Background:
The current pandemic of covid19 raises question how to respond effectively to a pandemic and develop research projects that can provide adequate evidence to inform future waves of the pandemic.
Objectives:
The project developed and piloted a training workshop that individuals had to manage a spread of unknown disease along with designing clinical trials to evaluate the effectiveness of the intervention in a thought experiment.
Methods:
We conducted five workshops that included an immersive speculative scenario of an interplanetary mission in which a health problem emerged and participant had to address it. One of the workshops used an extensive medical simulation facility. Others used a sci-fi narrative and interactive story telling to provide individuals with an immersive environment
Results:
The unexpected space scenario helped participants to think "out of the box" and come up with solutions that are outside the current health care framework. The restrictive environment was specifically helpful in re-thinking the issue of patient involvement
Conclusions:
The training workshop provides an opportunity to think and train individuals how to come up with innovative approaches to conduct clinical trials in unexpected situations e.g. pandemic.

Patient or healthcare consumer involvement:
The workshops involved patients or members of public in the training process.