Learning and Development Opportunities for Researchers and Trialists
The Network, and its member CTUs, are committed to sharing their knowledge of best practice in clinical trials research from the absolute fundamentals of trial development and management to the use of the latest novel trial designs.
Below you can find out about some of the upcoming learning and development opportunities taking place across the Network.
Some events are open to all and allow for online registration and payment. Others are limited to staff at Registered CTUs.
Use the links below to find out more.
January 2025
Title: Independent Data Monitoring Committee
Date: 14 – 16 January 2025
Venue: Online
Cost: Academic/attendees from not-for-profit organisations £354; Attendees from for-profit organisations £425; Delegates resident in low middle income countries – £177
Do you or will you sit on IDMC or have a publicly funded trial that needs to be overseen by an IDMC?
If so, this popular course is for you, whether you are a clinician, statistician, or work in trial operations. The multidisciplinary Faculty will lead participants through many of the challenges and complex issues associated with reviewing accumulating data from clinical trials and making recommendations. The course covers the practical and statistical issues that you need to consider when setting up and running an IDMC. Using lectures, group discussions, and real-life case studies the course covers: roles and responsibilities of an IDMC, best practice, membership, the need for independence, and decision-making, recommendations and relationships to other committees.
We are particularly keen on receiving applications from clinicians, but if you could circulate amongst your teams, that would be great.
For more information and to register, please visit: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/clinical-trials-and-methodology/education/short-courses/idmc
Title: Practical Use of Multiple Imputation to Handle Missing Data in Stata
Date: 28 – 29 January 2025
Venue: 90 High Holborn, 2nd Floor, London WC1V 6LJ
Cost: Low Middle Income Countries (LMIC) – £185; Academic, students & external not for profit organisations – £370; External for profit organisations – £444
Course facilitators: Ian White and Tim Morris (MRC Clinical Trials Unit, UCL), and Angela Wood (University of Cambridge)
Course Overview:
Our aim in this course is to provide participants with the ability to analyse their own data using multiple imputation, but also to be aware of the pitfalls and limitations of the technique. We will give plenty of practical examples from our own experience of analysing data in medical research. We welcome participants bringing their own data and problems, and one session is dedicated to discussion of some participants’ data.
Who Should Attend:
The target audience for this course is researchers needing to analyse incomplete data:
• Attendees are expected to be familiar with running Stata from the command line (i.e. not using menus) at least to the level of fitting a regression model to complete data and producing simple graph
• No prior knowledge of multiple imputation is assumed.
• Participants will need a computer with the facility to run Stata 12
Requirements:
• Laptop with Stata 12 or higher
• Download course datasets before the course
Structure:
Two mornings (09:00-13:00), featuring nine lectures and eight practical sessions.
For more information and to register, please visit: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/clinical-trials-and-methodology/education/short-courses/missing-data
Title: Masterclass in the Design & Conduct of Complex Intervention Evaluations
Date: 29 January, 5 February, and 12 February 2025
Venue: Online
Cost: Early bird rate of £475 until Friday 20th December 2024, £525 for registrations after this date.
Course leaders: Michelle Collinson, Alexandra Wright, Hughes, Florence Day, Bethan Copsey & Professor Amanda Farrin, Leeds CTRU
Overview
Many health and social care interventions are complex and require careful consideration of key methodological challenges to enable robust evaluation. This workshop will provide attendees with a clear understanding of how to design and conduct a complex intervention evaluation and will include:
What makes an intervention complex?
• An overview of existing frameworks
• The role of pilot and feasibility studies
• Trial design for complex intervention evaluation
• Intervention implementation and the role of a process evaluation
• Practical considerations in the set-up and delivery of complex intervention trials
Who will benefit from this masterclass?
Clinicians, Health Professionals, Researchers, and NIHR Academy Members interested in planning or leading the design and conduct of evaluations of complex interventions.
Attendees should already have a good working knowledge of clinical trials and be keen to understand the challenges which are specific to evaluating complex interventions.
The masterclass is not suitable for those seeking an introduction to clinical trial design
Book online: https://tinyurl.com/5657k6ae
February 2025
Title: Patient and Public Involvement
Date: 26 February 2025
Venue: Online
Cost: Academic/attendees from not-for-profit organisations £323; Attendees from for-profit organisations £387; Delegates resident in low middle income countries – £161
Training Facilitators: Kate Sturgeon & Ben Cromarty
This is a practical and really interactive and interesting session co-facilitated by a PPI representative! Trial and data mangers may find it particularly useful as you will learn more about how you can involve patients and the public in your research, potential barriers to involvement and ways of overcoming these.
This course is a practical, interactive workshop for those working in clinical trials who already or wish to actively involve patients or the public in their trials. It offers participants the opportunity to:
– build an understanding of PPI in health research and specifically in clinical trials;
– begin involving patients and public in their research, and/or develop their involvement activities in a meaningful manner; and
– learn from other participants about what works in specific contexts.
For further details, and to register, please click here.
March 2025
Title: Sample size calculations in randomised clinical trials: beyond the basics
Date: 4 March 2025 (10am – 5pm)
Venue: MRC Clinical Trials Unit at UCL, 90 High Holborn, London, WC1V 6LJ
Cost: Academic / Non-profit Organisations – £325; For Profit Organisations – £555
Course leads will include: Dr Babak Choodari-Oskooei, Professor Ian White, Professor Andrew Copas, and Dr Matteo Quartagno
Sample size calculation for trial design
Sample size calculations arise in planning a study. It is one of the most important aspects of any design since it drives study timelines and the cost of undertaking the protocol. It determines the degree of required information to robustly answer the primary research questions in the study. If the sample size is too small, the study is likely to be inconclusive. Furthermore, increasing sample size during the study can be expensive and time-consuming. Therefore, it is imperative to accurately estimate the required sample size and trial timelines from the outset, and particularly for any funding application.
This course builds on a basic course in sample-size calculations such as the one provided by the ICH, and provides an overview of the underlying statistical theory for sample size calculations within the hypothesis testing framework. It addresses practical issues and statistical considerations when calculating sample sizes for a wide range of advanced trial designs and outcome distributions, including factorial, non-inferiority, group sequential, and clustered randomised clinical trials. It uses real advanced trial examples to calculate the sample size using the available user-written software in both R and Stata.
Potential Attendees
Those working on trials and study designs, which includes trialists, trial statisticians, clinicians and other scientists. Familiarity with the hypothesis testing framework (i.e., type I error rate, power, and various effect sizes) are essential. Familiarity with sample size calculation for simple/basic designs is desirable but not essential.
For more information, and to register, please click here.
Title: Conduct of Platform Trials
Date: 18 March 2025 (10:00 – 16:30)
Venue: MRC Clinical Trials Unit at UCL, 90 High Holborn, London, WC1V 6LJ
Cost: Academic / Non-profit Organisations – £414; For Profit Organisations – £558
Hosts: Sharon Love, Matt Sydes, Annabelle South, Francesca Schiavone, Lindsey Masters
Master the complexities of platform trials with our hands-on course — your guide to efficient design, seamless operations, and impactful reporting for next-level research!
This course addresses key questions in platform trials, such as:
– Should one database or several be used?
– One protocol or a modular approach?
– How to open a new comparison during the trial.
– How to communicate when a comparison closes?
Designed for trial managers, data managers, database developers, Chief Investigators, and statisticians, the course focuses on the unique challenges of platform trials compared to traditional two-arm randomised controlled trials.
Through a mix of lectures and activity-based sessions, participants will gain a deep understanding of setting up, managing, and reporting platform trials. By the end of the course, attendees will be equipped to tackle the complex operational aspects of platform trials.
Further details on the structure of the course and how to register: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/clinical-trials-and-methodology/study/short-courses/conduct-platform-trials
Title: Introduction to Cancer Clinical Trials
Date: 20 March 2025 (10am – 1pm)
Venue: CRUK & UCL Cancer Trials Centre, 90 Tottenham Court Rd, London
Cost: Non-profit Organisations – £50; For Profit Organisations – £100
Course lead: Giulia Pellizzari, Lecturer, CR UK & UCL CTC
This session provides a general introduction to cancer clinical trials for staff new to academic cancer studies.
Participants will get an overview on what clinical trials are and how they can have a preventative, curative or palliative aim. The session covers the practical and scientific reasons why we need clinical trials, what are the differences between Phase I, II, II and IV studies and the different methods of randomization. The session also highlights how drug development trials in cancer differ from non-cancer studies and how the new era of targeted therapy and immunotherapy is changing the way cancer trials are designed.
For more information, and to register, please click here.
Title: Clinical Trial Management: Maximising Effectiveness
Date: 24 – 25 March 2025
Venue: Online
Cost: £250
This 2 day programme will focus on the fundamentals of the project management of trials. It will explore how to plan for and respond to clinical trial challenges, maximising effectiveness, efficiency and data quality. It is aimed at individuals working on behalf of a sponsor organisation in trial co-ordination and management who have some experience, and who would like to build on this skill set.
The Birmingham Centre for Clinical Trials (BCCT) brings together the clinical trial expertise from across the University of Birmingham and, in particular The Birmingham Clinical Trials Unit (BCTU), and The Cancer Research UK Clinical Trials Unit (CRCTU). BCCT is one of the leading centres in the UK for designing and implementing high quality trials across a wide range of diseases and clinical settings. This course is organised by Razia Meer-Baloch (Training and Education Lead, BCTU) and the programme is delivered by a wide range of clinical trials experts from across BCCT.
For further information, and to register, please click here.
April 2025
Title: 2nd Contemporary Clinical Trials Methodology Meeting
Date: 2 – 3 April 2025
Venue: South Kensington campus, Imperial College London
Cost: One Day – £50 (£60); Two Days – £90 (£100) – early bird rate available until 14 February 2025
Putting contemporary clinical trials methodology into practice
Do you work in clinical trials and want to find out about the latest in the design and delivery of contemporary trials? Join us for sessions that will dive into practical insights, including real-world examples and in-depth discussions.
Day 1: For trial statisticians and statistically minded trialists
– Multi-arm multi-stage trials
– Platform trials
– Target trial emulation
– Including when and how to statistically implement, examples of their use in practise and discussion of methodological challenges
Speakers include: Professor Max Parmar, Professor Stuart Pocock, Professor James Wason, Dr Philip Pallmann, Dr Shaun Seaman, Dr Suzie Cro, Dr Rachel Phillips, Professor Victoria Cornelius, Dr Li Su, Dr Ed Waddingham.
Day 2: For trial managers, data managers and staff interested in trial operations, data systems and data management
– Platform trials
– Routine data enabled trials
– Including practical examples of operational solutions implemented, trial operations and data managers working together in complex settings
Speakers include Dr Fiona Lugg-Widger, Janis Best-Lane, Lindsey Masters, Cheryl Pugh, Dr Andy King, David Murray, Dr Marion Mafham, Professor Tony Gordon. More to be announced!
To find out more, and to reserve your place, please click here.
Title: Tumour Response Assessment in Oncology: A guide to RECIST and iRECIST criteria
Date: 3 April 2025 (9:30am – 1pm)
Venue: Online
Cost: Non-profit Organisations – £50; For Profit Organisations – £100
Course lead: Giulia Pellizzari, Andre Lopes, & Emily Ambrose CR UK & UCL CTC and Dr Irfan UCLH
This is a newly developed training session that covers the following aspects:
– Introduction to response assessment criteria: why do we need standards
– RECIST criteria guidelines: how are these reflected in the Trial Protocol?
– RECIST and iRECIST: what are the differences?
– Imaging methods of response assessment
– Design and analysis of trials using response assessment
– Response assessment in the future generation of cancer trials
The course will dedicate ample time to the development of practical skills to learn how to evaluate response according to both RECIST 1.1 and iRECIST via the following activities:
– Calculation tables to evaluate response
– Real life CRFs review in groups
– Case study discussion
– Quizzes
For more information, and to register, please click here.
Title: Running a trial from concept to completion
Date: 28 April 2025 (10am – 1pm)
Venue: CRUK & UCL Cancer Trials Centre, 90 Tottenham Court Rd, London
Cost: Non-profit Organisations – £50; For Profit Organisations – £100
Course lead: Rubina Begum, Senior Project Manager, CR UK & UCL CTC
This session gives an introductory overview of all the steps required to design, set up and complete an academic cancer trial conducted in the hospital setting.
Participants will know what all the organisations and people involved in trials do and what permissions and documents need to be in place at different stages of a trial. The course is of most interest to those new to working in academic cancer clinical trials. Those currently working in the field who would like to gain an overview of what happens at other stages to the one familiar to them, may also benefit.
For more information, and to register, please click here.
Title: CPD course on the Foundations of Cluster Randomised Trials
Date: 28 April – 30 April 2025 (3 day) or 2 May 2025 (5 day)
Venue: Online
Cost: 3 days (£300) or 5 days (£450)
Course leads: Delivered by faculty of the University of Birmingham including Karla Hemming, James Martin and Sam Watson
This short 3-day or 5-day on-line course will provide training in the design, conduct and analysis of cluster randomized trials (CRTs) and stepped-wedge cluster randomized trials (SW-CRTs). Delivered by faculty of the University of Birmingham including Karla Hemming, James Martin and Sam Watson. There will also be a guest speaker who will give an overview and insights to practical, logistical and ethical issues that are faced when running large scale cluster randomised trials.
Cluster trials are increasingly used to evaluate interventions that improve care delivery and study strategies for implementing efficacious interventions in routine clinical practice. They require specific methods of design and statistical analysis. This course will include the rationale for using these designs, specific design issues, the randomisation process, practical issues in managing these trials, and trial reporting and interpretation. Over an optional two days, students also have the opportunity to learn about sample size calculations and analytical methods. Principals will be illustrated using case studies of stepped-wedge and cluster randomized trials.
For further details, and to register, please click here.
Title: Methods for Evaluating Models, Tests and Biomarkers (MEMTAB) international conference
Date: 29 April – 1 May 2025
Venue: University of Birmingham, UK
Cost: Student £300, Academic £500, Industry £750
Website: MEMTAB 2025: “Methodology That Stands the Test”
MEMTAB is the leading international conference about methods to evaluate models, tests & biomarkers for healthcare. It allows debate & dissemination of best methods for developing, evaluating & identifying reliable models, tests & biomarkers for use in clinical practice.
In 2025, for our 7th International conference, we return to the University of Birmingham and raise the conference theme: “Methodology That Stands the Test”.
We want participants to push our understanding of what constitutes the research evidence needed for models, tests and biomarkers to be reliably endorsed, communicated and deployed in practice.
Registration and abstract submission is now open. Deadline for abstracts is 12th January 2025.
For enquiries, email memtab@bham.ac.uk
Title: Contemporary Clinical Trial Course
Date: 30 April 2025 – 23 July 2025
Venue: Imperial College London
Cost: £1,000
The Imperial Clinical Trials Unit is pleased to announce that registration for the 4th annual ICTU Contemporary Clinical Trials IN PERSON Course 2025 is now open. The ICCT course will run from 30-Apr-2025 to 23-Jul-2025 and is delivered through a mixture of online short videos and reading material, face-to-face small group tutorials, online drop-in clinics and a final presentation. Please refer to the attachments for further details.
This is a bespoke course which promotes networking and provides Early Career Researchers, in particular Emerging Lead Investigators, with the opportunity to learn the essential skills needed to plan and conduct a clinical trial. During the course, each delegate will develop a research protocol based on their own research question with support from experienced ICTU staff working in Clinical Trial Statistics, Methodology, Operations and Clinical Data Systems.
The cost is £1,100 per delegate.
Registration will close no later than the 31-Mar-2025: please follow the link: ICCT In-person registration form 2025.
**THE GROUP SIZE IS LIMITED TO 10 DELEGATES SO EARLY REGISTRATION IS ENCOURAGED**
All course enquiries should be sent to icctstats@imperial.ac.uk.
May 2025
Title: Car-T cell therapy in cancer clinical trials: manufacturing, regulations and clinical delivery course
Date: 7 May 2025 (10am – 4:30pm)
Venue: CRUK & UCL Cancer Trials Centre, 90 Tottenham Court Rd, London
Cost: Non-profit Organisations – £175; For Profit Organisations – £275 (Early bird until 27 February 2025)
This course offers a thorough exploration of CAR-T cell therapies (Chimeric Antigen Receptor T cell) within the realm of clinical trials. Participants will delve into the historical background of CAR-T therapies, their classifications, regulatory frameworks, safety considerations, mechanisms of action, and the role of viral vectors. Additionally, the course emphasizes Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP), addressing essential considerations, manufacturing processes, and quality control. By the end of the course, participants will have a solid understanding of CAR-T therapies in the context of clinical trials, including practical insights into managing CAR-T cell therapy trials and an overview of their clinical implementation.
The course will provide delegates an excellent opportunity to network with scientists and trial managers from the UCL CAR-T Programme, the most comprehensive programme in Europe to manufacture and deliver CAR-T cell therapies across a broad study portfolio.
For more information, and to register, please click here.
Title: Entering patients into cancer clinical trials
Date: 15 May 2025 (10am – 1pm)
Venue: CRUK & UCL Cancer Trials Centre, 90 Tottenham Court Rd, London
Cost: Non-profit Organisations – £50; For Profit Organisations – £100
Course lead: Laura Hughes, Trial Manager, CR UK & UCL CTC
This session gives a comprehensive overview of the clinical pathways cancer patients can take to be eventually referred for trial entry.
The first part of the session spans across the diagnostic methods and staging of cancer and gives a brief overview of the common tests carried out prior to trial treatment. In the second part of the session participants will learn about the importance of ensuring only eligible patients enter a trial and how eligibility criteria help to safeguard patients and differ amongst different phases of trials. They will also learn the importance of assessing treatment compliance and how every clinical intervention comes with a different set of challenges in collecting data about patient compliance.
For more information, and to register, please click here.
Title: Research Methods: Introduction to Randomised Controlled Trials in Healthcare
Date: 19 – 21 May 2025
Venue: Online
Cost: £350
This 3-day course in Research Methods: Introduction to Randomised Controlled Trials in Healthcare organised by the Birmingham Centre for Clinical Trials (BCCT) provides an overview of the research process from idea and design to analysis and publication. This programme will be designed to combine theory with opportunities to apply knowledge to practice. It is delivered in 2 formats; online through a mixture of pre-recorded lectures and live online sessions, and face to face. The face to face version of this introductory course will take place in November 2025.
The Birmingham Centre for Clinical Trials (BCCT) brings together the clinical trial expertise from across the University of Birmingham and, in particular The Birmingham Clinical Trials Unit (BCTU), and The Cancer Research UK Clinical Trials Unit (CRCTU). BCCT is one of the leading centres in the UK for designing and implementing high quality trials across a wide range of diseases and clinical settings. This course is organised by Razia Meer-Baloch (Training and Education Lead, BCTU) and Dr Sara Brookes (Training and Education Lead, CRCTU) and the programme is delivered by a wide range of clinical trials experts from across BCCT.
For more information, and to register, please click here.
Title: Fundamentals of Clinical Trials
Date: 19 – 23 May 2025
Venue: Trent Vineyard, Nottingham
Cost: Early bird rates (available until 30 April 2025) from £325 / Standard rates from £425
Course lead: All sessions on the course will be led by experienced trialists and staff from Nottingham CTU
The course introduces the key considerations when designing and conducting a randomised clinical trial. Throughout the five-day course, delegates will learn why clinical trials are necessary, how different kinds of trials are designed and how bias can be minimised, how trials are managed and then analysed, interpreted and reported.
The course will not consider non-randomised trials or other observational designs, or trials evaluating diagnostic tests. We will primarily focus on large multi-centre clinical trials, considering both drug and complex intervention trials.
The course is intended for anyone seeking an introductory course on randomised controlled trials, and who is likely to be involved in the design, conduct and management, analysis, reporting or review of clinical trials.
The course will comprise of lectures, workshops and discussion.
For more information, and to register, please click here.
June 2025
Title: Navigating Cancer Clinical Trials: Essential Knowledge for Statisticians
Date: 3 – 4 June 2025
Venue: CRUK & UCL Cancer Trials Centre, 90 Tottenham Court Road, W1T 4TJ
Cost: (Early bird rates) Non-profit Organisations – £200; For Profit Organisations – £350
Course aim
This two day training course aims to provide participants with an introduction to the biology, diagnosis, staging, and treatment of cancer, with a focus on how these factors influence the key outcome measures in cancer clinical trials, such as adverse events, treatment response, survival rates, and other time-to-event endpoints.
The course will provide delegates an excellent opportunity to network with statisticians from other UKCRC registered clinical trial units.
Target audience
This is an introductory course suitable for recent MSc graduates or more experienced statisticians new to the field of cancer treatment and cancer trials.
Delegates do not need to have prior knowledge of cancer.
Learning outcomes
At the end of the course participants should have greater knowledge of:
– Cancer biology and its impact on choice of treatment, tumour spread and outcome measures
– Cancer diagnosis and staging and how these impact on pre-trial entry screening tests and eligibility criteria
– Commonly reported patients and tumour characteristics and issues in choosing appropriate stratification factors
– Cancer treatments and issues in reporting protocol compliance
– Adverse events due to cancer therapies and reporting these events
– Response criteria in solid and non-solid tumours and reporting response endpoints
– Issues in survival and time to event analyses
– The challenges of trials including novel targeted agent therapy
For further details, and to register, please click here.
Title: Cancer treatments and their side-effects – Compliance & Adverse Event Reporting
Date: 9 June 2025 (10am – 1pm)
Venue: CRUK & UCL Cancer Trials Centre, 90 Tottenham Court Rd, London
Cost: Non-profit Organisations – £50; For Profit Organisations – £100
Course lead: Giulia Pellizzari, Lecturer, CR UK & UCL CTC
This session is a basic introduction to cancer treatments and their most common side-effects and adverse reactions.
The course provides an overview on cancer surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy we well as insights on the mechanisms of action of targeted therapies such as monoclonal antibodies, small inhibitory molecules, CAR-T cell therapy and immune checkpoint inhibitors.
In the second part of the session, participants will learn about the mechanisms of toxicity linked to the different categories of cancer therapy and how these are managed. This course is not recommended for clinicians.
For more information, and to register, please click here.
July 2025
Title: Trial outcomes: what are we trying to measure?
Date: 3 July 2025 (10am – 1pm)
Venue: CRUK & UCL Cancer Trials Centre, 90 Tottenham Court Rd, London
Cost: Non-profit Organisations – £50; For Profit Organisations – £100
Course lead: Amy Kirkwood, Principal Statistician – Cancer Trials (Associate Professor) / Will Wilson, Senior Research Fellow – Senior Medical Statistician
This session, aimed at non-statisticians, will cover the most common primary outcomes measures used in early and late phase cancer trials.
Participants will learn what makes a good outcome measure, how outcomes measures are defined and what data need to be collected to assess the outcome, especially for tumour response assessment and time to event measures such as survival and disease (or progression) free survival.
For more information, and to register, please click here.
Title: Essentials of Clinical Trials
Date: 7 – 11 July 2025
Venue: In person (LSHTM, London) or Online (Zoom)
Cost: £1,885
Programme Directors: Jennifer Nicholas, Matthew Dodd and Eni Balogun, LSHTM
The Medical Statistics Department (MSD) at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) will be running a short course on the essentials of clinical trials.
This popular course has been running since 1999, each year receiving very positive feedback from those attending. The course is taught by staff at LSHTM who have extensive experience in the design, conduct and analysis of clinical trials. The teaching consists of a blend of theory and application through a combination of lectures and practicals. The course will be delivered using a hybrid format with students able to attend either in person at LSHTM or online.
This course provides attendees with a clear understanding of the fundamental principles of Randomised Clinical Trials (RCTs). Lectures and practical sessions cover the key issues to be considered in design, conduct, analysis and reporting, with a focus on major clinical trials which directly influence clinical practice. Topics are addressed with perspectives from both public sector research and the pharmaceutical industry.
The course is relevant to those who are keen to gain an understanding of the rigorous evaluation of interventions in health care, including clinical research professionals, research managers, and other scientists with an interest in clinical trials.
Please note that places on the course are limited and applying early is advised.
The course runs for 5 days from the 7th to 11th July 2025.
The Essentials of Clinical Trials short course has been approved by the Federation of the Royal Colleges of Physicians of the United Kingdom for 30 category 1 (external) CPD credit(s) in 2025.
For further information and an application form please visit: https://www.lshtm.ac.uk/study/courses/short-courses/clinical-trials
Title: PIS workshop – how to design clear and accessible Patient Information Sheets
Date: 8 July 2025
Venue: Online
Cost: Non-profit Organisations – £50; For-profit Organisations – £100
Course tutors: Linda Von Neree, Patient and Public Involvement and Engagement (PPIE) Lead, BRTU PP
Patient Information Sheets (PIS) are a key document for potential participants to make an informed decision about whether to take part in a clinical study. In this workshop attendees will gain useful insights on how to work on the format, language and delivery of the PIS thanks to the participation of patient representatives with experience in clinical trials of different phases and with different clinical interventions. At the end of the course, participants will be provided with a “PIS Checklist”: a memorandum of the considerations to take into account when designing (or reviewing) a Patient Information Sheet.
For more information, and to register, please click here.
September 2025
Title: Improving Clinical Trial Delivery: Investigator Site Staff
Date: 15 – 16 September 2025
Venue: Online
Cost: £250
This 2-day programme will focus on the management of trials from the perspective of the Principal Investigator and the site delivery team. It will explore clinical trial challenges such as the factors that can affect successful participant recruitment, data quality and the challenges in the assessment and reporting of safety data. It will focus on the impact of protocol deviations on patient safety and data credibility and will improve comprehension of the rationale for specific trial activities.
The Birmingham Centre for Clinical Trials, through its Academy of Clinical Trials Training is well recognised for its teaching in the design, delivery analysis and interpretation of clinical trials. This course is designed and delivered by experts from Birmingham’s 2 academic clinical trials units and is part of a suite of clinical trials training which includes an MSc in Clinical Trials, short CPD courses and online clinical trials training.
For more information, and to register, please click here.
November 2025
Title: Clinical Trial Management: Maximising Effectiveness
Date: 17 – 18 November 2025
Venue: Online
Cost: £250
This 2 day programme will focus on the fundamentals of the project management of trials. It will explore how to plan for and respond to clinical trial challenges, maximising effectiveness, efficiency and data quality. It is aimed at individuals working on behalf of a sponsor organisation in trial co-ordination and management who have some experience, and who would like to build on this skill set.
The Birmingham Centre for Clinical Trials (BCCT) brings together the clinical trial expertise from across the University of Birmingham and, in particular The Birmingham Clinical Trials Unit (BCTU), and The Cancer Research UK Clinical Trials Unit (CRCTU). BCCT is one of the leading centres in the UK for designing and implementing high quality trials across a wide range of diseases and clinical settings. This course is organised by Razia Meer-Baloch (Training and Education Lead, BCTU) and the programme is delivered by a wide range of clinical trials experts from across BCCT.
For further information, and to register, please click here.
Title: Research Methods: Introduction to Randomised Controlled Trials in Healthcare
Date: 24 – 26 November 2025
Venue: Birmingham
Cost: £600
This 3-day course in Research Methods: Introduction to Randomised Controlled Trials in Healthcare organised by the Birmingham Centre for Clinical Trials (BCCT) provides an overview of the research process from idea and design to analysis and publication. This programme will be designed to combine theory with opportunities to apply knowledge to practice. It is delivered in 2 formats; online through a mixture of pre-recorded lectures and live online sessions, and face to face. The online version of this introductory course will take place in May 2025.
The Birmingham Centre for Clinical Trials (BCCT) brings together the clinical trial expertise from across the University of Birmingham and, in particular The Birmingham Clinical Trials Unit (BCTU), and The Cancer Research UK Clinical Trials Unit (CRCTU). BCCT is one of the leading centres in the UK for designing and implementing high quality trials across a wide range of diseases and clinical settings. This course is organised by Razia Meer-Baloch (Training and Education Lead, BCTU) and Dr Sara Brookes (Training and Education Lead, CRCTU) and the programme is delivered by a wide range of clinical trials experts from across BCCT.
For more information, and to register, please click here.
Flexible Online Training
Title: Introduction to Randomised Controlled Trials
Date: Anytime
Venue: Online course on FutureLearn
Cost: Available via subscription
Course Lead: Razia Meer-Baloch, Birmingham CTU
Discover the importance of trials in evidence-based medicine and learn about the trial lifecycle from conception to publication.
This course has been built by a team of expert research trial staff from the Birmingham Centre for Clinical Trials within Birmingham University. This team will guide you through the entire process for conducting randomised controlled trials and how to report results that can then be used to inform guidelines.
This course is designed for new or existing clinical trial staff. It may also be of interest to anyone looking to learn more about the wider randomised controlled trials process.
For further information, and to register, please click here.
Title: Introduction to Data Management in Clinical Research
Date: Anytime
Venue: Online course on FutureLearn
Cost: Available via subscription
Course Lead: Razia Meer-Baloch, Birmingham CTU
Improve the quality of medical research with clinical data management tools to collect, manage, and store trial data effectively.
This introductory course is for anyone setting up clinical trials and responsible for ensuring trial data integrity, such as aspiring chief investigators, trial coordinators, managers, data managers, and administrators. No prior knowledge is needed to join.
For further information, and to register, please click here.
Title: Statistics in Clinical Trials for the Non-Statistician
Date: Anytime
Venue: Online course on FutureLearn
Cost: Available via subscription
Course Lead: Sara Brookes, CRUK CTU
Discover the crucial role statistics plays in clinical trials and enhance your understanding of clinical trial data and analysis.
This course is ideal for individuals involved in clinical trials, whether in academia or the NHS, as well as those without a background in statistics. This includes aspiring chief investigators, research nurses, trial coordinators, trial managers, data managers, quality assurance team members, trial administrators, and other members of trial teams such as qualitative researchers or health economists.
The course is introductory with no prior knowledge or experience of statistics required.
For more information, and to register, please click here.
Post-Graduate Degrees
Title: Clinical Trials MSc/PGDip/PGCert
Institution: University of Birmingham
Teaching Staff: Razia Meer-Baloch, Birmingham CTU and Sara Brookes, CRUK CTU
This Master’s degree (Also available as a postgraduate diploma and certificate with modules available as standalone options) provides students with an excellent foundation in clinical trials, covering the theoretical and practical aspects of the design, conduct, analysis and interpretation of clinical trials, promoting efficient trials that reach successful completion. The programme aims to produce skilled specialist trials staff in the existing workforce and expert trial Chief Investigators of the future.
This course will run over 12 months in a full-time-mode. There’s also scope to undertake the programme on a part-time basis or flexibly (up to 5 years).
For further information please click here.
