EBW26 Workshops
Workshops are led by community experts and include state-of-the-art training and updates on key topics.
The schedule of workshops taking place on Tuesday 19 May is being finalised. If you book your Early Bird ticket now, you will be contacted for your first choice when they are made available.
Workshop 1: Engaging young participants: PPIE challenges and solutions in Paediatric Biobanking (4 hours)
The workshop will explore how biobanks, especially those with paediatric collections, engage children and parents in decision about biosamples and data collections, focusing on the complex ethical and practical challenges, unique to working with young participants. Key issues include consent and assent processes, recontact at the age of majority, broad-consent limitations, and the return of secondary findings.
The workshop will explore and address different ethical and practical challenges through a series of short presentations by biobank specialists, ELSI experts, and patient representatives that will help identify key challenges and areas where clearer recommendations are needed.
Target audience: This workshop is intended for biobank staff, biobank managers, biobank directors, researchers, ELSI experts, clinicians, and public engagement specialists who are looking to engage and involve patients, public, and other stakeholders in their research and biobanking activities.
The workshop will include short presentations on key challenges and best practices followed by break-out groups working on the key areas identified for recommendations.
Maximum number of participants: 85
Workshop 2: Mastering the BBMRI-ERIC Ecosystem: From Infrastructure to Impact (4 hours)
A high-quality IT infrastructure is only as powerful as the team operating it. While BBMRI-ERIC provides the Directory, Negotiator and Federated Platform[1], their true value is unlocked through expert usage and seamless maintenance. This workshop moves beyond technical components into practical “methods” turning digital tools into meaningful assets for your biobank.
Designed for biobank leaders, staff, and data managers, this interactive workshop focuses on enhancing the findability of samples and cohorts. Participants will gain hands-on insights into the BBMRI-ERIC tool suite, including the Directory, Negotiator and Federated Platform. We will also introduce essential new tools like the Federated Data Quality Framework[2] and demonstrate what support the IT community can offer to the biobanks with the Extract-Transform-Load (ETL) process when preparing data for the tools.
Through lectures, online voting and discussions, we will map common needs and obstacles but also share best practices for data integration aiming to foster collaboration and share testimonials. Join us to bridge the gap between infrastructure and impact, ensuring your biobank’s assets are visible, accessible, and research ready.
[1] https://www.bbmri-eric.eu/bbmri-sample-and-data-portal/
[2] https://bbmri-cz.github.io/data-quality-framework/
Maximum number of participants: 60
Workshop 3: Data Quality in line with BBMRI-ERIC QM Service (4 hours)
The quality of data that a biobank provides for scientific purposes, alongside biological samples, is receiving increasing attention within the biobanking community. In response to this development, BBMRI.QM has developed a new service to support biobanks in establishing and demonstrating an organisational framework for data management and data governance that safeguards data quality. This service is integrated into the existing BBMRI.QM structure and follows its established pillars of Knowledge / Training / Auditing & Quality Label / Continuous Improvement. At the heart of this service is the BBMRI.QM Data Management Maturity Self-Assessment Survey (DMM SAS), a structured self-assessment tool guiding biobanks to determine whether they meet the key organisational requirements for quality of data and data management. The workshop is a mix of lectures, hands-on exercises, and group discussions. The attendees will gain practical knowledge on how to use the DMM SAS as a self-assessment tool, translate its results into concrete organisational improvement actions, and contribute immediate feedback towards the final refinement of the DMM SAS. For full workshop experience, attendees are expected to bring their own laptop to participate in the hands-on exercises.
Target Audience: This workshop is intended for data and IT managers, quality managers, biobank staff and researchers who are interested in biobank data quality and considering participation in the BBMRI.QM Audit Programme.
Maximum number of participants: 60
Workshop 4: Microbiome Biobanking in a One Health Framework: Bridging Silos Across Domains (2 hours, 13:00 to 15:00)
This workshop will explore how microbiome biobanks and data repositories across human, animal, and environmental domains can collaborate to support a One Health approach to microbiome research. While microbiomes are inherently interconnected across these domains, research efforts, biobanks, and data repositories are often fragmented and poorly aligned. Participants will discuss practical issues such as interoperability, standards, governance, data sharing, and sustainability, including how samples and data can be maintained and reused after individual research projects end.
In addition, the workshop will present lessons learned and best practices emerging from the EU-funded MICROBE project, highlighting concrete challenges and gaps between the research community and research infrastructures. The discussion will focus on what currently works, what does not, and where better coordination between biobanks, data repositories, and researchers is needed to support long-term, integrated microbiome research in a One Health context.
Target Audience: This workshop is intended for microbiome researchers, staff in biobanks which manage or plan to manage microbiome-containing biospecimens, and data scientists handling microbiome data.
Maximum number of participants: 40