Details of Award
NERC Reference : NE/Y003896/1
Increasing accessibility to training on eDNA metabarcoding and data sharing for environmental sciences
Training Grant Award
- Lead Supervisor:
- Dr C E L Brooksbank, EMBL - European Bioinformatics Institute, Training
- Grant held at:
- EMBL - European Bioinformatics Institute, Training
- Science Area:
- Freshwater
- Marine
- Terrestrial
- Overall Classification:
- Freshwater
- ENRIs:
- Biodiversity
- Global Change
- Natural Resource Management
- Pollution and Waste
- Science Topics:
- Community Ecology
- Conservation Ecology
- Systematics & Taxonomy
- Bioinformatics
- Abstract:
- We propose the development of a wide-reaching, mixed-modality training programme comprising a live course (delivered virtually) and a self-paced eLearning course on environmental DNA (eDNA) metabarcoding for environmental sciences, and associated considerations for data sharing, to highlight the relationship between the environment and its biodiversity and the importance of open research. These technologies are transformative in enabling new methods to monitor biodiversity across a range of environments - vital to Defra's plan to monitor and achieve Biodiversity Net Gain - and to developing conservation strategies to mitigate the effects of habitat degradation on ecosystems. However, a challenge to fulfilling the potential of these technologies is a skills gap in environmental scientists - mostly ecologists with field skills - who have not been trained in quantitative analysis of eDNA data. As evidence of this need and demand, NERC Environmental Omics Facility (NEOF) staff and colleagues in Sheffield have over the last several months delivered a series of courses on eDNA theory and laboratory techniques to a large number of staff from Natural England, which is now using eDNA tools extensively. However, this training was oversubscribed and did not cover practical skills in eDNA informatics and data sharing. This proposal will fill the training gap within the NERC community and beyond and, in particular, make the training continuously accessible and not just to course attendees. The live course will be aimed at NERC DTP students in the first instance, and then we will make use of the course content to create an open, self-paced eLearning course to widen the reach and accessibility to regulatory, conservation and commercial users of eDNA. These two training resources will complement, not duplicate, each other. NEOF & the UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology (UKCEH) currently deliver a wide range of courses covering various environmental science topics, which are mainly delivered live, but this opportunity will enable us to use the EMBL European Bioinformatics Institute's (EMBL-EBI) expertise to make available relevant, fully accessible materials for self-directed learning, via their ondemand learning portal, and to incorporate training on data access and sharing. The live course will be led and delivered by NEOF with input on the content from EMBL-EBI and UKCEH. The self-paced eLearning course will be led, developed, and hosted by EMBL-EBI with input on the content from NEOF and UKCEH. We have experience with stakeholder engagement in environmental sciences, including as described above with Natural England on delivering training courses, and via the UK DNA Working Group, which brings together government agencies, industry, non-government organisations, and academics. The self-paced eLearning course will be beneficial in linking both with UK-based non-academic stakeholders and scientists globally, including those in low- or middle- income countries (LMICs) facing global conservation challenges. The impact of the proposed activities will be: the upskilling of attendees on an important set of topics by combining our complementary expertise in genomics, environmental science, open research, and training; increased reach via the EMBLEBI on-demand eLearning platform; and the establishment of a training collaboration between the partners, which we hope to develop further in the future. In addition, a key goal of our approach would be to stimulate collaboration by bringing in trainers from our organisations who may not have worked together before; this would provide a low-risk approach to exploring scientific collaborations.
- NERC Reference:
- NE/Y003896/1
- Grant Stage:
- Completed
- Scheme:
- Doctoral Training
- Grant Status:
- Closed
- Programme:
- Advanced Training
This training grant award has a total value of £43,275
FDAB - Financial Details (Award breakdown by headings)
| Total - Other Costs |
|---|
| £43,274 |
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