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Fostering Research Ethics Training: Insights from the irecs Train-the-Trainer Workshop in the Netherlands
April 2025
On 3-4 April 2025, the irecs Amsterdam team hosted an engaging two-day Train-the-Trainer event in the Netherlands. Funded by the CATALIST grant of AmsterdamUMC, the event brought together over twenty trainers from across the world to explore and exchange ideas on how to implement the irecs training e-modules on four key topics: biobanking, gene editing, extended reality, and AI in healthcare.
The event aimed to empower trainers with the skills, techniques, and knowledge necessary to effectively implement the irecs training materials within their unique contexts. More importantly, this Train-the-Trainer session fostered an environment for participants to inspire one another with innovative strategies for bringing the irecs materials to life across diverse educational settings.
Over the past months, the AmsterdamUMC team developed implementation training formats for each technology covered in the irecs modules. These formats include a variety of building blocks—including warm-up exercises and icebreakers, interactive lectures, case reflections, and closing activities— providing clear examples of how the e-modules can be embedded into interactive training experiences.
Day 1: Stepping into the Trainee's Shoes
The programme of the first day focused on immersing participants in the role of the trainee. The morning began with an introduction to the irecs e-modules, including how to find, navigate and use them. In the afternoon, participants experienced the training formats themselves —just as future trainees would.
Participants joined an interactive lecture on gene editing, took part in a session led by the chair of a biobank ethics committee, and engaged in case reflections, mind-mapping and role-playing interactive exercises during the workshop rounds. The diversity learning methods led to meaningful discussion and kept energy levels high.
The first day was not only informative but also refreshing and inspiring. It allowed attendees and organisers to discuss complex ethical topics related to emerging technologies and on research ethics and integrity education.
Day 2: Becoming the Trainer
With fresh insights from the trainee experience, day two shifted the focus to the trainer’s role. Participants reflected on how to adapt the irecs materials to their own training contexts and audiences. They individually drafted lesson plans, thinking through learning objectives, structure and implementation strategies that they experienced the previous day.
In pairs, they explored their ideas using dialogue cards—prompts like
“How do you consider the cultural context of your audience?”— which led to rich conversations about tailoring content with care and relevance.
Next up was the creativity challenge, where participants collaborated in small groups to design unconventional and "outside-the-box" training formats. The results were imaginative, ranging from role-playing exercises to film-based discussions, exposing innovative ways to make research ethics and integrity training on new technologies more engaging.
The event concluded with a lively wrap-up and a cheerful group photo. It was really an inspiring event that the AmsterdamUMC team will not forget!
Interested in our training modules? Learn more about them
here.
Author:
Susan M.J. Berentsen, AmsterdamUMC.