Content and quality of the training program

The students will get training with respect to broad areas of research methodologies in three areas:

• A1

Experimental approaches and their limitations – practical experience in experimental in vivo and in vitro methods in order to get clear understanding about limitations, costs, advantages and disadvantages of experimental data.

• A2

QSAR/QSPR model development and validation – main training with respect to model development, estimation of the accuracy of predictions, defining of the applicability domain of models using the OECD principles on QSAR model development.

• A3

Complementary skills – training in management, communication, IPR, grant writing, entrepreneurship, etc.

The work on the A2 is the main focus of the training in the grant and will constitute the major activity of the students. The LTR working in some research areas (e.g., WP2, LTR8) will be more involved in experimental measurements and application of existing methods while other students will be more deeply involved in methods development and programming.

However, without clear understandings of possibilities and restrictions of experimental techniques the researches may misinterpret the data. Unfortunately, such problems sometimes happen with respect to model development practices2⁠ and sometimes result in discredit of the computational approaches. While the OECD principles on QSAR models validation propose one way to address this problem, it cannot be completely solved without “experimental” education of new environmental chemoinformaticians, which is the goal of the area A1. The visits to laboratories of partners and associated partners will allow students to learn different methodologies. The Winter Schools will provide training in area A1 while Summer Schools will be dedicated to training in the area A2, thus providing additional complementary expertise to the fellows by specialists from within and outside the network, and from relevant authorities. The participation to ECO will allow the researches to build up their own professional networks with their partner fellows, within their host and partner institutes, and with the industrial partners, which will be of great advantage for their future careers.

The main training to A3 will be offered during individuals PhD programs. For example, a number of courses for the development of communications and presentations skills, management seminars, IPR and “how-to” courses are parts of HMGU, INIA and RU PhD programs. The students doing the PhD program will be required to participate in these courses during their studies. In addition, during the Winter Schools we will organize network-wide training dedicated to this area.