1. What is Collaboratory?

Collaboratory is an ongoing initiative of the WHO Hub for Pandemic and Epidemic Intelligence that aims to establish a digital environment where the pandemic and epidemic intelligence community can convene to address critical challenges that affect the way data is accessed, analysed, visualised, and communicated for better pandemic and epidemic policy and response decision making. Learn more. 

2. What is the role of the WHO in Collaboratory?

The WHO Hub for Pandemic and Epidemic intelligence is part of Collaboratory governance structure that provides resources, oversight, advice and accountability for supporting the work of Collaboratory as well as operational support to Collaboratory network through Collaboratory Secretariat. Learn more. 

3. Who can contribute to Collaboratory and how?

Every individual, group, or community of practice passionate about pandemic and epidemic intelligence is welcome to join Collaboratory community and participate in discussions, access resources, join existing communities of practice, and contribute to ongoing work or bring in new ideas. We kindly ask groups and communities of practice to first get in touch with Collaboratory Secretariat at collaboratory@who.int so we can onboard you to Collaboratory digital environment.

4. Why would someone join Collaboratory?

Collaboratory is an interactive knowledge-sharing space where members can jointly analyse, learn from peers, tap into expert opinions, and curate resources to produce timely, effective, and actionable insights. Collaboratory engages with a wide range of partners and practitioners at a local, national, regional, and global level and seeks to engage with many stakeholders across sectors and geographies to leverage strengths and resources. Collaboratory members get opportunities to connect to peers in their domains/areas of interest and learn from them. They also contribute to responding to acute public health events, helping to improve pandemic and epidemic intelligence, providing public goods for health, and receiving recognition for their contributions. 

5. What is Collaboratory community?

Collaboratory community is a network of interconnected practitioners passionate about epidemic and pandemic intelligence who share a repertoire of resources, experiences, stories, tools, ways of addressing recurring and new public health challenges, and respond rapidly with improved data, enhanced analysis, and actionable insights. Learn more. 

6. What is Collaboratory digital environment?

Collaboratory digital environment is a curated digital space consisting of various resources and tools for supporting active participation of Collaboratory members, including collaborative analysis processes, contribution to Collaboratory initiative, and distribution of benefits of public goods for health in pandemic and epidemic intelligence. Collaboratory initiative places a strong emphasis on digital platform capabilities that enable rapid analytical response. Priority requirements include creating feedback loops, ensuring data access and policies, assembling a pool of experts, facilitating collaboration, providing real-time training, and promoting transparency. Furthermore, Collaboratory will serve as a searchable platform for peer reviewed and published tools and relevant datasets. 

7. Is there a licensing cost for using Collaboratory platform?

No, use of Collaboratory platform components is free of charge for Collaboratory Members. 

8. Which components is Collaboratory digital environment currently offering?

Collaboratory operates on Discourse, an open-source forum and community software for enabling networking and facilitating discussions, chats, and other community activities such as online events and webinars. Collaboratory uses GitHub to support collaborative activities related to code management.

9. We already have code repositories and are using other platforms for community management; do we have to use Collaboratory digital environment to participate in Collaboratory?

No, you are not obliged to switch to using Collaboratory digital environment components to participate in Collaboratory initiative. Please contact Collaboratory Secretariat at collaboratory@who.int to align on desired collaboration modality and contribution to Collaboratory objectives. 

10. Is there a limit to the number of members a group or community of practice can have?

There is no specific limit to the number of members. The focus is on creating a collaborative and engaged group/community, regardless of its size. Collaboratory encourages groups and communities of practice to accommodate members that fit into Collaboratory domains and objectives. 

11. Is there a possibility of having private spaces for groups and communities?

Yes, private group/community spaces and code repositories are possible. Initial privacy setup is part of Collaboratory onboarding journey, please reach out to Collaboratory Secretariat at collaboratory@who.int for more information.  

12. I don't see what I need in the FAQ.

This FAQ should answer most of your questions about Collaboratory. If you have additional questions or need further assistance, please contact Collaboratory Secretariat at collaboratory@who.int.