Learning objectives

Upon completion of the Winter Workshop, the participants should be able to:

• Identify research evidence as one of many factors that can influence policy making
• Describe and interpret the main challenges PH professionals encounter in their MS to use science to inform policy makers at the national or local level
• Share examples, from their own experience, of interventions that have effectively informed policy making for detection/assessment, preparedness, response/control or recovery in the field of infectious diseases
• Identify relevant resources and tools to identify and evaluate different kinds of evidence, especially systematic reviews and high-quality single studies
• Identify evidence-based mechanisms to enhance and support the use of research evidence in policy making, including communication strategies
• Design a plan to enhance and support the use of research evidence to inform policy making in their member state, integrating communication approaches
• Prepare an activity to cascade learning in their institutions or country of origin based on the content of the workshop.

Target audience  

Professionals with public health background who have an interest in getting familiar with the tools, standards and practices adopted at technical level for the early detection at EU and international level.

Description  

The overall aim of this course is to strengthen capacity in the application of scientific principles and concepts to inform and influence policy making decisions related to the prevention and control of communicable diseases among public health specialists in Member States of the European Union (EU) and of the European Economic Area (EEA). This includes knowledge of retrieval, analysis and appraisal of evidence from all data sources so that participants can make an informed decision about its quality and relevance for their work, and building participants’ skills in designing knowledge translation and exchange (KTE) strategies to support evidence-informed decision making (EIDM).

The full course comprises three modules focused on core activities and key concepts aligned with the learning objectives:

• Module 1 (pre-workshop online package)
• Module 2 (workshop designed to run for three consecutive days)
• Module 3 (post-workshop online package).