Title:	Outbreak Investigations & Research
Keywords:	Research Outbreaks Multi/inter-sectorial approach International/Global Health
Country:	Belgium
Institution:	Belgium - Antwerp Institute of Tropical Medicine
Date start:	2026-03-30
Date end:	2026-04-17
About duration and dates:	3 weeks
Classification:	advanced optional
Mode of delivery:	Face to face
Course location: Antwerp Institute of Tropical Medicine Nationalestraat 155 B-2000 Antwerpen tropEd Representative: Govert van Heusden, gvheusden@itg.be Website: www.itg.be Course leader: Prof. Marianne van der Sande (mvandersande@itg.be)
ECTS credit points:	5 ECTS credits
SIT: Contact hours: 80h Self Study: 50h Total SIT: 130 hours
Language:	English
Description: Upon completion of the course, students will be able to: • Define clear research objectives, based on an analysis of the concrete problems and opportunities related to a specific outbreak • Identify risks and challenges in outbreak investigation research and options to mitigate them •Apply appropriate (quantitative, qualitative, geographical) methods to analyse an outbreak and related interventions • Design a protocol to implement interdisciplinary outbreak research
Assessment Procedures: During the 3-week course, students will work on an individual assignment. Students will have to develop the outline of a research proposal on a specific outbreak in a certain context. This proposal (2 pager) is expected to incorporate an impactful research question and appropriate study design with a multidisciplinary approach. Several sessions are planned throughout the course for students to work on their assignment. Students will get teacher (formative) feedback from the course facilitators on draft versions during scheduled coaching sessions. Detailed written feedback on the proposal will be given to the students after grading of the assignment. This individual assignment represents 100% of the grade for this course. Instructions, grid and template are in Annex 1 Assessment criteria for evaluation of the assignment (using an assessment grid): • Relevance and focus of the research objectives-40% • Appropriateness of the study methodology-40% • Sufficient attention for innovation and for ethics – 10% • Readability and logical structure document – 10% Re-sit sessions Participants who did not obtain the pass mark of 50% (10/20) for the overall assessment mark for the course in the first assessment session, get the possibility to write a new proposal, which will be assessed according the above assessment criteria.
Content: A set of interdisciplinary interactive sessions will assist the students to gain new insights in outbreak investigation and research which can support outbreak control. Emphasis is placed on introducing the different theoretical and operational concepts applied to outbreak settings, using besides la-demo’s, exercises to practice hand-on skills, such as: • steps of outbreak investigation with a One Health approach • surveillance and early warning • geographical information systems • health systems • evaluation methods • ethics • molecular epidemiology These concepts are applied to disease-specific case studies to unravel research opportunities and discuss the challenges, specificities and impact of investigations and research during outbreaks. We do this, using disease-specific cases, such as: • zoonotic diseases outbreaks (e.g. mpox, rift valley fever) • often neglected outbreaks (e.g. cholera), • vector-borne disease outbreaks (e.g. chikungunya) In all lectures, exercises and case studies we focus on multi- and interdisciplinarity in outbreak investigation and research.
Methods: In this course, case studies and examples are used for the students to learn core competencies. This also allows lectures to be more interactive, which is the core teaching and learning method. Each lecture session is also integrating more group exercises to allow students to absorb the new information and apply it. Besides interactive lectures, following methods are used: group work on case studies, exercises to apply tools, lab demo’s, coached group work and peer-feedback sessions for the individual assignments. Exchange of experience is essential in the learning process. Some sessions may require preparatory reading or self-study. We provide links for further reading. More in detail: Teaching and learning methods consist of interactive lectures (42 hrs), group work on case studies – including exercises applying tools (16 hrs), lab demo’s (6 hrs), and coaching sessions for the assignment (12 hrs). One session (2h) is dedicated to introduce the course & the assignment and one session (2h) for the course evaluation and conclusions. Each day there is a 15 minutes recap of the sessions on the previous day, highlighting the lessons learned and what to take along for the upcoming sessions. In addition to the scheduled contact hours it is estimated that 50 hrs of personal work (self-study) are required for preparatory and additional reading and for the individual assignment.
Prerequisites: The short course OIR targets clinicians, veterinarians, health system or programme managers, public health epidemiologists or microbiologists, decision makers or researchers who have been involved in outbreak investigation or response. Academic degree Applicants must hold a university degree of minimum 4 years equivalent to 240 ECTS (referred to as a Master’s degree in the European Union) in health sciences (medicine, pharmacy, nursing, veterinary medicine), biomedical sciences or other health-related domains, such as medical sociology, medical anthropology or health economics. Experience Applicants need to demonstrate some experience with or practical expertise in the domain of outbreak investigations. Language proficiency Required level for English: TOEFL 580 (paper-based), 230 (computer-based) or 88 (internet-based), IELTS 6.5 or equivalent. (ITM Toefl Code 7727). Note: native English speakers are exempt from these language requirements. Applicants whose first language is not English are equally exempt if they have obtained 60 credits from a higher education programme taught in English. Non-native English speakers are also exempt from the English language requirement if they have a higher education diploma from a Flemish Community higher education institution.
Attendance: Min 12 students; Max 24 students (no limit on tropEd students)
Selection: Selection criteria • Relevance of background: relevant prior degree(s), additional training and professional experience. A Master’s degree in Public Health, in Epidemiology or equivalent is an asset for short course participants • Motivation letter: explains interest in outbreak research and expected contributions to future outbreak research • Potential impact: potential professional, institutional or social impact of the course
Fees: Non-EEA student : €1900 EEA-student and TropEd Msc students with a residence card in an EEA country: € 730
Scholarships: Limited number of fellowships to applicants from developing countries are available, priority given to Belgian Development Cooperation (DGD) partner countries (https://www.itg.be/en/study/scholarships-to-study-at-itm). Academic acceptance in the course is conditional to, but no guarantee for such scholarships. More information can be found on the ITM website (https://www.itg.be/en/study/courses/design-and-evaluation-of-health-programmes/2025-2026?tab=practical-information)
Major changes since initial accreditation: The course coordinator changed due to retirement of the previous coordinator. Dr Soledad Colombe is now the course coordinator. The specific objectives of the course did not change. Only the program and some of the learning methods were changed, to answer some of the students recurrent comments and emerging needs. The program is now no longer divided into two parts (Part I Core Competencies, Part II Examples), but instead uses the case studies and examples for the students to learn core competencies. This allows lectures to be more interactive. Each lecture session is now also integrating more group exercises to allow students to absorb the new information and apply it. The first day of the course was always an introduction to outbreak investigation. The content was now changed to give more space to a new case study that takes the students through the steps of an outbreak investigation, again using a real life example to support learning through group exercise. The programme now also gives more space to current pressing topics for outbreaks: molecular epidemiology, One Health, and Vaccine Effectiveness. Finally, the assignment is now an individual report rather than a group work report for 2 main reasons: 1) Students were really unhappy about group work, and it was felt from the evaluation committee that it wasn’t appropriately evaluating individual students’ understanding of how to formulate a research question and choose an appropriate study design 2) Having an individual assignment allows the students to pick an outbreak and context that they already know, making their proposal much more relevant to the real world but also allowing the students to spend more time on the actual thinking around the research rather than having to research a lot about the outbreak and context.
Student evaluation: Elements from evaluation 2024: Positive elements: - Appropriate course level with high improvement of professional and research skills post-course - Appreciation of multidisciplinary approach - Appreciation of variety of contexts and rich discussions - Group diversity - Real case examples (eg: Ebola from Central and West Africa) - Course content was specific and applicable in real practice in the field. - Availability of course leader Feedback/to improve: - Include more case studies and group discussions - Provide earlier information about the assignment - More practical examples of OI & outbreak simulation exercise - Reasonable workload, yet some classes were rushed
Lessons learned: Every year, evaluation from students and teachers is collected in order to adjust the course when needed. Not every changes can be made all at once, so the course is improved slightly every year (for example we did so on providing more information on assignment instructions, and including more case studies and practical examples). We have now reached a good level of mixing core competencies with group work on specific examples, and we have made sure that topics are not redundant with Masters in Public Health or other basic Outbreak Investigation courses. What distinguish this course from other outbreak courses is its multidisciplinarity and its focus on research. By bringing in external experts from collaborating institutes we ensure each year that the examples supporting the teaching stay both relevant and contextualized. We have also learned over the years that diversity of backgrounds among the students is key to the success of this course, as is prior experience with outbreaks.
tropEd accreditation: Accredited at Online tropEd GA (“Hamburg”), 11 - 12 June 2020. Re accredited in June GA 2025 in Heidelberg. This Accreditation is valid until June 2030.
Remarks:
Email Address:	bbroucker@itg.be
Date Of Record Creation:	2020-08-20 03:26:43 (W3C-DTF)
Date Of Record Release:	2020-08-20 08:31:58 (W3C-DTF)
Date Record Checked:	2020-08-20 (W3C-DTF)
Date Last Modified:	2025-07-09 08:58:50 (W3C-DTF)