Upcoming Events

For applied health researchers with basic training in statistics (e.g. regression). Attendees will learn how to:

• Design more effective, affordable, scalable and efficient complex interventions
• Utilise novel experimental designs to optimise complex interventions
• Overcome analysis and delivery challenges

Location: In-person at the University of Leeds,

Date: 7th – 9th May 2024

Fee: £750 (including refreshments and lunch)

Reserve your place now by contacting Wendy Hobson at w.Hobson@leeds.ac.uk

The HRB National Clinical Trials Office are delighted to announce that registration for the annual International Clinical Trial Day (ICTD) Conference is now open. It will be an in-person event and the venue will be O’Reilly Hall, UCD, Belfield, Dublin 4 and occurs on May 9^th. The Keynote speaker this year is Lord James O’Shaughnessy, whose review of “Commercial clinical trials in the UK” was published in 2023 – link to full report https://shorturl.at/jkvL9.

For further information and to access the related Eventbrite link, please click on this link to go to our dedicated website page.

Click here to register

With rapid increase in the use of artificial intelligence in healthcare, the need for thoughtful, ethical, and impactful application to support clinical trials is imperative. This webinar will explore the current and future applications of artificial intelligence for clinical trial design, conduct, and reporting, with a focus on the ethical considerations of these new technologies.

Dr Danielle Bitterman is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Radiation Oncology at Brigham and Women’s Hospital/Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard Medical School. Dr. Bitterman is a physician-scientist whose expertise is in artificial intelligence and natural language processing. Her research is focused on improving data driven cancer care and her laboratory develops natural language processing methods that process high volumes of data from electronic health records to inform care and facilitate communication.

Dr. Subha Perni is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Radiation Oncology at MD Anderson Cancer Center. Dr. Perni specializes in the care of patients with central nervous system malignancies. Her research focuses on designing prospective patient-centered clinical trials incorporating advanced technology and imaging with the aim of improving quality of life and outcomes for these patients. She has additional expertise in ethics and decision-making.

Hosted by QUESTS, HRB-TMRN & RREAL@UCL

To register, click here

Contact us at hrb-tmrn@universityofgalway.ie for more information

Estimands are becoming widely used in randomised trials. This MRC-NIHR-TMRP funded course covers the statistical methods that can be used to estimate different estimands. We will cover methods for each intercurrent event strategy (treatment policy, composite, while-on-treatment, principal stratum, and hypothetical), and provide practical examples along with statistical code in Stata and R to implement the different estimators.

Facilitators

• Brennan Kahan, MRC Clinical Trials Unit at UCL
• Suzie Cro, Imperial Clinical Trials Unit
• Ian White, MRC Clinical Trials Unit at UCL
• Richard Emsley, Kings Clinical Trials Unit
• Darren Dahly, HRB Clinical Research Facility – University College Cork
• Tra My Pham, MRC Clinical Trials Unit at UCL
• Beatriz Goulao, Health Services Research Unit, University of Aberdeen

Course aims

By the end of this workshop, participants will understand:

• The interpretation of the different intercurrent event strategies
• Which estimators can be used for different intercurrent event strategies, along with their assumptions
• How to choose between different estimators for a given trial
• How to implement the estimators in Stata or R

Target audience

• Applied statisticians working on randomised trials

Software required

All participants will need their own laptop running a recent version of either Stata or R.

Fees

The course is free. However, it is likely to be oversubscribed, in this case the attendees will be selected based on their registration.

Location

MRC Clinical Trials Unit at UCL, 90 High Holborn, London

To register, click here

To register, click here

Co-hosted with the MRC-NIHR Trials Methodology Research Partnership and the Irish Critical Care Clinical Trials Network

Click here to see the longer programme with speaker bios

Contact us at hrb-tmrn@universityofgalway.ie if you have any questions about this event.

Click here to register

Evidence to support decisions on trial processes is minimal. A Study Within A Trial (SWAT) can however be used to test trial processes or explore methodological uncertainties. The replication of SWATs is required to ensure sufficient power and broad applicability of findings. Prompt reporting is therefore essential; however, SWAT publications are often the first to be abandoned in the face of other time pressures. Although guidelines for the reporting of trials methodology research such as SWATs do exist, they are unfortunately not widely used. Development of a simple and concise guideline was therefore warranted to aid authors and journals to produce timely reports of randomised SWATs. This webinar presents the process of development of a straightforward, concise, CONSORT compliant, reporting standard for SWATs.

Catherine Arundel is a Research Fellow at York Trials Unit (University of York) and has extensive experience designing, conducting, and managing large scale randomised controlled trials. She also has an interest in methodological research specifically in relation to trial process evaluation and has undertaken a reported several studies within a trial primarily focused on trial recruitment and retention methods. She was previously involved in the delivery of the PROMoting THE USe of SWATs (PROMETHEUS) programme, is a member of the Trial Forge SWAT Centre based at the University of York through which she leads the Trial Forge SWAT Network.

Click here to register

TMRP webinar – presented by Dr Kerry Dwan (Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine), Professor Car on behalf of the MRC HTMR

Study publication bias and outcome reporting bias have been recognised as a potential threat to the validity of meta-analysis and can make the readily available evidence unreliable for decision making. Statistical Analysis Plans have the potential to reduce outcome reporting bias.

In an update to a systematic review, we will summarise the evidence from cohort studies that have assessed study publication bias or outcome reporting bias in randomised controlled trials. Twenty-nine studies were eligible of which eleven were newly identified in this update. Eleven groups followed a cohort of trial through from protocol approval to information regarding publication of outcomes and investigated outcome reporting bias. Findings will be presented.

Guidelines for the content of statistical analysis plans in clinical trials were published in 2018. An analysis of 62 citations in early 2020 revealed a steady increase in the use of the guidance. Findings from an updated analysis of a further 168 citations by the end of 2023 will be presented.

The implications from contrasting the results from these two projects will be discussed.

Please note, you need to register for this event in order to receive an email invitation to join the session. Registrations are limited to 250 attendees and places will be offered on a first come first served basis.

This webinar will be hosted via MS Teams. You will need access to the web and sound facilities in order to view the webinar.

A recording of the webinar will be made available after the event. Previous recordings can be found here: https://www.methodologyhubs.mrc.ac.uk/about/webinar/

UKTMN members also have access to recordings via the UKTMN YouTube channel.

If you have any questions regarding this event or wish to cancel your place, please email uktmn@nottingham.ac.uk

The RCSI-NSRSC in partnership with the HRB-TMRN and the UK Surgical Trials Units are delighted to host this year’s BOASTiC for the first time in Ireland. The course is accredited by RCSEng and will be delivered by well-renowned local and international experts in surgical trials and trial methodology. Students work collaboratively to learn how to design and conduct randomised controlled trials in surgery that answer research questions of relevance to surgeons and patients. Find further information here or email Katie Chegwin.

Date: 9-11 September 2024
Location: RCSI Dublin
Course fee: €300
Application closing date: 8 March 2024

Please note registration does not guarantee a place. Applications will be reviewed after the closing date and you will be notified if you have been offered a place on the course. Fee payment will be requested to secure your place at that point.

To apply, click here

Contact us at hrb-tmrn@universityofgalway.ie for more information

To register, click here

The International Clinical Trials Methodology Conference 2024 promises to be a unique opportunity for those working in clinical trials to meet and discuss the current issues within trials and methodology. The event will showcase the very latest in trials methodology research and offer plenty of valuable opportunities for networking. A diverse programme will be prepared by the Scientific Committee and Education Committee, which promises to make this a highly rewarding and enjoyable meeting for all.

The 7th ICTMC Conference will be held at the Edinburgh International Conference Centre (EICC) from 30 September – 3 October 2024 in Edinburgh! The venue is situated in the heart of the historic city of Edinburgh and it is just a short walk away from Princes Street, Edinburgh Castle and the Royal Mile.

To register, click here

The International Clinical Trials Methodology Conference 2024 promises to be a unique opportunity for those working in clinical trials to meet and discuss the current issues within trials and methodology. The event will showcase the very latest in trials methodology research and offer plenty of valuable opportunities for networking. A diverse programme will be prepared by the Scientific Committee and Education Committee, which promises to make this a highly rewarding and enjoyable meeting for all.

The 7th ICTMC Conference will be held at the Edinburgh International Conference Centre (EICC) from 30 September – 3 October 2024 in Edinburgh! The venue is situated in the heart of the historic city of Edinburgh and it is just a short walk away from Princes Street, Edinburgh Castle and the Royal Mile.