• UK Health Security Agency logo
  • London School of Hygeine & Tropical Medicine logo

Introduction to R for Epidemiological Analysis

R is a highly versatile programming language that is well-suited for descriptive and advanced epidemiological analyses.

  • Duration

    1 week
  • Weekly study

    10 hours
  • Digital upgrade

    Free

Learn about the basics concepts of R for epidemiology.

In this course, you will learn about the basic concepts and practical elements of using R and it serves as an introduction to R for epidemiological analysis. With the help of your educators, you’ll develop data management skills that will enable you to load, clean and manage datasets, as well as reshape and merge them. With these skills, you’ll create clean, accurate, and relevant data for surveillance and research analysis. You’ll be taught methods and approaches to visualise your data successfully, using graphs and maps. This course aims to equip you with the skills to use R confidently and independently in your work.

This 6-day course has been developed by the UK Public Health Rapid Support Team (UK-PHRST) in collaboration with afrimapr is being delivered in partnership with the Nigeria Centres for Disease Control (Nigeria CDC), UK Health Security Agency International Health Regulations (IHR) team in Nigeria.

On every step of the course, you can meet other learners, share your ideas and join in with active discussions either in person or in the comments.

This course is accredited by the UK Public Health Rapid Support Team (UK-PHRST). UK-PHRST is a partnership between UK Health Security Agency and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

Co-delivered with the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention

The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control is the national public health institute for Nigeria. It is a federal government agency under the Federal Ministry of Health.

What topics will you cover?

  • Introduction to R (i.e. using R objects and importing data)
  • Data management and cleaning (i.e. joining and reshaping data)
  • Building, summarising and visualising an analysis dataset
  • Creating maps using spatial data in R
  • Independent project work in R

When would you like to start?

  • Date to be announced

Add to Wishlist to be emailed when new dates are announced

Learning on this course

On every step of the course you can meet other learners, share your ideas and join in with active discussions in the comments.

What will you achieve?

By the end of the course, you‘ll be able to...

  • Set up and run R
  • Install and load up R packages
  • Clean and manage messy datasets
  • Summarise the cleaned analysis dataset
  • Produce data visualisations e.g. epi-curves and maps

Who is the course for?

This is an introductory course for epidemiologists, surveillance analysts, statisticians, data scientists and similar professionals who work in surveillance, outbreak response or research areas with little to no previous experience in R.

Who will you learn with?

Hibo Asad

Hibo is a Field Epidemiologist with the UK-Public Health Rapid Support Team. Hibo has 6+ years experience in outbreak investigation, quantitative research, applied statistics and surveillance.

Anita Shah

Anita is a Field Epidemiologist with the UK Public Health Rapid Support Team (UK-PHRST). Anita has 9+ years of experience in infectious disease epidemiology and information management.

Who developed the course?

UK Health Security Agency logo

UK Health Security Agency

The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) is responsible for planning, preventing and responding to external health threats by providing intellectual, scientific and operational leadership at national and local level, as well as on the global stage. UKHSA is an executive agency, sponsored by the Department of Health and Social Care.

London School of Hygeine & Tropical Medicine logo

London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine

The London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine is a world leader in research and postgraduate education in public and global health. Its mission is to improve health and health equity worldwide.

What's included?

UK Health Security Agency are offering everyone who joins this course a free digital upgrade, so that you can experience the full benefits of studying online for free. This means that you get:

  • Unlimited access to this course
  • Includes any articles, videos, peer reviews and quizzes
  • A PDF Certificate of Achievement to prove your success when you’re eligible
  • Learning on FutureLearn

    Your learning, your rules

    • Courses are split into weeks, activities, and steps to help you keep track of your learning
    • Learn through a mix of bite-sized videos, long- and short-form articles, audio, and practical activities
    • Stay motivated by using the Progress page to keep track of your step completion and assessment scores

    Join a global classroom

    • Experience the power of social learning, and get inspired by an international network of learners
    • Share ideas with your peers and course educators on every step of the course
    • Join the conversation by reading, @ing, liking, bookmarking, and replying to comments from others

    Map your progress

    • As you work through the course, use notifications and the Progress page to guide your learning
    • Whenever you’re ready, mark each step as complete, you’re in control
    • Complete 90% of course steps and all of the assessments to earn your certificate

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