Proposal: Building institutional computational genomics capacity (de novo)

[BinxiePeterson]

Title of the session: Building institutional computational genomics capacity (de novo)

Session details

• Session type: Breakout Discussion

• Keywords: Genomics, Capacity, Communities of Practice, MOOC, Study Group, Self-learning, Next-Generation Sequencing (NGS) Data

• Permission to record this session: Yes

Abstract

There is a growing gap between the accumulation of big data and researchers’ knowledge about how to use it effectively. Furthermore, there seems to be great interest from the Carpentries community to learn and teach genomics. South Africa boasts 26 public universities each conducting research in areas where genomics techniques are (or can be) applied to answer questions related to health, food, environmental issues, and/or agriculture. Currently, only nine of these universities offer formal undergraduate or postgraduate training programmes in bioinformatics or computational genomics. The North-West University (NWU) isn't one of these nine. For that reason, we explored various avenues for building institutional genomics capacity. I would like to present this topic in the form of a breakout session at CarpentryCon@Home and discuss the results and challenges for each approach, as was experienced by our institution’s researchers. I would also like other people in the field of genomics to tells us how they build genomics capacity at their institutions. Together we might come up with feasible solutions to "teach people how to fish".

Personal details

• Name or pseudo name of the session lead: Bianca Peterson

• Co-leads' names (we recommend involving 2 helpers/co-leads): TBC

• Email or other ways to contact the session leads/co-leads: [email protected]

• Country of residence and/or compatible Time Zones (provide options): South Africa (GMT+2)

• Would you like to present this multiple times, in other time zones: Yes (Eastern Time)

• Would you like to volunteer to be listed as a wrangler/host for your time zone: No

Is there any help you would like to invite from the community? Please provide below in bullet points.

• I would like to invite speakers from anywhere in the world to tell us how they build genomics capacity at their institutions.

• Other comments: This is a breakout discussion and any input from anyone is welcome!

[serahkiburu]

@BinxiePeterson, @JasonJWilliamsNY is willing to be assigned as an issue monitor/facilitator for this session

[jandreslopez]

👍

[BinxiePeterson]

Thank you @serahrono, it will be great to have Jason on board.

[serahkiburu]

Hi @BinxiePeterson, the organising committee reviewed this session proposal and had this to say:

This proposal presents a fantastic opportunity for participants to hear about tried and tested approaches in South Africa, and share their own skills. The topic in their abstract is limited to genomics but the scope of their work can be extended to other domains. It will be useful to clarify if that is a discussion the session lead will have, and if the session should be opened to folks beyond genomics. This might serve as good grounds to foster collaboration among community members post-conference.

Really excited for your session, and more details i.e. around scheduling will be shared with you in the coming days. Let me know if I can answer any questions or clarify anything for the time being.

[BinxiePeterson]

Hi @BinxiePeterson, the organising committee reviewed this session proposal and had this to say:

This proposal presents a fantastic opportunity for participants to hear about tried and tested approaches in South Africa, and share their own skills. The topic in their abstract is limited to genomics but the scope of their work can be extended to other domains. It will be useful to clarify if that is a discussion the session lead will have, and if the session should be opened to folks beyond genomics. This might serve as good grounds to foster collaboration among community members post-conference.

Really excited for your session, and more details i.e. around scheduling will be shared with you in the coming days. Let me know if I can answer any questions or clarify anything for the time being.

We can certainly open the session up for other -omics research, or just big data analyses in general. Our experience at the NWU is based on genomics, but it certainly applies to other fields of research as well. Thank you for the feedback!