The online course will run for two full days. All sessions will be live and will consist of a mixture of lectures, practical and discussion/Q&A sessions.

By the end of the course participants should be able to:

1. interpret a MR study, acknowledging the assumptions required and limitations of the study;
2. understand and explain advanced pleiotropy robust methods for MR estimation;
3. conduct and interpret a Multivariable MR;
4. interpret MR studies with time-varying exposures;
5. understand the potential for and limitations of MR using multi-ancestry studies;
6. interpret and conduct a within-family MR analysis;
7. explain the methods for and limitations of MR with a single SNP associated with the exposure; and
8. explain the effect of collider and selection bias on MR studies.

The course is intended for researchers who are already involved in conducting MR studies who wish to understand more about recent developments in methodology and interpretation.

This course will cover:

1. methods for pleiotropy robust MR;
2. methods and interpretation of multivariable MR;
3. interpretation of MR with time-varying exposures;
4. methods for within-family MR;
5. MR with multi-ancestry data;
6. MR with a single SNP as an instrument;
7. the implications of selection bias and collider bias for MR;
8. practical application of pleiotropy robust methods, multivariable MR and within-family MR; and
9. opportunities for wider discussion about MR with tutors on the course.

The tutors on this course are researchers at the MRC Integrative Epidemiology and are leading experts in the development and application of the MR methods covered in the course.

To make sure the course is suitable for you and you will benefit from attending, please ensure you meet the following prerequisites before booking:

Before booking this course, please make sure you read the information provided above about the target audience and prerequisites. It is important that you have access to the relevant IT resources needed for the course and meet the knowledge prerequisites to ensure you can get the most from the course.

Please remember that we do not charge fees for pilot courses, nor do they count against your allocation of free course places. However, in return we ask that you take the time to provide full and thorough feedback so we can effectively evaluate the success of the course.

Bookings are taken via our online booking system, for which you must register an account. To check if you are eligible for free or discounted courses please see our fees and voucher packs page. All bookings are subject to our terms & conditions, which can be read in full here.

For help and support with booking a course refer to our booking information page, FAQs or feel free to contact us directly. For available payment options please see: How to pay your short course fees.

Participants are granted access to our virtual learning platform (Blackboard) 1 to 2 weeks in advance of the course. This allows time for any pre-course work to be completed and to familiarise with the platform.

To gain the most from the course, we recommend that you attend in full and participate in all interactive components. We endeavour to record all live lecture sessions and upload these to the online learning environment within 24 hours. This allows course participants to review these sessions at leisure and revisit them multiple times. Please note that we do not record breakout sessions.

All course participants retain access to the online learning materials and recordings for 3 months after the course. 

Please note that this is a pilot course and therefore no Materials & Recordings (UoB only) option is available.

100% of attendees recommend this course*.
*Attendee feedback from January 2024.

Here is a sample of feedback from the last run of the course:

"The tutors were all excellent, they're clearly incredibly knowledgeable in this subject and very generous with their time and expertise. I really appreciated the structure of the course, including frequent short breaks and having relevant practical sessions immediately following lectures discussing the same content enabling you to practice the content you've learned. I also appreciate the amount of references and discussion of current literature, which helps give context of how MR is being performed and used by the scientific community as a whole and provides a space to further explore concepts that have been discussed" - Course feedback, January 2024

"The whole course ran smoothly. There was room for questions and the learning objectives were met. Excellent tutors" - Course feedback, January 2024

"The lectures and content of the training course were incredibly informative, well structured and really useful" - Course feedback, January 2024

"Very engaging and complete course!" - Course feedback, January 2024

"The course was very thorough, and covered many relevant topics in depth, which the practicals helped to consolidate. I think the majority of it was pitched at a level appropriate for those who had previously done the standard MR course, but was still challenging (in a good way). I can see how several of the methods discussed will be applicable to my work" - Course feedback, January 2024

"The course ran smoothly and the pace was not too intensive. The teaching was engaging and given by those with great expertise in their field" - Course feedback, January 2024

"It was an excellent summary of current MR methods given the time available, and the level of detail was suitable for my stage of research (beginning of PhD). It helped me to crystallise my understanding of MR approaches and issues with current techniques" - Course feedback, January 2024