Explore the critical role of behavioural and social research in understanding, controlling, and preventing infectious diseases.
You will learn about the methodologies that can be used and the insights that can be gained through quantitative and qualitative research approaches, learn to craft a comprehensive research project and discover how to choose the most effective data collection methods. .
Duration: 45-60 minutes.
Audience: Public Health professionals from European Union (EU) and European Economic Area (EEA) countries working in the field of infectious diseases prevention and control and interested in developing behavioural and/or social sciences interventions.
Objectives:
- Explain the importance of conducting behavioural and social research for understanding, controlling, and preventing infectious diseases.
- Compare quantitative and qualitative behavioural and social research approaches.
- Describe the specificities of behavioural and social science research projects or protocols, including research questions formulation, research designs, sampling strategies, and ethical considerations.
- Select data collection methods for different purposes.
Participation: This is a PILOT, once completed, the course will be open for public enrolment.
This training programme aims at increasing the capacities of European Union and European Economic Area (EU/EEA) Member States, West Balkans, and Türkiye to prepare for and respond to health threats. A central focus is on promoting cooperation in emergency preparedness and response in the context of serious cross-border threats to health (SCBTH).
Duration:The programme includes eight modules delivered over five months, beginning on 10 February 2026. The total workload is approximately 112 hours. The programme includes a five- and a two-day in-person workshop. These are complemented by 16 weeks of online activities and self-studies, averaging around four hours per week.
Location: The training will be delivered through a mix of online and in-person components:
Online delivery:
- Modules 1 and 3–7 will be conducted through webinars and self-study.
In-person workshops:
- Module 2: Stockholm, Sweden – 23-27 February 2026
- Module 8: Stockholm, Sweden – 9-10 June 2026
Audience: The programme is primarily intended for mid-level health professionals, working in public health organisations and Ministries of Health in EU/EEA Member States, EU candidate and potential candidate countries, who would like to develop their role in Emergency Preparedness and Response.
Objectives: After completing this course, you will be able to:
- Explain key principles of public health emergency preparedness and response.
- Apply key principles of public health emergency preparedness and response in your national context and in coordination with neighbouring countries in cross-border settings.
- Effectively communicate and transfer acquired knowledge and best practices to peers within your own organisations.
Participation: The training programme is only available for selected participants nominated by National Focal Points.
Keywords: Preparedness cycle, European Union preparedness plan, anticipation, response, recovery.
The course will be conducted by the National Institute of Health Doutor Ricardo Jorge (INSA), Portugal, parter of the consortium “AURORAE - lAboratory sUppoRt fOr influenza and coRonA for Europe”, under contract of European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC).
The development of INSaFLU-TELEVIR and the expansion of its computational capacity have been co-funded by INSA and various projects promoted by the European Union, namely TELEVIR, GENEO and DURABLE.
Duration: 2-hour webinar on 22nd January 2026, 14:00-16:00 CET.
Audience: The Webinar is designed for beginner to advanced learners in the field of clinical metagenomics. The target audience are individuals involved in the diagnosis and/or microbiological surveillance of viral pathogens; beginners in NGS data analysis and bioinformatics; and/or everyone interested in learning more about bionformatics for viral metagenomic detection.
Objectives: After completing this training, the participants should be able to:
- Understand the workflow of INSaFLU-TELEVIR platform for viral metagenomics detection (TELEVIR).
- Describe the steps to analyse and confirm the presence of viruses in a metagenomics sample through the INSaFLU-TELEVIR, from raw next- and third-generation sequencing data to the interpretation of the viral metagenomics report
- Recognise advantages and limitations of the tool.
Tools and Files: The INSaFLU-TELEVIR (https://insaflu.insa.pt/) platform is a free, versatile and user-friendly bioinformatics platform for virus next- and third-generation sequencing data analysis. Various tools (including INSaFLU-TELEVIR) and their respective documentation are already available within the page of this webinar, under "Prepare for the Webinar" section, for you to explore.
Participation: This training was open for public enrolment. Recordings are available for free, thanks to EU funding, to all visitors of the Learning Portal.