Our mission areas

Training

Training future bioinformaticians

Bioinformatics is a rapidly expanding discipline that touches on all areas of biology – pure and applied. There is a global shortage of trained bioinformaticians, and the EMBL-EBI fulfils an important function in working towards reducing this shortage.

Graduate training – We have a lively graduate community through EMBL's International PhD Programme. Students can graduate from the university of their choice. Many of the EMBL-EBI's PhD students join the University of Cambridge; they participate fully in Cambridge graduate life and leave the EMBL-EBI with a PhD from the University of Cambridge. The EBI is an affiliated institution of the University of Cambridge Graduate School of Life Sciences.
Postdoctoral fellowships – We have Postdoctoral positions available in our research groups. We are classed as an 'academic analogue' in the UK, and can apply to the Wellcome Trust and the UK research councils for funding for postdoctoral fellowships. We encourage potential candidates visit the postdoctoral information pages and to contact the group/team leader of their choice to discuss the possibility of doing a postdoc at EMBL-EBI.
Visitors – We also welcome more senior researchers on sabbatical. See our visitors' page for more information.
Training days – We hold training days for Masters' and PhD students from other institutions. See our training pages for more information.

Training bioinformatics resource users

We offer support and training to researchers who use our resources:

Hands-on training – These courses provide expert tuition in the EBI’s core data resources and are particularly suitable for experimental biologists. The courses are held in our purpose-built IT suite at EMBL-EBI in Hinxton, UK (just outside Cambridge). The hands-on training is either residential or non-residential. See our latest full training programme.
Bioinformatics Roadshow – Provides hands-on training to European scientists who use the EBI’s core databases and tools. Our courses can cover a range of different learning objectives.
eLearning – Tutorials that introduce some of the EBI’s services and tools, which allow flexible learning so that you can learn at your own pace at a time that is most convenient to you. More content will be added to the site as the portal develops. We also have the 2Can Support Portal which provides concise introductions to basic concepts in molecular and cell biology and bioinformatics. This is especially useful for people who are new to bioinformatics.
Industry Programme workshops – We hold approximately 10 workshops a year as part of our Industry Programme. We also hold workshops for SMEs.
Online help pages and e-mail support – For users of our services and tools.