Building key competencies in clinical research: CONSCIOUS curriculum projects

The field of non-commercial clinical trials has experienced significant expansion in recent years, especially in the context of precision medicine and individualized treatment. Indeed, non-commercial trials provide a venue for research on questions relevant to clinical practice and offer the opportunity to use innovative clinical trial designs. At the same time, however, non-commercial clinical trials place greater demands on principal investigators and their team members as they extend their position in the study to include the coordination and management role of the sponsor. On the other hand, training in the organization and theory of clinical trials at medical and pharmaceutical faculties in the Czech Republic is limited. It is typically included in pharmacology as part of an introduction to the overall process of drug research and development. At the postgraduate level, only some faculties offer comprehensive courses on the organization and interpretation of clinical trials. The ERASMUS+ CONSCIOUS and ERASMUS+ CONSCIOUS II projects can thus help to fill the gap in education in this area, offering a comprehensive, free-of-charge collection of lessons for undergraduate and postgraduate biomedical students, and an open pilot course of twelve on-line lessons with international participation is also planned.

Keywords: non-commercial clinical trials, academic education, biomedical students, curriculum, problem-based learning.