The Pirbright Institute is an international centre of scientific excellence in the study of viral infectious diseases. The Institute plays a crucial role in protecting the UK and international communities from viruses that have huge socio-economic impact through a unique combination of fundamental research, applied science, and state-of-the-art facilities (including biosafety levels 3 and 4).
The Pirbright Training team brings together Institute experts from our Science, Estate Management Services, Health, Safety and Biosafety and Quality Assurance departments who are producing a portfolio of training that combine instructor-led classes and eLearning (including virtual reality) courses.
These courses will share Pirbright’s expertise in Disease Control, Biocontainment Engineering and Biosafety. Meet our training experts below.
Project lead
Pirbright Training is led by Lizelle Gouverneur. Lizelle is Head of Business Development and supports the knowledge exchange and commercialisation of the research, skills and expertise of The Pirbright Institute.
Lizelle joined Pirbright in 2013 in the Knowledge Exchange and Commercialisation team, working closely with Pirbright researchers to identify, protect and develop the Institute’s intellectual property. Prior to joining Pirbright she worked in the product development team at AbD Serotec, where she licensed in new products and reagents from academic organisations.
Biocontainment engineering
Training in Biocontainment Engineering is led by Howard Rose. Howard is responsible for the development and delivery of specialist training courses aimed at engineering professionals overseeing the safe operation of high containment facilities (in particular at biosafety levels 3 and 4).
Howard returned to the Pirbright Institute after a role in their Learning and Development function and now brings his passion for developing others and engineering together. Before joining the institute, Howard was self-employed designing and delivering a range of learning interventions for organisations including Siemens, Royal Mail and Johnson & Johnson. Prior to this his background was in manufacturing and defence engineering, spending two years working alongside The Royal Saudi Airforce on various aircraft systems.
Courses under development:
- Fumigation and sealability
- CMR calibrations
- Autoclaves: operation and maintenance
Biosafety
Training in Biosafety is led by Dr Adrian Zagrajek. Adrian is responsible for the development and delivery of specialist training courses aimed at biosafety professionals overseeing the operation of high containment facilities (in particular at biosafety levels 3 and 4).
Adrian holds a PhD in Infection and Immunity (Virology) from the University of Edinburgh and, he spent 5 years at The Pirbright Institute working as a postdoctoral research scientist studying vector competence for human biosafety level 3 viruses (e.g. chikungunya, dengue, Rift Valley fever). During this time, Adrian was also involved in managing a number of high containment facilities.
In 2017 Adrian contributed to “Safe working with arthropods: Containment and control for work with uninfected, infected and transgenic animals in research”, the first UK industry guidance on working safely with insects in high containment laboratories. Adrian is a Member and a registered Biosafety Practitioner of the Institute of Safety in Technology and Research (ISTR).
Courses under development:
- Organisational management
- Biorisk management
- Competency management
- Biocontainment
- Disinfection, sterilisation and waste management
- Movement of infectious materials
- Emergency response and contingency planning
- Working with animals
eLearning development
The development of eLearning resources is led by Hugh Vaughan. Hugh works closely with the Training Officers and subject matter experts, designing and developing a portfolio of courses that complement the specialisms of The Pirbright Institute. Hugh has worked in eLearning and digital media his entire career.
Prior to working at Pirbright he worked in the Web Services department at the Guildford College Group (now Activate Learning) for 14 years. He is a multi-disciplined, versatile learning technologist with strong design and creative skills, adept at managing and developing multiple systems and creating high quality digital learning assets using a variety of content generation tools for use in courses and online.
Recently he has been working on more immersive projects using virtual reality.