

Participation: This course is not open for public enrolment. Participation is through invitation by the national coordinator in consultation with the focal point of the respective disease programme and function area which is guided by the framework of collaboration between ECDC and the Coordinating Competent Bodies of Member States. The working language will be English.  

Instructor-led

The course is designed to strengthen capacity in EU/EEA countries for the prevention and control of healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) due to multidrug-resistant organisms (MDROs) in acute healthcare settings and to promote the broad implementation of appropriate measures in the EU/EEA. The course will be delivered in a synchronous format with pre-course activities.

Duration: 4 days/13,17,18 and 24 October 2023.

Audience: Healthcare professionals working at national or local level in EU/EEA countries with current or future responsibility for the prevention and control of HAIs and MDROs. During the course, participants will share their experiences, so it is important that our target learners are active in the field. We expect mid-career professionals involved in infection control programmes to prevent HAIs at the hospital level and this can include: infection control/hospital hygiene practitioners; hospital physicians/specialist physicians; hospital epidemiologists; clinical microbiologists; public health microbiologists; antibiotic prescribers; and professionals involved in antimicrobial stewardship.

Objectives:  On completing this course, participants will be able to: 

Antibiotic stewardship

• Identify the challenges related to antibiotic prescription, the burden of anti-microbial resistance (AMR) and the principles of antibiotic stewardship;
• Differentiate between guidelines, formularies, and policies;
• Describe measurement of drug usage and the prescribing indicators in relation to structure, process, and outcomes;
• Identify drug usage over time and interpret prescribing surveillance data; and
• Recognise the elements and performance measurement for an antimicrobial stewardship program (AMS).
  
  

Infection Prevention and Control (IPC)

• Consolidate advanced knowledge of mechanisms in relation to the emergence and spread of MDROs in hospital settings and the epidemiological local, national and international consequences;
• Review the evidence base for local policies and protocols, especially preventative and control strategies for MDRO Gram negatives;
• Evaluate the effectiveness of different interventions in minimising the transmission of MDROs;
• Appraise the role of the laboratory in antimicrobial resistance detection, surveillance, and outbreak management;
• Utilise behavioural science to understand antibiotic prescribing (AP) and infection prevention control (IPC) practices relevant to MDRO control; and
• Recognise how AP/IPC practices may be influenced by healthcare workers' attitudes arising from their human nature, different personalities, and culture.

Application to practice 

• Identify interventions to improve antibiotic prescribing practices for hospitalised patients and measure intervention effect, barriers, and possible solutions;
• Apply the principles of infection prevention and control practices in relation to MDRO in a hospital setting;
• Illustrate and identify interventional opportunities in AP/IPC to achieve behavioural changes and implementation of best practices;
• Critically review and apply in practice the strategies and mechanisms to manage and prevent inappropriate antibiotic prescribing;
• Plan strategies to implement behaviour change interventions in antibiotic stewardship and infection prevention and control;
• Appraise the emerging field of design and design thinking for behaviour change in a public health context, with an emphasis on behaviour change intervention design;
• Try out and implement the main design thinking tools that can support intervention design in their local context; and
• Critically review the dissemination of planned interventions and their application to practice.
  

Participation: This course is not open for public enrolment. Participation is through invitation by the national coordinator in consultation with the focal point of the respective disease programme and function area which is guided by the framework of collaboration between ECDC and the Coordinating Competent Bodies of Member States.

Instructor-led (in person)

Face-to-face workshop (2 week-long). Organised for ten “country teams” of one bioinformatician, one microbiologist, one epidemiologist to promote the collaboration of inter-disciplinary teams within the public health institutions. 

Duration: November 2023

Audience: Country teams (one epidemiologist, one microbiologist, one bioinformatician).

Objective: The overall objective of this training is to improve the knowledge of and capacity for applied genomic epidemiology and bioinformatics for public health action, by: 

• Enhancing participants’ knowledge and skills in genomic epidemiology and bioinformatics; 

• Furthering participants’ knowledge and use of open source tools for integrated analysis and visualisation of WGS and epidemiological data; 

• Supporting participants’ deeper understanding of how the interdisciplinary interpretation of such integrated results can inform infectious disease prevention and control; 

• Promoting the collaboration of inter-disciplinary well integrated teams within the public health institutions.

Participation: The participants are nominated by National Focal points

Instructor-led

This 3-day course is part of the Genetic Epidemiology and Bioinformatics Training programme (GenEpi-BioTrain). The course focuses on the processing, annotation, quality assurance, and analysis of SARS-CoV-2 and Influenza viruses. 

Duration: 3 days, 7-9 November 2023

Location: Karolinska University Hospital (KUH), Stockholm, Sweden

Audience: Bioinformaticians working with SARS-CoV-2 and Influenza viruses reads.

Objectives:  After completing this course, participants will be able to:

Participation: This course is not open for public enrolment. The participants are nominated by National Focal Points.

Instructor-led

ECDC and European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation (Europol) have set up an EU cross-sectorial bio-training package that will be also offered to ENP partners countries. Mobilising knowledge in risk assessment, preparedness and response of public health emergencies posed by biological threats, will foster multidisciplinary and cross-sectoral cooperation between public health and law enforcement. It also promotes cross-border cooperation between EU and ENP partner countries on health security threats of common interest through exchange of information, best practices and lessons learnt. 

Duration: 3 days, 28-30 November 2023, Tbilisi, Georgia

Audience: The course participants include three representatives (one per sector: public health, law enforcement and civil protection) from each country. The participants should have substantial professional experience and an active role in emergency preparedness and response (ideally for biorisk involving events), and preferably cover the role of trainer within their respective institutions.

Objectives: In the framework of the adult learning context, the objectives of the fourth edition of the training are to: 

• Define the specific requirements of effective biological risk protection from the perspectives of different sectors; 
• Build capacities on available options when conceiving an occupational safety system for different scenarios; 
• Summarise the capabilities and limitations of basic personal protective equipment (PPE) for infectious diseases of high consequence; 
• Develop the ability to provide training for a wide audience of first line responders, in the framework of the adult learning context, by allowing participants to: 
  • • Plan a strategy to provide training in their specific national or local context; 
    • Make use of the training material provided;
    • Model the material to a specific national or local context; and
    • Compare available options when conceiving exercise material for different scenarios.

Participation: This course is not open for public enrolment. Participation is through invitation by the national coordinator in consultation with the focal point.