Capacity building is a key component in many of LINQ's projects. Our team actively supports training and networking activities for junior researchers in these consortia.
During the pandemic, as travel and in-person meetings were restricted, the need for innovative ways to promote remote mentoring and other training opportunities for early-career researchers grew. We have worked closely with our partners to design such solutions. By way of example, we teamed up with the respective capacity building leads in TriageTB and PredictTB to host a series of online student presentation sessions. These events offered master and PhD students a platform to share their work and practice their presentation skills.
Our team also saw a need for more long-term and flexible capacity building solutions. Hence, we set out to design and develop the Learning Board, an online platform containing curated educational content, which can be easily adapted to a consortium's unique composition and team.
To tailor the platform for a consortium, we work closely with the group to develop and identify content that is relevant to their particular study. All material on the platform is categorized into five main parts: Project Management, Research, Grant Management, Skill Building and Networking. Each project-specific Learning Board is a living platform, and content is added and developed over time.
Launching the PredictTB Learning Board
The first project-specific Learning Board was created for the PredictTB group and launched in May this year. The project funding period came to an end in July this year.
One key goal of the Learning Board is to ensure that knowledge produced and collected during a project remains easily accessible to members of the consortium also after the funding period. This way, we can help to prolong the impact of the project.
Our team is currently working with our colleagues in StatinTB to identify and create content for a StatinTB Learning Board, which is to be launched shortly.