Courses

Course categories:

The AURORAE training programme: Influenza and SARS-CoV-2 laboratory training for Europe

This is a common space to all nominated participants of any training activity of the AURORAE Training Programme 2022-2025.

The overall objectives of the AURORAE trainings are to support countries in building capacities in the areas of diagnosis, detection, identification and characterisation of primarily influenza and SARS-CoV-2 viruses. Courses may include topics like diagnostic methods, molecular typing, sampling strategies for disease surveillance and for detection, use and limitation of test methods, testing strategies, test interpretation, bioinformatics, biosafety issues, shipment of infectious material, quality assurance, as well as capacity gaps identified through EQAs and/or surveys.
The training formats include face-to-face training courses (wetlab and drylab), twinning visits of various durations, and virtual trainings (webinars, instructive videos, self-paced online trainings).

It contains links to training events and to the respective training materials. Click here to read more about AURORAE.

Training activities for influenza and SARS-CoV-2

Face-to-face trainings (3-5 days).

This type of training will give a broad overview and is therefore targeted to participants that will benefit most from such a broad competency training
The learning objectives are related to influenza and/or SARS-CoV-2 public health laboratory methods and basic genomic epidemiology and bioinformatic essentials
The aim is to offer one face-to-face training on influenza and one on SARS-CoV-2 per year
Participants should have a microbiology or related background and familiar with common molecular techniques (such as PCR)
Up to ten participants per course

Twinning visits (2, 5 or 10 days)

This type of training will give an in-depth focussed training on a selection of specific methods.
For the twinning visits, usually one participant will visit a twinning institute for a tailored training. Therefore, the exact training content will depend on both the twinning institute and the participant and will be discussed and agreed before the start of the training.
The learning objectives are related to influenza and/or SARS-CoV-2 public health laboratory methods and basic genomic epidemiology and bioinformatic essentials

Virtual trainings

Range of formats possible from webinars to instructional videos or self-paced online courses
The learning objectives are related to influenza and/or SARS-CoV-2 public health laboratory methods and basic genomic epidemiology and bioinformatic essentials
Virtual trainings will be hosted on the EVA platform

Background

The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) relies on the European Union (EU)/European Economic Area (EEA) Member States’ expertise and laboratory capacities to support its public health core functions and disease specific work within its mandate.

AURORAE is a consortium of 12 institutions in 8 EU/EEA member states that ECDC procured to provide support to microbiology-related activities and capacity building focusing on COVID-19 and influenza in the EU/EEA, the Western Balkans and Türkiye by providing:

EQA and ring trial activities
Centralised laboratory support for influenza and SARS-CoV-2 viruses in-depth characterisation for timely pandemic response
Training activities for detection, characterisation and response.

By providing training and encouraging cooperation between expert and reference laboratories, ECDC aims to foster the development of sufficient capacity within the Community, enhance data sharing and collaborations between public health institutions and ECDC, and facilitate networking activities and cross-border collaborations.

AURORAE offers ECDC procured trainings that focus on influenza and SARS-CoV-2. The training programme was initiated in July 2022 and will continue over four years.

The AURORAE consortium

Experts of twelve institutes from eight European countries together were awarded a new framework contract by the ECDC in 2022, to provide "support to microbiology-related activities and capacity building focusing on COVID-19 and influenza in the EU/EEA, the Western Balkans and Türkiye. Laboratory support, training, and standardisation”. The consortium was named AURORAE (lAboratory sUppoRt fOr influenza and SARS coRonAvirus 2 for Europe) and activities started on 23rd June 2022 and will run over a four year period.

The Consortium is coordinated by National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM), Netherlands. The project coordinator is Adam Meijer (RIVM, Netherlands).

AURORAE is composed of the following institutes:

Sciensano (SCIN), Belgium
Institut Pasteur (IP), France
Hospices Civils de Lyon (HCL), France
Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin (CU), Germany
Robert Koch-Institute (RKI), Germany
Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (AUTH), Greece
Hellenic Pasteur Institute (HPI), Greece
Laboratoire National de Santé (LNS), Luxembourg
National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM), Netherlands
Erasmus University Medical Center Rotterdam (EMC), Netherlands
Norwegian Institute of Public Health (NIPH), Norway
National Institute of Health Dr. Ricardo Jorge (INSA), Portugal

Training target groups

Professionals working in public health institutions with a background in public health microbiology or related and who are or will be involved in the molecular/genomic surveillance of influenza and/or SARS-CoV-2 viruses including laboratory assays for detection and characterisation of the viruses as well as production, handling, or analysis of next generation sequence data.
Participants should be part of the ECDC ERLI-Net and/or ECOVID-LabNet or a national public health institute or associated institute in countries of the EU/EEA, the Western Balkan (Albania, Kosovo, Montenegro, Serbia, North Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina) or Türkiye.

Selection of participants

In due time before training activities are planned, ECDC will announce by email to the National Focal Points for viral respiratory diseases the opportunities to express interest in these training activities.
Expressions of interest for participation are collected and a selection of participants is made by ECDC.
Priority will be given to participants who have not yet participated in a recent ECDC or WHO funded course covering similar topics and based on training needs identified through past EQAs or surveys if applicable.
More than one applicant from the same country will be accepted only based on available seats.

Laboratory analysis of wastewater for surveillance of respiratory viruses

The positive impact of wastewater-based surveillance on epidemiology is presented by a team of experts who will provide significant details about technical procedures and epidemiological analysis, and of actual experiences of the implementation of methods and of the analysis and utilisation of results. This is organised as part of AURORAE programme.

Duration & date: 2-hour session on 24 November 2026 from 14:00 to 16:00

Audience: Laboratory experts performing or planning to perform analysis of wastewater for surveillance of respiratory viruses. It is however, open to all, as it may be interesting to epidemiologists closely engaged in surveillance of respiratory viruses.

Objectives

After participating i this webinar you will be able to:

Understand the techniques used in wastewater surveillance;
Interpret results of wastewater analysis;
Recognise the overall importance of wastewater-based surveillance in epidemiology;
Start planning and applying wastewater-based surveillance projects in new laboratories;
Improve wastewater-based surveillance procedures in laboratories already applying it.

Participation: This webinar is open for public enrolment.

Biosafety & Biosecurity: from a respiratory virus angle

The webinar aims to approach Biosafety and Biosecurity from a respiratory virus angle. Disseminating information and best practices.

This webinar is conducted by the ECDC and the RKI as part of the AURORAE consortium.

Dates and duration: 2-hour webinar on 15 December 2025 14:00-16:00 CET.

Location: Online.

Audience: The webinar is open to members of the ECDC disease networks for respiratory viruses and is designed for beginner to intermediate learners with previous knowledge of and working experience with laboratory/bioinformatic techniques.

Objectives: After completing this training, the participants should be able to: 

1. Explain the difference between biosafety and biosecurity

2. Name 4 steps of biological risk management

3. Define dual use and dual use research of concern

4. Recall different types of Influenza viruses

5. Describe and apply biosafety and biosecurity measures in context of influenza

Participation: This training is open only for selected members using a password distributed in an e-mail invitation.

RSV: From Clinical Sample to Whole Genome Sequence - AURORAE Summer School 2026

This course offers theoretical and practical training on acquiring and analysing whole genome sequences (WGS) of respiratory viruses from clinical samples, with a focus on RSV.

Duration: This five-day course begins on Thursday 25/06/2026 and ends on Wednesday 01/07/2026

Location: Athens, Greece

Audience: Microbiologists with interest in laboratory methods and analytical techniques used for the genetic characterization of respiratory viruses.

Objectives - After completing this course, participants will be able to:

List Advantages a Disadvantages of various WGS tools commonly used for RSV
Explain and apply the WGS workflow from sample to sequence using Nanopore technology
Perform basic bioinformatic analysis of respiratory virus WGS data.
Report sequence data to ECDC and GISAID.
Describe Big Data analysis in clinical microbiology.
Discuss AI applications in the field of WGS data analysis and reporting.

Participation: This course is not open for public enrolment. Participation is through invitation by National Focal Points for Microbiology.

AURORAE Webinar - Serology of seasonal influenza

This webinar will provide an overview of the serological studies and their use in the surveillance of influenza and respiratory viruses, as well as in the response and risk assessment of emergent respiratory viruses.

The course will be conducted by the National Institute of Health Doutor Ricardo Jorge (INSA), Portugal, partner of the consortium “AURORAE - lAboratory sUppoRt fOr influenza and coRonA for Europe”, under contract of European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC). AURORAE has the objective to support countries in building capacities in the areas of diagnosis, detection, identification and characterisation of primarily influenza and SARS-CoV-2 viruses.

Duration: 2-hour webinar on 12^th March 2026, 13:00-15:00 CET.

Audience: This Webinar is designed for learners of all levels of expertise in the field of serological studies and laboratory assays for influenza. It is aimed for individuals involved in the influenza and respiratory virus’s diagnosis and/or virological surveillance; anyone interested in serosurveillance and/or in learning more about the applications of serological studies in the surveillance, prevention and control of respiratory viral diseases.

Objectives:

Upon completion of this training, participants should be able to:

Understand the importance and applicability of the serological studies in the surveillance and response to emerging respiratory viruses;
Design a protocol for implementing a population serological study for influenza. Understand representativeness, sample size calculation and data collection;
Recognise the advantages and limitations of the laboratory assays for the detecting antibodies against influenza.

Participation: This training is open for public enrolment. It's made available for free, thanks to EU funding.

AURORAE Webinar | INSaFLU-TELEVIR bioinformatics platform: virus metagenomic detection (TELEVIR) - demonstration and examples

This is a webinar on Practical demonstration of the concept and main features of the TELEVIR module (viral metagenomics detection) of the INSaFLU-TELEVIR bioinformatics platform. This training activity is part of the AURORAE training programme which has the objective to support countries in building capacities in the areas of diagnosis, detection, identification and characterisation of primarily influenza and SARS-CoV-2 viruses.

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 22^nd 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.

Integrated respiratory virus surveillance 2025 - AURORAE

This is a webinar on concept and main features of integrated respiratory virus surveillance on the example of the German respiratory virus surveillance programme. This training activity is part of the AURORAE training programme which has the objective to support countries in building capacities in the areas of diagnosis, detection, identification and characterisation of primarily influenza and SARS-CoV-2 viruses.

Dates and duration: 2-hour webinar on 4 March 2025 14:00-16:00 CET.

Location: Online.

Audience: The webinar is designed for beginner to intermediate learners with previous knowledge of and working experience with laboratory techniques. The participants should be or plan to be involved in the microbiological surveillance of influenza, SARS-CoV-2, RSV, or other viral respiratory pathogens.

Objectives: After completing this training, the participants should be able to: 

Understand the concept and relevance of integrated respiratory virus surveillance.
Explain acute respiratory infections (ARI) and influenza-like illness (ILI) and related symptomatic case definitions.
Describe exemplary specimen flow and laboratory algorithms for testing.
Understand importance of using validated/verified laboratory tests with appropriate multiplexing to optimise the testing algorithm.
Describe advantages and limitations of primary and secondary care sentinel surveillance versus laboratory surveillance of all cases.
Utilize ERVISS.org as web-based surveillance platform for European respiratory virus surveillance data.

Participation: This training will open for self-enrolment 2 weeks in advance.

From Respiratory Clinical Sample to Whole Genome Sequence - AURORAE Summer School 2025

This course offers theoretical and practical training on acquiring and analysing whole genome sequences (WGS) of respiratory viruses from clinical samples, with a focus on influenza.

Duration: This five-day course begins on Thursday 26/06/2025 and ends on Wednesday 02/07/2025

Location: Athens, Greece

Audience: Microbiologists with interest in laboratory methods and analytical techniques used for the genetic characterization of respiratory viruses.

Objectives - After completing this course, participants will be able to:

List Advantages a Disadvantages of various WGS tools commonly used for Influenza
Explain and apply the WGS workflow from sample to sequence using Nanopore technology
Perform basic bioinformatic analysis of respiratory virus WGS data.
Report sequence data to ECDC and GISAID.
Describe Big Data analysis in clinical microbiology.
Discuss AI applications in the field of WGS data analysis and reporting.

Participation: This course is not open for public enrolment. Participation is through invitation by National Focal Points for Microbiology.

Biosafety and quality assurance in a public health laboratory 2024 - AURORAE

This is a webinar on biosafety and quality assurance in a public health laboratory. It aims to deepen the understanding of implementation of biosafety measures in a laboratory and the need for continuous quality control. This training activity is part of the AURORAE training program which has the objective to support countries in building capacities in the areas of diagnosis, detection, identification and characterization of primarily influenza, RSV and SARS-CoV-2 viruses.

Dates and duration: 16th December 2024 13:00-15:00 (CET).

Location: Online.

Objectives: After completing this training, the participants should be able to: 

Understand the requirements for the control of the risks associated with the pathogens being handled.
Describe standard laboratory practices as well as the different biosafety levels (1-4)
Recognize the need for verification or validation of a new molecular assay in a laboratory and the need for continuous quality control.
Understand the differentiation between the concepts of verification and validation and through specific statistical techniques and analyses to detect trends and shifts in order to review the results of the laboratory tests conducted.
Understand the requirements for the development and maintenance of a viral biobank facility.

Participation: This webinar is open for self-enrolment.