We run an annual programme of short courses, based on the academic year. Courses run from November until July each year. Courses do not run during school holidays, at weekends or in the evening. 

Our programme is now predominantly delivered online. Occassionally we run in-person courses at Canynge Hall, University of Bristol. Please pay special attention to this when looking through our programme.

Our programme covers a range of topics in health science, including: appraisal and synthesis of research, epidemiology, ethics research, genetic epidemiology, health data science, health economics, informatics, mathematical modelling, medical research design and management, medical statistics, molecular epidmiology, multiomic data, qualitative research, randomised trials and statistical computing.

We update our website with a list of our current short courses in September each academic year.

Many of our short courses run yearly, however some take place every two years. Courses aren’t guaranteed until they are available for booking on our website.

In 2023-2024 we will not run the following courses, though they remain part of our programme and may run in subsequent years:

Introduction to Diagnostic Test Evaluation
Qualitative Research to Optimise Design and Conduct of Randomised Trials

University of Bristol staff and students may still access these courses as a Materials & Recordings (UoB only) option.

Our short courses are not formally accredited for Continuing Professional Development (CPD) or the European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS). You are advised to assess the content of the course and make a judgement about their value.  

Subject to full attendance you will be provided with an electronic course certificate.

The number of participants on each course varies, however, in-person courses will not usually exceed 12 participants and online short courses will not usually exceed 70 participants.

To ensure our courses are suitable for you, and that you can fully benefit from participation, we identify a number of course prerequisites. We kindly request that you check you have access to the relevant IT resources needed for the course and meet the knowledge prerequisites prior to booking.

We use Blackboard and Blackboard Collaborate to deliver our online courses. You will be given access to Blackboard 1-2 weeks in advance of your course, to enable you to familiarise yourself with this online learning environment. After the course you will continue to have access to the course materials for 3 months to help consolidate your knowledge.

Some courses may provide pre-course readings or activities. If this applies you will receive full instructions in advance of the course.

To attend any of our courses, payment must be made for the entire course. It is not possible to only pay for one day. As our courses are very popular, we ask that course participants attend every day as there are often others on the waiting list who could make use of the full course. 

Overseas students are welcome to join our online courses. We cannot make allowances for time differences, so all live sessions and group work will take place according to GMT. However, live sessions are recorded and made available for 3 months after the course, so they can be accessed at a more convenient time. 

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. 

[Note: This is with the exception of Writing a Journal Article and Writing a Qualitative Paper, which are not recorded].

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

To access Blackboard follow this link: https://www.ole.bris.ac.uk/. Your course is located under 'Organisations' in the left hand menu. We have found Blackboard works best with Google Chrome. 

University of Bristol staff and students should use their UoB username and password to log in.

If you are not a part of the University of Bristol you must use the login details you were assigned for that course. Login details are unique for each course and will not work for any other course you may have attended.

If you have any accessibility requirements, please let us know by updating the accessibility form in your short course booking account. 

Alternatively, if you would like to discuss any access needs, please contact us directly‌.

Dietary requirements are only relevant for in-person courses, currently Writing a Journal Article and Writing a Qualitative Paper. Light refreshments are provided for morning and afternoon breaks, usually tea/coffee, biscuits and fruit. Please note that lunch is not included. You are welcome to bring along your own flask/water bottle.

If you have any accessibility requirements, please let us know by updating the dietary requirements section of the accessibility form in your short course booking account. 

Alternatively, if you would like to discuss any dietary needs, please contact us directl‌y.

We offer voucher packs to eligible individuals. Subject to availability these may be applied during booking to secure a free or discounted place on a course. To find out if you qualify for a voucher pack please review our short course fee policy.

Due to high demand and to maximise the number of people able to secure places on courses crucial to their studies / career development, all free / discounted fee categories are limited to three per eligible individual.

Please be aware that we have a limited number of free places on each short course, offered on a strictly first come, first served basis. Entitlement to a voucher pack does not guarantee that a free place will be available.

Vouchers are automatically allocated during registration, according to our fees policy. You can check our fees policy to see what vouchers you are eligible for.

When your registration is complete you will receive a confirmation email from our booking system. If you were allocated a voucher pack, this email will summarise the number of free or discounted places you have been assigned. If the email doesn't summarise any discounts then no voucher pack has been applied to your account. If this is not as you would expect, please contact short-course@bristol.ac.uk.

Please be aware that we have a limited number of free places on each short course, offered on a strictly first come first served basis. Entitlement to a voucher pack does not guarantee that a free place will be available.

To use a discount voucher, you must select the correct version of the course and apply your voucher when prompted at checkout.

Courses display in our booking system with 'free' or 'paid' in the course title. Please pay special attention to selecting the correct version before adding to your basket:

• If you are paying full price select the ‘paid’ course.
• To use a 50% discount voucher (if applicable) select a 'paid' course and use your voucher when prompted.
• To use a 100% discount voucher (if applicable) choose a 'free' course and use your voucher when prompted.

You can use the 'show' option above the search bar in the booking system to filter results for 'Free (with voucher)', 'Paid' or 'All' courses, as per the image below:

Anyone wishing to book a Bristol Medical School short course will need to complete a simple and quick annual registration (or re-registration) with our booking system. Both new registrations and re-registrations need to be approved before you can book a place on a course.

The registration process ensures that your account is configured correctly, so you’ll be able to see all courses available to you when bookings open, and to check eligibility for voucher packs.

Once registrations are approved, you can manage all aspects of your bookings through your account, including viewing available courses, placing bookings, cancelling bookings, joining waiting lists and checking payment due dates.

Registration is simple and should take just a few minutes to complete. Full instructions are provided below.

Registration is quick and easy and takes just a few minutes. If you get stuck, please contact us.

Re-registration is a similar process. Please see the step by step instructions below.

Even if you registered in previous years, you need to re-confirm your existing account. This is necessary to make sure it is configured correctly based on your current relationship with the University of Bristol.

Our voucher packs for free or discounted courses apply per person, per academic year and so we need to check your eligibility each year. 

Please follow the re-registration steps outlined below:

Re-registration is quick and easy and takes just a few minutes. If you get stuck, please contact us.

Yes, to be able to book a short course, you need to register a booking account.

Once you have set up an account, you can manage all aspects of your bookings through your account, including viewing available courses, placing bookings, cancelling bookings, joining waiting lists and checking payment due dates.

Registering an account is quick and easy - you'll just need to enter your name and email address and select a secure password for your account. When asked if you believe you are eligible for course discounts, just select 'no'. You will not be required to answer any additional questions and your account will be immediately created.

It is important for people to complete their own annual registration and administer their own course bookings. You cannot book courses for someone else, or place bookings for multiple people at once.

If you want someone else in your organisation to complete the payment, this can be done separately after you have finished registering and booking.

Some of our fee categories apply only to designated groups of individuals. In these cases, our system should automatically match people to the correct voucher pack during registration.

In other cases, we may ask for some key information from you, for the purpose of our admin team reviewing and verifying eligibility for a voucher pack. We aim to approve all registrations within 5 working days, though in most cases the wait time will be much shorter.

Registrations open in advance of bookings, to allow time for eligibility for voucher packs to be assessed and implemented. We publish the date and time for registrations to open in advance. To be notified about our timescales for launching registrations you may wish to sign up to our mailing list.

Annual registrations for 2023-2024 will be available from midday on 19th September 2023. Registrations will remain available for the academic year. Bookings will be taken from midday on 17th October 2023.

Courses are very popular, so we advise you to register and book as early as possible to avoid disappointment.

In most cases registrations are approved straight away and your account will be ready to use. You'll just need to refresh your browser and log in again to re-set your account. After midday on 17th October, you will be able to book courses. 

In other cases, we may ask for some key information from you, for the purpose of our admin team reviewing and verifying eligibility for a voucher pack. We aim to approve all registrations within 5 working days, though in most cases the wait time will be much shorter.

When your registration is complete you will receive a confirmation email from our booking system. If you were allocated a voucher pack, this email will summarise the number of free or discounted places you have been assigned. If the email doesn't summarise any discounts then no voucher pack has been applied to your account. If this is not as you would expect, please contact short-course@bristol.ac.uk.

The next time you login to the booking system you should see the following message on your home screen: "Your registration to our booking site is successful". If you do not see this message, try refreshing your browser and log-out and back in again.

After midday on 17th October, you will be able to search for available short courses and place bookings.

We open course bookings in October each year. We publish the date and time for bookings to open in advance. 

All bookings are subject to availability, some courses are very popular so we recommend you book as soon as possible. In advance of bookings opening we strongly advise you to complete your annual registration to ensure that the verification process for voucher packs does not delay your booking.

To be notified about our timescales for opening annual registrations and bookings you may wish to sign up to our mailing list.

In the interests of fairness we operate bookings on a strict first come, first served basis. It is not possible to reserve a space on a course in advance of the bookings opening, or to roll over a booking or payment from one academic year to the next. 

All bookings are subject to availability, some courses are very popular so we recommend you book as soon as possible. Before booking you must register, to ensure that the verification process for voucher packs does not delay your booking we strongly advise you to register early.

If you miss out on a place for this year, and wish to attend next year, you will need to wait until bookings open for next academic year to book a place on it.

Bookings for the 2023-2024 academic year will be available from midday on 17th October 2023 and remain open for the academic year. 

In order to book a place on a course, you first need to have completed your annual registration (you may register from midday on 19th September 2023). Even if you were registered last year you need to re-register (see instructions above). 

NOTE: Participants should complete their own registration and booking. If you want someone else in your organisation to complete the payment, this can be done separately after you have finished registering and booking.

1. Follow this link to the booking system, and login. Alternatively, you can access it via the link to the top right of the Short courses main page or via individual course pages.
2. At the top left go to Course Booking > Find & Book Activities. 
3. Look for the course you want from the list or use the search bar to find a specific course.
4. IMPORTANT: Available live courses will display as 'FREE' or 'PAID'. If you will be paying full price for a course select the ‘PAID’ course. To use a 50% discount voucher (if applicable) select a 'PAID' course, then make sure to select to use your voucher during booking, when prompted. To use a 100% discount voucher (if applicable) choose a 'FREE' course and your voucher will be automatically selected at checkout. You can choose to remove or add an available voucher. You can use the search function to filter on either free or paid courses.
5. Click on the course, scroll down and hit Book.
6. Continue through the booking system. When prompted, make sure you have selected to use any discount vouchers you have available, if applicable.
7. Once your booking is completed you will receive an ‘Order confirmation’ email, with instructions of how to pay. We recommend paying by credit/debit card via the online shop. Please note the online shop is separate to the booking system so if it is your first time making a payment there you will need to set up a separate username and password for it. Here are instructions on How to pay your short course fees.

To facilitate effective waiting lists we separated course bookings into free and paid. Courses display in our booking system with 'FREE' or 'PAID' in the course title. Please pay special attention to selecting the correct version before adding to your basket.

• If you are paying full price select the ‘PAID’ course.
• To use a 50% discount voucher (if applicable) select a 'PAID' course and select to use your voucher when prompted.
• To use a 100% discount voucher (if applicable) choose a 'FREE' course and your voucher will be automatically selected at checkout. (You can choose to remove or add an available voucher.)

You can use the 'show' option above the search bar in the booking system to filter results for 'Free (with voucher)', 'Paid' or 'All' courses, as per the image below:

If you have been allocated a voucher pack for free or discounted course places, you must use these during booking or you will be charged for the place. If you make an error and book a paid place you must cancel this yourself and re-book using your voucher.

All bookings are subject to the availability of places and we cannot guarantee that a free space will be available when you re-book.

To remove a course from your basket click on 'Remove course' and then select the 'Cancel this booking' button at the bottom of the next page.

It is important for people to complete their own annual registration and administer their own course bookings. You cannot book courses for someone else, or place bookings for multiple people at once.  

However, once a provisional booking is arranged, payment details can be passed to a finance contact to settle payment.

NOTE: The process to join the waiting list is the same as to book a course, only if the course is fully booked instead of being able to Book, you will be able to Register on Waiting List.

In order to join the waiting list please first register with the booking system (instructions can be found above).

1. Go to the booking system and login using the username and password you set up during registration.
2. Go to Course Booking > Find & Book Activities.
3. Find the course you want on the list, or use the search bar.
4. Click on the course you want.
5. Scroll down and click Register on Waiting List.

Unfortunately, we cannot guarantee that you will get a place as this depends on the length of the waiting list and your position on it. If a place becomes available, you will be invited to attend and have a limited time to respond to our invitation. 

We separate course bookings into paid and free place courses. You can use the search function in the booking system to filter on either free or paid courses. If you have a 100% discount voucher and there are no free places remaining on a course you can opt to join a free place waiting list.

Additionally, you may also choose to book a paid place if one is available, though this will be subject to payment in the usual timescales and subject to our cancellation policy. 

If a space becomes available on a course, we send out a time limited offer email to the person at the top of the waiting list. The email includes a link to accept or decline the offer. Please be aware that the offer is time limited: We typically require a response within 72 hours, however we may reduce this time as we get closer to the course start date. After this time the offer will automatically expire and the next person on the waiting list will be contacted.

To accept the offer:

1. Follow the link in the offer email to access your online booking account.
2. Scroll down to view the available dates (if applicable). 
3. Click on your chosen date (if applicable).
4. Click on 'Add to Basket'.
5. Go to your basket and checkout to secure the provisional course booking. Please ensure that you checkout promptly to secure the provisional booking. If you do not checkout your booking from your basket promptly it may expire and you will loose the offer of the place.

Note: It is not necessary for you to pay fees at the same time as accepting the offer, however you do need to checkout your booking. If course fees apply you will be notified about payment options and deadlines once your provisional booking is secured. All bookings remain provisional until payment has been received. 

To decline the offer:

1. Click on the link 'no longer interested in this course'.

If you wish to decline the current offer, but remain on the waiting list to be offered a place in future:

1. Click on the link 'wish to be offered future places'.
2. Select 'Reject offer and update availability'.
3. Scroll down and highlight the course dates you are interested in attending or click on 'select all'.
4. Click on 'Update waiting list selection'

If you need to cancel your booking, we ask for as much notice as possible. Applicants cancelling more than 4 weeks before the start of a course will receive a full refund. We cannot refund fees if a cancellation is made 4 weeks or less before the start of a course.

We are unable to allow participants to send people other than those named in their place. This is to give those on the waiting list the option of attending. 

Our short courses are very popular, and we often have waiting lists. If you have changed your mind, and no longer wish to participate that is fine, however we ask that you cancel your booking/s so someone else can benefit. To cancel a course:

1. Follow this link to the booking system and login.
2. At the top left go to Course Booking > My Booking Summary.
3. Find the course you wish to cancel and click on the course code.
4. Scroll down to the bottom of the page and select Cancel this booking.
5. Click to confirm when prompted.

Providing you cancel your place 4 or more weeks in advance of the course you will receive a full refund of the course fee. Payment will be refunded by card payment, reverse journal or credit note, depending on your initial payment method. If you used a voucher to pay for your course place this will be automatically credited to your short course booking account.

Note: If cancelling less than 1 week before a course start date, you will need to contact short-course@bristol.ac.uk to cancel your place.

If University strike action is announced that coincides with a short course, we automatically cancel the full course, as we will not know, ahead of time, which of the tutors are taking action. Courses cancelled due to strike action are not ordinarily re-scheduled within the same academic year.

People with existing bookings and those on the waiting list will be contacted by email to confirm the course cancellation.

Paid attendees will be refunded the course fee. As per our terms and conditions, we are not liable for refunds of travel or accommodation costs. Payment will be refunded by card payment, reverse journal or credit note, depending on the initial payment method. Please note that payments cannot be transferred to the next academic year. 

Internal candidates will be automatically registered for the Materials & Recordings (UoB only) (M&R) version of the course, where this is available, and any vouchers used will be refunded to their account. If available, live session recordings will be added from previous runs of the course, to ensure the M&R version is as complete as possible. Please note that the M&R course may not be complete. People booked onto the M&R version of the course will be contacted by email to confirm.

Please be aware that we are unable to prioritise bookings for the next run of the course. Bookings operate on a strict first come first served basis each academic year. 

If strike action is called off before the course was due to start, we will, if practical, seek to re-schedule the course for a future date within the same academic year. If a course is rearranged, we will endeavour to offer a temporary priority booking period to those originally signed up.

Courses are individually priced. Please see individual course pages for confirmation of fees payable.

Payment is required to secure a confirmed course place. Please be aware that once payment due dates have passed, unpaid provisional bookings are automatically cancelled. 

You must pay course fees according to the timescales outlined in our booking terms and conditions as follows:

Payments must be made in advance of a course. We do not offer payment extensions or scheduled payments. Our courses are in high demand, and in fairness to those on waiting lists we need payments settled within expected timescales. If you no longer wish to join a course please let us know as soon as you can, so we may offer the place to someone else.

Once payment has been made via the online shop, the payee will receive an email confiming payment.

If your origanisation requires a formal confirmation of payment/invoice this can be requested via finance-systems@bristol.ac.uk. Please reference the payment order number (starting UOB) so they can locate your payment and specify your organisation name, address and any additional text you would like included on the invoice.

We appreciate that some institutions are unable to arrange card payments through our online shop. In select cases we are pleased to offer an option to pay by sales invoice.

We charge an additional £40 administration fee for payments via sales invoice, which is non-refundable in the event of a cancellation.

This fee has been costed to reflect the additional processing work completed by the University for payments via this method. We offer an alternative option to pay via our online shop, which does not incur this additional charge. 

The £40 invoice administation charge applies per invoice raised and not per booking or individual. Institutions may therefore opt to include payments for multiple courses and individuals from their institution on a single purchase order (providing payment timescales for all bookings are met). Please be aware that the £40 invoice administration fee must be added to the purchase order you provide. 

For more information about payments via sales invoice and alternative options please see: how to pay your short course fees.

Yes, if fees are to be met from a University of Bristol grant code. This method cannot be used to transfer payment from another institution. Instead you will need to pay using our online shop or via sales invoice. 

Payment is not automatically made if you select this option at checkout, please follow the steps outlined here.