The Education task force aims to train and educate the next generation of cancer researchers and clinicians in Personalised Cancer Medicine (PCM).And is willing to contribute to reduce major inequalities in prevention and cancer treatment between countries and regions.

To achieve this, the task force engages the consortium’s researchers and clinicians, disseminates knowledge, and provides specialised educational and training opportunities for cancer researchers outside the Cancer Core Europe, in Europe and beyond.

Within CCE, we are building the necessary foundations to nurture, prepare and deliver on the educational requirements of future generations of cancer researchers and clinical investigators. CCE is dedicated to the sharing of expertise to create harmonized procedures, equivalent testing platforms, and implementing best practices for various techniques and technologies. Novel clinical trial design and data sharing are at the very core of CCE’s Education task force. In short, education is a key component to developing synergies across its seven partners. During 2020, the Education task force has focused on three main activities to disseminate, train and educate researchers:

Summer school in translational cancer research – Open to participants from all over the world. During this one week, participants are offered cutting-edge knowledge on topics covering the entire cancer research continuum, including highlights from a selection of themes that are important to PCM. Participants and speakers are selected to represent a multidisciplinary group. The program facilitates networking and intensive interactions in a relaxed environment, which has proven to be successful over the years.

Advanced training series – TRYTRAC program – aimed at Cancer Core Europe’s translational researchers who are currently at an early stage in their career. The program allows the next generation of research leaders to deepen their understanding of the state-of-the-art research and technology of every partner institution. Our aim is to build a strong network and community of Partners, allowing them to share opportunities and ideas and turn them into collaborative projects together. This can enhance the sustainability of the consortium and, most importantly, improve patient benefits. Each partner will host one advanced 3-day workshop focusing on a preselected theme, and will give a presentation about the strengths of their center, allowing the participants to learn from one another and experience the best practices within the consortium. Leadership will be a reverberating theme throughout these workshops.

Clinical exchange program – a training program, primarily for clinical CCE professionals , in which they can visit and learn from other CCE partners at their institutes. The primary focus of the program is clinical activities, and the exchange will be for a period of a few of weeks. During this exchange, the visitor is expected to engage with the work at the partner unit and attend seminars and meetings while actively presenting their own research. The program considers ongoing CCE activities with a need for training, but is also open for initiatives identified as an asset to the individual as well as to CCE.

Virtual seminars – Although the Covid pandemic has drastically changed the program the need for continued strong support in educating and disseminating state-of-the-art research are still key. To overcome these new conditions that limit our use of physical spaces and travel for educational purposes, the Education task force is working on the development of a virtual series of CCE seminars. Initially, these recordings will be available within the consortium only, with the aim to gradually make them available to the public. To meet the need for training sessions within the different TFs in CCE, we are considering hosting half-day virtual training thematic workshops in which new areas and technologies are addressed.