Biocuration

Entry requirements

Applicants are normally expected to a hold a 2:1 degree or higher from a UK university or an equivalent from an overseas university in a life sciences subject.

Months of entry

October

Course content

The Postgraduate Certificate in aimed at current biocurators in a range of workplaces. These include publically funded institutes such as EMBL-EBI, the Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics, the US National Centre for Biotechnology, and model organism databases, as well as commercial and private industry. We expect most applicants will be post-doctoral researchers often from a life sciences background, however, we also welcome applications from graduates and postgraduates fresh from higher education.

Aims of the programme

The programme will:

• provide professionally relevant teaching and learning of the knowledge and skills which underpin, and are at the forefront, of the role of a biocurator.
• develop, create and upskill biocurators with the necessary expertise, and originality of application, to pursue and expand their roles in the rapidly evolving environment of biocuration.
• equip biocurators to exercise initiative, personal responsibility and make complex decisions for successful careers in all branches of biocuration, including those in academic, research institute, industrial and health settings.
• promote a comprehensive understanding of, and expertise in, the use of computational techniques as applied to biocuration.
• encourage a commitment to intellectual challenge and the need to engage and interact with user communities.
• provide work relevant learning and practical expertise in the context of a critical awareness of current problems and challenges to ensure development of best-practice in biocuration.
• ensure a systematic understanding of knowledge to facilitate the development of critical thinking, analytical and problem-solving skills relevant to the career of a biocurator.
• instil the values of Open Science, open access and FAIR principles.