Online training over 4 weeks during 16 November - 10 December 2021
Deadline for submission of applications: 11 October 2021, 8 am Geneva time
As announced early September, the 3rd global infodemic manager training is in preparation. Today WHO is opening the applications to all mid and senior public health professionals that are interested to advance their knowledge and strategy on infodemic management.
Learn from 2020-21 experiences
Early in the COVID-19 response, WHO began to build the tools needed for infodemic managers and solidify this new field of infodemic management. This has included developing a public health research agenda, competency framework, whole-of-society framework for responding to infodemics, piloting AI-supported social listening, as well as training infodemic managers.
Now is the time to reflect on the lessons learned and to promote capacities for developing infodemic management strategies as more countries are standing up infodemic management teams.
There have never been more tools or data sources to inform infodemic management. The upcoming 3rd infodemic management training will provide an overview of how to use them and prioritize building national capacities to respond to infodemics in a systematic way.
Objective of the training
The intent is to provide an update on the most recent infodemic management guidance and approaches, based on the experience since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. The bulk of the training will be focused on the emerging topics, strategy development, and policy implications in infodemic management.
The focus will be on hands-on practical exercises interspersed by lectures by experts from different professional fields. Sharing of lessons learned and experiences since the beginning of COVID-19 pandemic among participants will also be encouraged.
Working language of the training is English and trainees must have working proficiency in English.
Participation in the training is free to participants.
An immunization-specific specialized infodemic management training in multiple languages will take place in Feb/March of 2022. If you are interested to apply for this training or are looking for other opportunities, subscribe to the WHO Infodemic Management News Flash and watch out for announcements.
Time commitment and assessment of performance
Planned time commitment of trainees and achievement of course completion:
- Approximately 48 hours of lectures/discussions over the course of 16 November to 10 December 2021 (8 sessions, 2-4 hours each)
- During the training, trainees will work in groups via #slack to participate in a 4-week simulation exercise
Trainees need to be present at minimum 80% of sessions, demonstrate active take up of skills and knowledge in a post-training test, and actively contribute to the group work in the simulation exercises in order to receive a certificate of completion.
We invite applications from professionals who are:
- working within government or those who work with governments in public health at national or subnational level
- responsible for public communication and community engagement programming and who are involved in the current pandemic response
- currently working in health policymaking, health system strengthening, public health programming or health service delivery
- working at the intersection of tactical work and strategy setting in health programmes
- have working exposure to web and social analytics, behavioral science, risk communication and community engagement, science communication, health data analysis, digital health and innovation, epidemiology, or health information management and analysis
Criteria for eligibility:
- Have work experience of 10+ years in at least two areas of the above areas at sub/national or international level, or 5+ years and advanced agree
- Previous experience working in multicultural settings and workplaces
- Desirable: Previous experience in qualitative and quantitative data collection in health
- Desirable: Demonstrated interest or experience in misinformation topics
- Desirable: Experience in health emergency response
To apply, submit your application by 11 October, 8:00am Geneva, Switzerland time:
- Prepare CV in this format or format with similar amount of detail
- Prepare your answers to the three application questions below (max 400 words each):
- Describe a recent example of health misinformation impacting health seeking behaviors in your country. Support with data, where possible.
- A new policy has been implemented that has increased the speed by which health misinformation disseminators are deplatformed from social media platforms. This doesn’t seem to have a sizable effect on the amount of health misinformation people are reporting from all channels. How would you analyze and evaluate the situation and what else could you try in this situation?
- You’ve designed a chatbot as a tool for the Ministry of Health message dissemination. How would you develop the chatbot further to deliver infodemic management interventions? How would evaluate the impact of these interventions?
- Submit the CV and your answers via the web application form here
Accepted candidates will receive further communication after 18 October 2021.