The Pirbright Training team brings together Institute experts from our Science, Estate Management Services, Health, Safety and Biosafety and Quality Assurance departments.

Our portfolio of training combines instructor-led classes and eLearning (including virtual reality) courses to 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. He spent five 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.

 

Science

Lorraine Frost is the training liaison officer at Pirbright. She leads the development of scientific training alongside disease experts and is responsible for organising site visits to our high containment facilities and other ad hoc training activities. 

Lorraine joined the training team in 2022 after working as a technical manager in the diagnostic and disinfectant testing areas of the non-vesicular reference laboratory since 2008. Her experience within the laboratory covered bluetongue, capripox, peste des petits ruminants, epizootic haemorrhagic disease, African swine fever, African horse sickness, and veterinary disinfectants. 

She has been involved in several WOAH twinning projects and in-person training both at Pirbright and internationally.

Courses under development:

  • Mareks disease instructor led course
  • Training on validation to conform to requirements of ISO/IEC 17025
  • Field investigations