Link: https://www.apbionet.org/bgcc/
Several independent investigators and agencies have taken steps to come together and work on the biological grand challenges at various levels, from local to international. As such, we expand and complement the existing efforts with the creation of the Bioinformatics Grand Challenges Consortium (BGCC) – aimed to foster international collaboration between institutions and organisations to proactively and critically reflect on the future challenges in the field and propose solutions. A grand challenge is defined as a complex problem that is difficult to solve and that cannot be simply resolved through the application of more funds, time, manpower and/or resources.
Individuals participating in the BGCC consortium, as experts in their respective domains, would participate in working committees of interest to discuss the various grand challenges relevant to bioinformatics, with the goal of defining the challenges, identifying proposed solutions, developing well-defined metrics (where possible) to allow for a progress charting, and making public the findings collaboratively.
BGCC’s policies will strive for inclusivity and diversity for a balanced view on the subject matter, producing living guide documents, updated on a need basis as the field evolves.
Bioinformatics education and training was the first grand challenge that BGCC attempted to define. We assembled a working group of experienced educators and trainers, recruited through their membership in and involvement with international and regional organisations dedicated to bioinformatics education and training—ISCB, GOBLET, APBioNET, ELIXIR, Bioclues, SolBio, and the H3ABioNet—to identify a consensus set of grand challenges in bioinformatics education and training.