This is a 5-day (week long) online course; most sessions will be delivered 'live', with a small number of pre-recorded lectures.

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

1. select the appropriate epidemiological study designs to investigate research questions;
2. with expert advice, be able to design and undertake a case-control, cohort, ecological or cross-sectional study;
3. list the strengths and weaknesses of randomised controlled trials (RCTs), case-control, cohort, ecological, and cross-sectional studies;
4. explain confounding and interaction (effect modification);
5. assess whether an exposure-disease association is likely to be due to chance, bias, reverse causation or confounding;
6. explain the principles underlying sample size/power calculations; and
7. feel confident to be able to critically appraise a published epidemiological study.

This course is intended for clinicians, researchers, public health specialists and other health care professionals who have only a basic understanding of epidemiology. Prior knowledge of basic medical statistics so that you understand findings published in peer-reviewed medical journals is important.

This course will cover:

1. exposure measurement and measures of disease occurrence;
2. measures of exposure effect (e.g., risk and odds ratios);
3. study designs (randomised controlled trials, cohort studies, case-control studies; ecological studies and cross-sectional studies);
4. bias and confounding;
5. simple regression and interaction effects;
6. sample size calculations;
7. an introduction to causal inference; and
8. the future of epidemiology.

Teaching is provided by experienced staff from across Bristol Medical School who have expertise in the epidemiological concepts and approaches being introduced and discussed throughout 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.

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. 

University of Bristol staff and postgraduate students who do not wish to attend the full course may instead register for access to the 'Materials & Recordings' version of this course: Further information and bookings.

95% of attendees recommend this course*.
*Attendee feedback from 2024.

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

“The sessions were pitched really well, I found the pace of the lectures easy to follow and felt able to ask questions. It was great having the power point slides in advance to print off to facilitate note taking. Having each study design in a separate lecture was really helpful and clarified the information really well” – course feedback, January 2024

“The format of the course went well, allowing us to ask questions during the presentations or afterwards. I really liked the polls and light questionnaires during and after the sessions” – course feedback, January 2024

“I particularly enjoyed when lectures took us through real-world examples, especially some of the more unusual or controversial cases. This helped to make, what could be quite a dry subject, more engaging. My favourite session was on 'the past, present and future of epidemiology' as I think it's important to set that context when delivering this kind of content, getting us to reflect on the why's and how we can make epidemiology better” – course feedback, January 2024

“It covered a lot of different aspects of epidemiology, so I feel like we got a good broad overview. The instructors were clear and responsive to questions” – course feedback, January 2024

“Each study design was explained in great detail and was easy to follow. All speakers were very helpful and informative when answering questions” – course feedback, January 2024

“The lectures were of a really high standard and were informal enough that it was easy to ask questions. I felt the depth covered was right for a week long course” – course feedback, January 2024

“All materials were well designed and it was very helpful” – course feedback, January 2024

“I liked the engagement parts, such as the quiz and the group project as they really helped consolidate the information and made me think about what had been taught” – course feedback, January 2024 

“The course gave a comprehensive overview of key types of study designs along with their strengths and limitations” – course feedback, January 2024

“It was excellent for really clarifying the differences between the different study methodologies and pros and cons” - course feedback, January 2024