Biological Risk Association Philippines‘s Train the Trainers Workshop, in partnership with the US Department of State Biosecurity Engagement Program (BEP) and CRDF Global, was successfully concluded last August 23, 2016. The participants who were handpicked by the BRAP and the BEP were either with the academe or in the laboratory who have a knack in giving lectures about biosafety and biosecurity. They were housed for 2 days at the Marriott Hotel in Manila. The participants came from different institutions all over the Philippines so that dissemination of information about biosafety and biosecurity is scattered throughout the country.

Train the Trainers participants, speaker, and evaluators

The first day of the workshop kicked off by introduction of the participants, in which they have to introduce themselves by giving their name, institution, position, number of years working in the institution, and their distinct tag, in which other participants could easily remember them.

Dr. Moreno spearheaded the workshop

The driving force behind the workshop was no other than Dr. Miguel Martin N. Moreno II, BRAP President, and Biosafety Officer of both St. Luke’s Medical Center in the Quezon City and Global City.

The first day was slated for lecture proper. The topics were diverse and were useful in training: having clear objectives, knowing your stuff and audience, using your tools appropriately, and developing stage presence. Dr. Moreno also taught the TTT participants how to dispel their public speaking demons and to develop their own metrics. He also discussed the checklist that is needed for effective training slide presentations. Later in the day, all participants were paired, and each pair was assigned each topic regarding biosafety and biosecurity, which the participants would present the next day.

Now it was the participants’ time to strut their stuff on the second day. In one of the topics from the first day was that they have to defy their fears in speaking publicly, so Dr Moreno made them present their assignments in front of the other participants, applying what they have learned from the first day and applying their own techniques. We invited two evaluators, Dr. Socorro Lupisan, Director of Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM), and Mr. Ian Medina, Senior Science Research Specialist from RITM, and both were PhABOT graduates. For every pair, the evaluators commented on their style, do’s and don’ts, what could be changed and enhanced. It was a tiring day for everyone, but very informative and fruitful.

TTT Participants