This course will take place at the MRC Unit in The Gambia at LSHTM.
This course gives attendees a clear understanding of the fundamental principles of Randomised Clinical Trials (RCTs).
Live lectures and practical sessions will cover the key issues in design, conduct, analysis and reporting, with a focus on major clinical trials that directly influence clinical practice. Topics are addressed with perspectives from both public-sector research and the pharmaceutical industry.
Who should attend?
The course is relevant to anyone who'd like to get an understanding of the rigorous evaluation of interventions in health care, including clinical research professionals, research managers, statisticians and other scientists with an interest in clinical trials.
Teaching
The course in The Gambia is coordinated by Nuredin Mohammed, Armel Zemsi and Tim Collier in London. The course will include lectures from experienced teachers from both London and The Gambia, with long-term practice in the design, conduct and analysis of trials in a variety of clinical specialities in high, middle- and low-income countries. The lecture will be accompanied by practical sessions in which the concepts taught in the lecture will be applied to practical exercises.
Course fee
The course fee for 2025 is £1,795.
The fee includes all teaching and practical materials (in electronic and paper format if needed), temporary Stata license, use of computer equipment, vouchers for daily lunch and refreshments, welcome and farewell social outings to explore a bit of The Gambia (aka “The Smiling Coast”). Childcare is available upon request. The fee excludes accommodation, breakfast and dinner, flights, visas, and local transport.
Studying at the MRC Unit in Fajara
The Unit offers a wide range of services including comfortable accommodation, inexpensive food options (including vegetarian), on-site clinical services, 24/7 WIFI and 24/7 electricity, on-site daily sports activities on site, a nearby pool/gym, tennis options etc.
Last but not least, the beach is situated just 200m away from the campus. Previously, the course organised several evening sessions such as “Meet the Professors” where students could discuss their research projects individually with selected lecturers while enjoying the sunset.
Course Introduction Video
Introductory Courses in Epidemiology and Medical Statistics, and Essentials of Clinical Trials.
Course content
The topics to be covered will include:
- Design of RCT: randomisation, blinding, trial size
- Ethical conduct: participant consent, data monitoring and when to stop early
- Certified Good Clinical Practice (GCP) training
- Introduction to statistical methods for design and analysis
- Alternative designs for clinical trials
- Reporting: how to write, and critique, a clinical trial report
- Clinical trials in practice
- Practical experience in development of a clinical trial protocol.
(Participants will work in small groups to develop and present trial protocols.) - Guest lecture
In addition to the formal teaching sessions, we will run two optional drop-in sessions on Wednesday and Thursday afternoon. Participants will be able to discuss specific questions about their own research with a member of staff from the Statistics Department or the Clinical Trials Unit. We will provide forms for you to submit your questions ahead of the drop-in sessions.
Teaching format
Teaching will take place through live lectures and practical sessions, which should be attended in person at MRCG at LSHTM in The Gambia.
Each of the practical sessions is directly related to a lecture, and participants will be expected to attend the live lecture before the related practical.
A Guest Lecture will be given by an invited speaker either in person or online.
Course materials
Lecture notes and slides and practical handouts will be available to download and keep. All materials required for the course will be provided in advance. Practical solutions will be provided at the end of each practical.
The following are recommended as optional additional background materials:
- Evans I, Thornton H, Chalmers I and Glasziou P. Testing Treatments: Better Research for Better Healthcare. Pinter and Martin, 2011.
- Friedman LM, Furberg CD, DeMets D, Reboussin DM, and Granger CB. Fundamentals of Clinical Trials. Springer, 2015
- Pocock SJ. Clinical Trials: A Practical Approach. Wiley, 1983
Assessment
There is no formal assessment.
Comments by course participants (from the London course)
'Having the lectures online so you can watch (and re-watch) is really helpful and keeping the content available for a couple of weeks is great.'
'In my opinion it was very well structured and nicely tailored to its wide range of professionals attending the course'.
'The knowledge of the speakers was very good. You could see that most of them had real experience in the areas of these topics, which is good from a learning perspective'.
'There were opportunities to discuss ideas with peers'.
'GCP was enjoyable and useful and good to get certificate'.
‘The organisation was perfect and the interaction with the lecturers was fantastic’.
‘Practical sessions were very helpful and allowed the theory to become more understandable’.
‘Broad range of topics were covered – case studies are brilliant tools to consolidate knowledge'.
‘I enjoyed study design, data monitoring and the designing protocol and practical sessions. I do like data monitoring a lot and also liked the randomisation session’.
A limited number of scholarships are available.
Eligibility Criteria
- Applicants must be resident in, and a national of, a LMIC (eligible countries). Preference will be given to candidates based in Sub-Saharan Africa.
- Applicants should hold an MSc, MBBS or equivalent degree and at least 1 year work experience
- Applicants will need to demonstrate what impact the course will have on their current and future career path
- Applicants who have an alternative source of funding will not be considered for a scholarship but their application will be fast-tracked
What is included in the scholarship?
- Tuition fees
- Accommodation (unless an applicant is based in The Gambia). Accommodation will be booked by the course.
- Breakfast, lunch and refreshments from Monday to Friday
- A modest stipend to cover evening meals and meals at weekends
- International flight costs (up to a pre-agreed limit) are covered by the scholarship. Participants are expected to book and pay for their own flight. The cost of the international ticket up to the agreed limit will be reimbursed upon arrival in The Gambia on presentation of a receipt.
- Travel and Health Insurance
What is NOT included in the scholarship?
- Local travel (from a participant’s home to the airport) is NOT covered by the scholarship
- Other incidental costs
How to apply for the course scholarship
- Applicants should submit a course application form via the application portal. In the FUNDING SECTION please tick ‘sponsored – applying for scholarship’ and confirm that you will not be able to self-fund if your scholarship application is unsuccessful
- In the ‘personal statement’ section of the course application form, applicants should explain why this course is useful for their current position and what impact it is likely to have on their future career
Timelines
Offers are made on a rolling basis and places on the course are strictly limited. Early application is strongly recommended.
We anticipate a very high volume of applications for a very small number of available scholarships.
Applicants who have secured funding or can fund themselves are strongly encouraged to note this on the course application form and upload relevant sponsor evidence. You/your sponsor can then be invoiced without delay and your place can be secured.
Thank you for the generous support of GSK, AREF, WAHO and WANETAM.
How to apply
Applications are now closed. You can register your interest and we will let you know when applications reopen.
Please read LSHTM's Admissions policies prior to submitting your application.
Accommodation and meals
Registered students will be offered safe arrangements for accommodation and meals for the duration of their stay in The Gambia. The course fee only includes the provision of lunch and snacks. Further details on accommodation options will be made available at a later stage to registered participants.
Important information
Please note:
- If you have been offered a place on the course you will not be able to register without bringing formal ID (Passport) and without having obtained the correct visa if required.
- LSHTM may cancel courses two weeks before the first day of the course if numbers prove insufficient. In those circumstances, course fees will be refunded.
- LSHTM cannot accept responsibility for accommodation, travel and other losses incurred as a result of the course being cancelled.