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Terms and conditions

The information contained in this website is for general information purposes only. Nothing on this website constitutes, or is meant to constitute, advice of any kind.

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Licence. Under this licence you may share and adapt material , for non-commercial purposes only, providing you credit this website (referencing "the Department" and the current curator) as the source of the information. Any work made using the materials in this website must also be made available under the same terms. A full description of the licence terms and conditions can be found at the link below.

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Photo by Kaleidico on Unsplash

To foster an atmosphere of collaboration between researchers from these departments a dedicated research space with hot desk facilities has been established. The resulting research space is intended to allow researchers to congregate in the same physical space, allowing them to share expertise and form novel interdisciplinary collaborations.

The section below list a collection of online free course for programs that are commonly used in health data research. However, due to the complex nature of this area of research a support team has been assembled to assist researchers in accessing relevant training and expertise. In the first instance users are requested to send an email to the team to discuss their requirements if the more generic courses listed below do not satisfy their needs. The team will aim to give an initial response within 48 hours.

Courses at Leicester

The University of Leicester offers a range of modules and courses that can used to provide tailored training for Continual Professional Development, along with a range of healthcare focused MSc courses provided by the Health Sciences Department. The modules and courses below provide essential training for any health data scientist. Please use the contact information in the links below to discuss any of these courses further or how to enrol.

Actuarial Science with Data analytics PGDip/MSc

Applied health research MRes, PGCert

Cancer Molecular Pathology and Therapeutics PGCert

Computer Science CPD modules

Diabetes PGCert / PGDip / CPD modules

Quality and Safety in Healthcare CPD

Online Training Materials

The drop-down panels below list various online resources that offer basic introductions to programs or methods in the areas shown. We suggest you look at these training materials as a way to explore areas that may be of interest. HDR UK is in the process of producing a more comprehensive range of courses within the health data research area that are likely to provide more in-depth training in related areas. Also for those who work at an institution (like the University of Leicester) which is part of the Elixir network you may wish to check what courses they are running here but please note that many assume some degree of previous knowledge and experience as well as having course fees.

  • Computing

    MySQL workbench guide

    MySQL is a commonly used language to construct and query databases. However, not everyone is comfortable using the command line. For those that feel more at home with the more familiar Window Icon Mouse Pointer (WIMP) environment, MySQL workbench provides this along with presenting the contents in the database in the more familiar spreadsheet format. However for those users familiar with the command line environment MySQL retains the command line as well. This brief overview of the platform should be enough to get people started.

    GitHub

    Git Hub is a repository where programmers can deposit and share code to enable collaborative projects. As part of this process it is important to track what changes have been made to the code. Fortunately, GitHub can handle such tracking for the user and this course takes the user through some of the basics and the process of package management.

  • Excel

    Microsoft Excel basics

    With all the talk of "big data" it can be easy to overlook Excel. If you are not analysing a data set of millions of lines or columns, Excel has a slue of commands buried somewhere within the ribbon or menu system. Hence, Excel may have one that might be able to help. So before you leap on to the coding or statical analysis train, ask yourself do you really need or want to invest the time learning that new skill if you are only going to use it once. This page takes you through some of the basic functions but Excel is capable of potentially more useful statistical or regression functions as well as regression calculations. The user community may also be able to help. A full list of the functions available in Excel can be found here.

  • Genomics

    Bioconductor

    Bioconductor is a library of commands for the R programming language that can be used to analyse NGS data. As it is R based Bioconductor can be used at the command line or within an IDE such as R studio. This link takes you through the process of installing Bioconductor at the command line, but it is able to be installed in the R studio package for those who prefer a more graphical interface. This series of YouTube videos takes the user through how to use the Bioconductor package

    Galaxy

    Galaxy is a "semi" GUI based package that can be used to process and analyse many types of NGS data. It simplifies the command line approach to a webpage where specific steps can be selected and relevant parameters for that function entered. Galaxy itself can be run on cloud based services, or for those with powerful enough local machines it can be installed and run locally. This training course takes the user through the basics.

    Introduction to R and Rstudio for Genomics

    R is a flexible and popular open source language for data rich tasks. This online course produced by the Data Carpentry organisation, introduces the reader to R-studio (a graphical interface for the R language) and how it can be used to perform some basic analysis of genomics data. We suggest having a look at the introduction to R studio in the R drop-down menu before you look at this course

  • Python

    Python introduction

    Python is gaining ground as the language of choice when it comes to cross platform programming and is increasingly used in biology to handle "big data" analysis and automation. It can also be used a scripting language to add functionality to websites. The Python organisation have produced these online training pages to help people master the basics of programming in the language.

    Python introductory YouTube course

    For those who would rather learn in a more visual format more akin to a series of lectures, this YouTube course gives an introduction to the Python language.

    Using Python for data analysis

    This YouTube video gives an introduction of how to use python for data analytics.

  • R

    R studio essential

    R Studio is program that provides an "integrated developer environment" (IDE) for the R statical language. In practice this means that beginners can gain easier access to the range of analysis that are available in R in an intuitive graphical environment. For those who are more advanced, R-studio provides assistance in writing more complex scripts. This video introduces those new to R studio to the basics.

    R studio for beginners

    This is a more structured course to introduce beginners to the R studio platform from those who have made it.

    R studio for intermediates

    This is a follow on course from the one above. A R studio "next steps".

    R studio for experts.

    This course is for those who have mastered the courses above and want to take their skills further.

    R studio for data science.

    Due to it flexibility R studio can be used for many tasks. This course focuses on its use in data science.

    Advanced data science with R studio

    This course is for those who want to take their data science skill to the next level in R studio.

  • Statistics

    Nature's guide to statstics for biologists.

    Not all biologists have studied statistics and for those that haven't and want something easy to understand, Nature Publications have produced this online resource covering some of the more commonly used statical methods

    NVIVO online learning materials

    NVIVO software provides statistical tools for qualitative and mixed studies. These introductory courses are provided by the developers QSR.

    SPSS introduction

    This series of YouTube videos introduces the SPSS statistics package. This course introduces basic statistics processes and how to perform them in SPSS. This series from the same team takes the viewer into a "deeper dive" into the SPSS package and how it can be used for statistical analysis.

    SAS introductory videos

    SAS is a package that is gaining traction in industry for a wide range of data analysis tasks from data visualisation to statical analysis. The company has produced a series of introductory videos. SAS is free for those in the academic sector and there is a vibrant user community.

Enquiries

The HDRUK Academy team are here to help. If you have a question about health data research, training or expertise sharing, or other Support and Analysis Services available at the University of Leicester, please contact Spencer Gibson.

If we are not able to help via the services and support at Leicester, please let us know if you are happy for us to make enquiries with the other HDRUK sites on your behalf. In compliance with GDPR we will not pass on your data or your enquiry without your explicit consent.

The University of Leicester is part of the HDR UK Midlands region, the activities of which can be found here.

This website is intended to be a source of information regarding HDR activities and initiatives undertaken by the University of Leicester. The training page includes activities at the University of Leicester intended to contribute to the capacity building objective of HDR UK. While every effort is made to ensure the information presented is correct the University gives no guarantee of the accuracy of its contents and the reader is advised to check any information shown with the appropriate institution or organisation. Links to external sites does not necessarily imply endorsement of the site and no checks are made to the accuracy of information they display.
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