Open Call for Proposals: 1st VPH NoE Workshop on Toolkit Hands-on Training PDF | Print | E-mail

6-8 September 2010, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona

Background

The VPH NoE has designed a flexible training strategy to address priorities that it is known will develop over time. Specifically, short-term activities include a series of training events to address specific needs, featuring Study Groups, workshops on the use of the VPH ToolKit, summer schools on VPH models and modelling techniques and bilateral student exchanges (a formal Erasmus Exchange). The main objectives of these activities are two-fold: on the one hand, there is a need to start to deliver training activities that bring together researchers from different backgrounds and institutions, promoting the consolidation of a VPH community whilst providing valuable information on these experiences to direct and inform future training activities; on the other hand, a need has been identified for tuition on critical aspects of VPH expertise, for example, training on the VPH ToolKit.

In this context, a series of VPH ToolKit hands-on workshops will be organised. These workshops will be distinct from the Study Groups, whose primary aim is to answer specific scientific research questions in a multidisciplinary setting; in contrast, ToolKit Workshops will focus on the identification of ‘gaps’ in existing tools used by the VPH Community, will promote the use and re-use of these tools in problem-solving activities, and will ultimately encourage the collaborative improvement of such tools.

Workshop Objectives

  • To address specific problems that VPH-related projects are dealing with and explore possible solutions the ToolKit may offer at the technological level.

  • To train on the use of the tools incorporated to the ToolKit, emphasising practical comparison of different tools in an environment shared by researchers and developers.

  • To work in conjunction with the VPH community on defining the standards to which tools should adhere in order to become part of the VPH NoE ToolKit

  • To disseminate a best-practice approach to tool selection and use as they are incorporated into the ToolKit

Call for Participants

The workshop organisers invite interested researchers and practitioners to submit problems identified in their current research projects which require specific tool support. Proposers will be invited to work closely with the workshop organisers in the preparation of the workshop activities aimed at addressing their specific problems of interest.

The scope of the workshop initially includes all areas widely related to the virtual physiological human and predictive modelling of the human physiopathology. Several examples in this context of successful use of tools currently included in the VPH ToolKit are described below.

The workshop is orientated to gather information on the project or the plan of research and the problem (workflow) the applicants would like to address.

Submission procedure: Problem proposals

Interested researchers wishing to submit a problem-solving activity are requested to provide the following information using the problem proposal form :

  1. Name of the principal researcher proposed this activity

  2. Institutional information

  3. Description of the technological problem for which a solution is sought, together with the details of the project under which the problem proposed is framed

  4. Relevance of this proposal for the results of the project

  5. A workflow-oriented description of the VPH-related problem (1)

  6. Description of the tools you are currently using to try to solve the problem, if any

  7. Description of other tools you may wish to explore to solve the problem, or a description of how a series of such tools are/could be linked/integrated to do so

Such description should not exceed 2 pages in length (single space, 10pt Arial or Geneva font), and should be sent to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it (cc: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ) by July 9th 2010.

Prospective proposers should expect that this workshop will offer a set of potential solutions to their technological problem, based on tools currently included in the ToolKit, or tools that may become candidates for inclusion in the ToolKit, as motivated by this workshop. Developers of tools in the ToolKit will jointly work with proposers, leveraging the experiences gained in the past applying such tools to solve workflow-oriented VPH-related technological problems (see next Section).

In suitable circumstances it may that a particularly appropriate problem could be the target for multiple attempts at a solution, based on different sets of available tools, in a potentially competitive environment.

NoE Toolkit Success Stories

Tools included in, or destined for, the ToolKit have already played important roles in the successful completion of significant workstream-based solutions to data processing and analysis problems in many projects. To select just a few examples:

  • FP project COPHIT: 3D toolchain for respiratory drug deposition

  • FP project @:neurIST: 3D openMAF/GIMIAS toolchain for aneurysm rupture

  • FP project Simbio: ShIRT image processing suite (now commercially licensed)

  • FP project GEMSS: GEMSS tool set

  • FP project euHeart: Multiple toolsets for cardiac personalisation (GIMIAS, CMGUI, CellML, FieldML, OpenCMISS

  • French national project Cardiosense 3D: Multiple cardiac data processing tools in CardioViz 3D

  • FP Project VPHOP: orthopaedic modelling with openMAF tools

Who can apply?

The present workshop is part of several activities undertaken by the VPH NoE in order to contribute to the consolidation of the VPH community. In this context, prospective applicants do not need to be core or associated members of the NoE, proposals from the VPH-related community at large will be welcome.

Review & Selection Process

  • Proposals will be sent to the reviewing panel within one week after the submission deadline.

  • Workflows proposed will be considered together with the possible tools to be used in order to examine the feasibility to prepare the workflow in the context of the workshop

  • Workflows and tools will be prepared prior to the final stage of collaboration during the dates of the workshop

Evaluation & Follow up

  • Once accepted, a problem-workflow will be prepared in collaboration with NoE Members and the toolkit developers, prior to the dates of the workshop

  • A short final report (not exceeding 5 pages) must be compiled and submitted in October, jointly developed between developers and proposers. Such report will include:

    1. A subjective evaluation of the workshop process from the point of view of the proposer

    2. The most significant outcome produced by the workshop

    3. Specific needs / gaps / limitations / needs identified thanks to the workshop

    4. Planned actions in the near future as a direct consequence of the workshop experiences

Logistics

  • Workshop Dates: 6th to 8th September 2010.

  • Preparation workflows and tools: July and August 2010

  • Problem-workflows selection: Early July

  • Problem-workflows proposal: Second half July

The workshop will be co-located with another major VPH NoE event, namely the VPH Industry Day, to be held on the 8th and 9th September 2010 in Barcelona. For details, see http://www.vph-noe.eu/news/369-vph-industry-day-2010-draft-programme-now-available

Expenses

Funding is not available for attendees. Although catering will be provided on site during the workshop, all travelling and accommodation expenses will need to be covered by the attendees themselves.

Location

Universitat Pompeu Fabra (UPF) – Campus de la Comunicación – Poblenou, Barcelona

Contacts, mailing addresses...

WP3 Coordinator: Keith McCormack This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

WP4 Coordinator: Jesús Bisbal This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

(1) P. Hunter, et al. A vision and strategy for the virtual physiological human in 2010 and beyond. Phil. Trans. Roy. Soc. 2010. dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsta.2010.0048