Data science for clinicians: Intensive course in R

This course builds on the learning gained in Moorfields' introductory data science course and provides intensive training on R, the most extensively used coding language for data science. It is aimed at clinicians seeking to further develop their data science skills and gain independence in using R for meaningful research involving data and artificial intelligence.

The course is delivered online as a self-paced program comprising approximately 16 hours of learning content, culminating in a live evening Q&A session with the course contributors. The Q&A sessions are repeated on different dates throughout the year as participants complete the course.

The course is structured in three main sections:

• Introduction to R — covering functions, objects, packages, basic syntax, subsetting, opening and loading data files, good coding practice, setting up R Studio projects, and creating and running scripts
• Powerful tools in R — focusing on common data manipulations, data aggregation, joining tables, regular expressions, filtering and selecting data, and using functions to reduce repetitive work
• Data visualization — exploring data visually, creating publication-quality figures with ggplot2, and creating publication-quality tables

The course is intended for junior doctors and allied health professionals (including nurses, optometrists, and health technicians) working clinically and keen to learn how to use data for academic work, particularly involving Big Data and Artificial Intelligence. It is also suitable for researchers and students undertaking scientific and medical research. Attendees should have completed Moorfields' introductory data science course or have a solid understanding of data science fundamentals.

Upon completion, participants receive a certificate of attendance and 16 CPD hours accreditation from The CPD Certification Service. To access the course, you will need a computer (laptop or desktop) with a webcam and microphone for the Q&A session, plus the latest versions of R and RStudio (both free downloads). The course is hosted on UCLeXtend, UCL's learning platform for professional education, and enrolment is carried out manually with login details provided after purchase.