Capacity building initiatives, training and education: the EMbaRC experience and beyond

Abstract

Culture Collections have a long tradition in capacity building and in training people that directly, or indirectly, are interested in microbial taxonomy and in microbial preservation and management. Academic (PhD and Master), advanced as well as bespoke courses on related topics in this field are regarded of true added value for the educational and microbial research community in Europe. ln addition, only with modem and appealing approaches we can reverse the strong decline in numbers of trained microbial taxonomists in Europe that has been observed over the last decades. The European Consortium of Microbial Resources Centres (EMbaRC) project (EU Seventh Framework Programme Research Infrastructures (INFRA-2008-1.1.2.9: Biological Resources Centres (BRCs) for microorganisms Grant agreement number: FP7- 228310- www.embarc.eu) compiled information about the training programmes offered by the consortium partners. Gaps in microbial resource management training and potential synergies were identified and a proposal was made with the aim of establishing an educational community to create a knowledge-based training network and implement lifelong educational and continuing professional development (CPD) courses for people working within microbial resources centres. The EMbaRC partner training courses involved both theoretical and wet laboratory experiences in microbiology not only covering elements of taxonomy and identification of microorganisms but also isolation, characterization, preservation and use of microbial resources. To support these actions e-leaming materiais for training activities were designed and developed. The EMbaRC project experience will be continued in the current EU-project Microbial Resource Research Infrastructure (MIRRI, www.mirri.org). It is recognized that University courses are diminishing and it is down to the microbial resource centre community to stimulate educational and training programmes. MIRRI will develop a capacity building strategy utilising modem tools and tailored knowledge and technology transfer, open to ali stakeholders that will create an enabling environment. Innovative approaches will be designed to attract young scientists into the field of management of microbial resources, their characterization and use in agriculture, food security, bioindustry and healthcare.