The 86th IKCEST Training Programme for Silk Road Engineering Science and Technology Development was held online from October 1st to 15th, 2020. It was co-hosted by the International Knowledge Centre for Engineering Sciences and Technology (shortened as “IKCEST”) under the Auspices of UNESCO, Xi’an Jiaotong University, and was organized by IKCEST Silk Road Training Base. 1254 students from Thailand participated in this training programme.

There were two themes on this training programme, which are “Medical Science in COVID-19”and“Popularization of science in COVID-19”. The lectures of “Medical Science in COVID-19” were: Differentiation of three kinds of Coronavirus Pneumonia（SARS, MERS, COVID-19）, Epidemic characteristics and response strategies of COVID-19, How to diagnose coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), Advances of Studies on Remdesivir Against Coronaviruses including SARS-CoV-2, The challenge and way to deal with under the outbreak of COVID-19 for the Surgical operation, Clinical characteristics and typing of coronavirus pneumonia in children, How to deal with the new coronavirus calmly from the aspects of ordinary people and etc. The following lectures were included in “Popularization of science in COVID-19”: A series of lectures on COVID-19, From the Quarantine to Cloud Computing, Brief introduction to Big Data Technology and platforms, Several applications of Big Data Technology, Reflection on Modern Management under Epidemic Situation：A perspective from System Dynamics（SD）, Introduction to Machine Learning, Application of advanced polymer materials in medical supplies.

A combined approach of video-on-demand (shortened as VOD) study, online discussion and after-class practicing were employed in the online training. The students freely arranged the learning schedule to complete online learning tasks, and had active discussion during the training.

Up till recently, 86 sessions of IKCEST Training Programmes for Silk Road Engineering Science and Technology Development have been held by Silk Road Training Base, training more than 9,000 participant from over 115 countries. This training programme, as an important work of IKCEST Silk Road Training Base, will play important role in training more talents for the Belt-road countries and better serving to the development of the Belt and Road Initiative. It also made important contributions to the economic and social development of European, Asian and African Belt-road countries and regions.