What good is theory if it is not put into practice? This is especially true for those studying or working in the health sciences. The Africa Unit for Transdisciplinary Health Research (AUTHeR) at the North-West University (NWU) is presenting various informal workshops and webinars throughout the year, concentrating on qualitative and quantitative research methodologies that focus on skills development and optimal support for researchers, study leaders and students. 

The upcoming quantitative webinar series is presented by Prof Cristian Ricci, an internationally qualified biostatistician. Prof Ricci says the initial four webinars aim to share knowledge on theory and technical skills that everybody needs in the field of health sciences, especially for human health research. These four webinars will be followed by more webinars at a later stage.

The initial four webinars highlight epidemiology for public health (23 to 25 August), learning R (software environment/programming language) from scratch (25 October to 22 November), power calculation and sample size optimisation (6 to 7 September) and systematic reviews and meta-analysis (17 to 18 October). 

Prof Ricci says the webinars will not only explain the theory of epidemiology and biostatistics but put it into practice by showing how study design or statistical analysis is performed in the real world, starting from software use and programming. “There are at least two main skills we want to improve: study design, planning and its execution in epidemiology (research aiming at human population health), and biostatistics, with a focus on the practice of statistical analysis and software programmes.”

Prof Petra Bester, director of AUTHeR, believes the seminars will be particularly beneficial to postgraduate students, study leaders and lecturers: “These are short, powerful seminars and discussions that will help students to further their studies and better equip study leaders to support their students.” She concludes: “We are excited about these webinars and hope to see this become an even bigger initiative in the future.”

AUTHeR invites all researchers, students and lecturers in the field of human health to attend and participate in the webinars. All courses are free and those interested should register as soon as possible.

For more information, contact AUTHeR’s Community Integrated Research (CIR) office at 018 299 2512.

For more information about the specific seminars:

1.    https://www.nwu.ac.za/date/webinar-epidemiology-public-health-theory-an…
2.    https://www.nwu.ac.za/date/webinar-learning-r-scratch
3.    https://www.nwu.ac.za/date/webinar-power-calculation-and-sample-size-op…
4.    https://www.nwu.ac.za/date/webinar-systematic-reviews-and-meta-analysis