Overview

Understanding the delicate relationship between a protein’s structure and its function is key to understanding life itself. As the field of structural biology evolves with groundbreaking AI tools like AlphaFold, making sense of these biological building blocks has never been more exciting to bring into your classroom.

The EMBL Science Education and Public Engagement team, in partnership with Merck, warmly invites STEM educators to join us for a free, 2.5-day immersive train-the-trainer course.

Designed specifically for formal and informal educators, this course provides you with everything you need to confidently bring cutting-edge science into your classroom and train your fellow teachers to do the same.

The Logistics

• Dates: 1 – 3 March 2027
• Location: EMBL Heidelberg, Germany
• Cost: Completely free of charge
• Language: English (CEFR B2 minimum, C1 recommended)
• Audience: Secondary school STEM teachers and teacher trainers from EMBL member states.

Requirements
Please note: All course sessions, including specialist talks by researchers, group discussions and course/support materials, are in English only. No translation or interpreting is provided. We ask that applicants have a confident working level of English (CEFR B2 minimum, C1 recommended) so they can engage fully in discussions with other participants, and can get the most out of question and answer sessions. Please consult this self-assessment chart if you are unsure about your language skills.

What to Expect: Say goodbye to dry lectures. You will get hands-on with a brand-new EMBL teaching resource that mixes tactile, game-based, and computer-based activities to help students explore protein structures in a highly engaging way. You will also meet EMBL scientists, tour our world-class facilities, and exchange best practices with a vibrant community of educators from across Europe.

Become an EMBL Teacher Ambassador: This is a “train-the-trainer” course, meaning you leave with more than just a lesson plan. By completing this course, you will become an official EMBL Teacher Ambassador. We will equip you with the tools, scientific talks, and educational materials needed to run your own local “EMBLconnect” training courses in your native language, empowering your local teaching community.

During our time together, you will:

• Discover cutting-edge EMBL research on protein folding and Artificial Intelligence directly from the scientists.
• Explore behind the scenes with guided visits to EMBL’s scientific laboratories.
• Trial our brand-new, classroom-ready teaching resource through hands-on testing.
• Equip yourself with the materials and confidence to deliver your own EMBLconnect courses back home.
• Connect and share teaching resources and tools with an inspiring network of European STEM colleagues.

Course organisers

EMBL Science Education and Public Engagement
EMBL’s Science Education and Public Engagement office shares the scientific discoveries of EMBL with young people, teachers and the diverse public in Europe and beyond. Our education programmes convey complex, cutting-edge topics in life science research in an exciting and insightful way, fostering the discovery of current research trends, the scientific method, and scientific career paths. Our teacher training courses empower educators to bring modern life sciences into the classroom. Visit our website for further information about our activities.

Merck, a leading science and technology company, operates across life science, healthcare and electronics. More than 64,000 employees work to make a positive difference to millions of people’s lives every day by creating more joyful and sustainable ways to live. From providing products and services that accelerate drug development and manufacturing as well as discovering unique ways to treat the most challenging diseases to enabling the intelligence of devices – the company is everywhere. In 2022, Merck generated sales of € 22.2 billion in 66 countries.

Ambassador Programme & EMBLconnect

The EMBL Teacher Ambassador Programme empowers you to bring world-class life science training directly to your home country.

As an Ambassador, you act as the gateway to EMBL’s resources for your local community. You will lead EMBLconnect courses– customised professional development sessions based on EMBL’s successful training models, delivered in your local language, and tailored to the unique needs of your school system. Through your leadership, a much wider community of teachers can access cutting-edge science education.

A True Partnership: How We Support You You are never doing this alone. While you take the lead in running the course, the EMBL Public Engagement team works closely with you during preparation. We provide:

• Comprehensive Materials: Ready-to-use scientific and educational content, plus application and evaluation templates. (You also have complete freedom to add your own localised content!).
• Logistical & Financial Backing: We offer a small budget to cover basic expenses like catering or printing, and we actively promote your course to the broader EMBL teacher network.
• Ongoing Guidance: Continuous support from our team on designing and delivering your agenda.

Your Journey Your role begins with a dedicated train-the-trainer course where you will master the materials needed to deliver EMBLconnect sessions. Upon completion, you will receive an official Ambassador certificate, with additional certification awarded once you successfully run your first local course. Moving forward, you will be the first to know about EMBL’s newest resources and activities for young learners to share with your network.

Benefits of Becoming an Ambassador

• Gain exclusive, first-hand insights into EMBL’s latest research and educational initiatives.
• Receive professional development training from an internationally recognised scientific institution.
• Build your CV and gain valuable experience as a mentor and trainer for your peers.
• Contribute to improving science teaching and professional development in your home country.
• Join a passionate, international community of forward-thinking STEM educators.
• Receive official certificates acting as an EMBL Teacher Ambassador and an EMBLconnect trainer.

Acommodation & Travel

Location

The course will take place on the EMBL campus in Heidelberg, Germany.

Accommodation

If you are travelling from outside the Heidelberg area, we are delighted to offer complimentary single-room accommodation and breakfast at The Heidelberg Exzellenz Hotel to make your trip as smooth as possible.

• Dates: 2 nights (Check-in: 1 March | Check-out: 3 March)
• How to reserve: Simply indicate that you need a room on your application form. Please make sure to select this option when you first apply, as we are unfortunately unable to add hotel bookings after applications are submitted.

If you require accommodation for additional nights/people, please arrange this directly with the hotel at your own cost.

Hotel contact details:
The Heidelberg Exzellenz Hotel
Rohrbacher Straße 29
69115 Heidelberg

T +49 6221 9150
F +49 6221 16427-2
info@the-heidelberg.de

Travel

Travel to Heidelberg and EMBL 
Participants are responsible for organising their travel to and from Heidelberg. Some useful information can be found here: https://www.embl.org/sites/heidelberg/travel/

Getting to EMBL on 1 March by the EMBL shuttle bus
For those staying in the hotel, a shuttle bus will transfer participants between the hotel and EMBL on 1st March and for the course duration.

There will also be a shuttle transfer taking participants from EMBL Heidelberg to the Heidelberg main train station at the end of the course on 3rd March.

A detailed shuttle schedule and information on additional transport options will be shared with the course participants before the course begins.

Important: Please wait for the shuttle in front of the hotel, if not otherwise communicated. Participants are kindly asked to be on time for the pick-up/drop-off. 

Bursary

While the course and accommodation are provided free of charge, participants are responsible for arranging and covering their travel to and from Heidelberg.

Need help with travel costs? We want to ensure this opportunity is accessible, so we offer a limited number of travel bursaries (partial financial support) for participants who might otherwise be unable to attend.

How it works: Please note that if you are awarded a bursary, the funds will be provided as a partial reimbursement after you have successfully completed the course.

How to apply: If a bursary would make your attendance possible, simply fill out the bursary section in the course application form. Please be sure to include your supporting statement, as we can only review completed requests.

When you will hear back: We will notify you about the status of your bursary application by 15 January 2027.

Eligibility requirements for a travel bursary

• All applicants must be either active in training secondary school teachers or teaching biology to 14-19-year-old students.
• All applicants must be willing to run at least one EMBLconnect course in their home country within 9 months of attending the train-the-trainer course.
• Candidates of any nationality may apply but must be residents of and work in a European country.

Bursaries will be awarded based on:

• Justification of the use of the funds to support your attendance of the train-the-trainer course
• Demonstration of involvement with national teacher/educator networks and a commitment to sharing course materials through these networks
• Commitment to running at least one EMBLconnect course within 9 months of attending the train-the-trainer course.

Application

Please ensure that you have read all course information and are confident that you can attend the train-the-trainer course if your application is successful.

To apply, please fill in the following application form: Application form

Application deadline: 11 January 2026, 23:00 CET

You will be notified of the success of your application on 15 January 2027. If your application is successful and you have been invited to the train-the-trainer course, we will ask you to confirm your attendance by completing our course registration form by 25 January 2026. Please make sure you have access to the internet and email during this period.

Maximum number of participants: 20. 

Minimum number of participants: 15.

Schedule

Please find below a DRAFT course schedule. A final detailed programme will be shared with the selected course participants.

01.03.2027_Day 1_Monday

• Welcome
• Course agenda and goals
• Networking
  • The “European Classroom” Map
  •  The “Give and Get” Exchange
• Dinner at EMBL

02.03.2027_Day 2_Tuesday

• Science Block 1: The Foundations
• Science Block 2: Specific Projects & Tech
• Unveiling the EMBL Teaching Resource
• Behind the Scenes: Lab Visits
• Testing the EMBL Teaching Resource
• Wrap-up & Reflection
• Dinner in Heidelberg downtown

03.03.2027_Day 3_Wednesday

• Teacher Presentations: Peer-to-Peer Inspiration
• The Multiplier Guide: How we support you
• Workshop: Build Your Own Course
• The “Pitch” & Feedback
• Course wrap-up