Chairs:
Ermira Tartari Bonnici
Conrad Attard
Mission and objectives
The 21st century public health workforce needs to much improve understanding and competency in navigating novel digital technologies such as AI, precision public health, medtech, serious games and better understand how to apply them across the spectrum of essential public health functions. With few exceptions, however, digital skills are not yet systematically incorporated into public health curricula. I this panel debate will discuss this challenge with world leading experts in developing and teaching digital public health programmes and share lessons learned and strategies for teaching interdisciplinary curriculum. In particular, the panellists will address the following questions:
- Identification of benefits and challenges of interdisciplinary education in Public Health programs.
- Sharing and examining case studies and best practices in interdisciplinary learning focused on how digital literacy and skill acquisition can be embedded in Public Health curricula.
- Co-design strategies and teaching activities that foster interdisciplinary learning environments at the program level (curriculum design) and the classroom level (course design and teaching methods).
Intended audience
This tutorial is designed for participants from Public Health, digital technologies, and others from the
following roles:
- Public Health Educators and curriculum designers: Individuals responsible for integrating Digital Health competencies into Public Health training programs.
- Technology and data scientists: Professionals developing or evaluating digital tools that can be implemented in Public Health education.
- Researchers, policymakers, and NGOs: Stakeholders interested in shaping future Public Health workforce capacity while safeguarding effectiveness and equitability of digital skill-building.
Expected outcomes
Overall, this tutorial will create a dynamic environment for sharing insights, exchanging best practices, and developing new strategies to help shape the future of Digital Public Health education. By leveraging
interdisciplinary perspectives, attendees will leave with concrete ideas and connections to further embed
digital competencies within their institutions and curricula.
Following the tutorial, we plan to use the discussion points to develop a position paper to be published in a leading open-access journal to make the results available to a broader audience while also stressing the
necessity of the need for interdisciplinary education in Digital Public Health.
Format and schedule
| Opening (15 min) | Overview of tutorial objectives, alignment with conference themes, and brief participant introductions and expectations via a “speed dating” method. |
| Introduction to Interdisciplinary Education (30 min) | Presentation highlighting the interdisciplinary nature of public health and digital public health, with an illustrative example. |
| World Café Small Group Discussions (45 min) | Small group discussions (rotating every 15 minutes) allowing participants to share experiences and challenges in interdisciplinary education, guided by the program committee. Tables will cover beneficial topics, barriers, and educational methods in Digital Public Health. |
| Plenary Discussion (30 min) | Participants reflect collectively on insights from the World Café, deepen understanding of interdisciplinary education challenges, and propose potential solutions. |
| Coffee Break (30 min) | Networking and informal discussion break. |
| Co-design Session: Developing Interdisciplinary Education (110 min) | Practical session using Design Thinking, comprising: – Introduction to Design Thinking process (10 min) – Empathising: small groups form user personas and identify challenges (20 min) – Defining the problem clearly (20 min) – Ideating creative solutions (20 min) – Prototyping visual or tangible curriculum/activity frameworks (20 min) – Presentations and peer feedback (20 min) |
SPEAKERS
Ermira Tartari Bonnici (Chair)
University of Malta
University of Malta
