Biomathematics & Statistics Scotland
Our training courses contain a mixture of expository and practical sessions, allowing participants to improve their understanding of quantitative methods, to improve their ability to implement these methods using computer packages, and to improve their knowledge of non-standard situations which require expert intervention.
Our provision of training in statistics, bioinformatics and mathematical modelling has played a central role in developing our long-term collaborations with research scientists for the past two decades. The core of our training effort has been a programme of intensive one or two day courses which have taken place in laboratories equipped with computer access, usually at the participants' site or nearby. In recent years we have extended our training provision to include other types of activity, such as presentations on specialist topics, and workshops which provide a forum in which scientists already working with particular concepts and methods can share their experiences.
If you wish to register for a course, please book on-line. For enquiries, you can contact Muriel Kirkwood or Graham Horgan
We have developed links with some universities through which we have provided statistical training for staff and postgraduates. In one example, at the University of St Andrews, we have run a series of courses on basic and more specialised statistics using the R software package. The courses have been supplemented by provision of consultancy sessions for individual students. In another example, at the University of Glasgow, we have run workshops on spatio-temporal, random effects and Bayesian modelling as part of the NERC-funded course "Statistics for Environmental Evaluation".
BioSS provides in-house statistics courses for a number of external organisations in the UK and abroad. These courses can be adapted to the interests of the participants, and can select and mix material from a variety of our 'off-the-shelf' courses. Workshop sessions discussing the specific interests of participants have also proved useful. We have provided such training both for organisations, including JNCC, RSPB, FRS, Fera and CSIRO, and also for specialist groupings such as the EU’s NuGO and SAFEFOODS consortia and Scottish Government statisticians.
BioSS courses teach participants how to fit models to data, to inspect the residuals and how to interpret their results.
