The focus hereby is on the conceptual connection between biological concepts and mathematical formalisms to support PhD students in intentifying suitable quantitative modelling approaches for their scientific questions. Moreover, the course covers fundamentals of methodological quality in quantitative analyses, common misinterpretations of results, and detection of flaws in analyses designs. Participants are invited to bring their own PhD projects and apply the course content directly.
The course is structured in two modules. Day 1 & 2 confer basics of quantitative methods and fundamental aspects of study design, ending with an overview of statistical test procedures their appropriate selection. Day 3 & 4 capture relevant aspects of quantitative modelling in the domains of measurement theory, deterministic vs probabilistic modelling, and a brief introduction into causal statistics and directed acyclic graphs. Participants can register for one or both modules.
What does the course not cover?
The course does not cover the technical details of statistical tests, sofware-specific implementation, machine learning, multivariate data analyses or Bayesian inference.
For whom?
For all PhD students in life sciences who use or are interested in quantitative methods. The corse is suitable for studends with a life science background (e.g., biochemistry, biology, medicine) as well as those with a methodological background (bioinformatics, mathematics).
What kind of prior knowledge needed?
Experiences in statistical analyses are helpful, but the course should be digestible with low prior knowledge of statistical methods. No programming skills required.
Equipment needed: Laptop for internet research and preparing the presentations of group work (if applicable)
Length of the seminar: 4 Days with four sessions of 90 min
Requirements for getting ECTS: Active participation in the seminar including mini-presentations on the own PhD project.
Trainer: Prof. Dr. Johannes Hertel
When: 26th-27th March, 2026 and 30th-31th March, 2026 from 9:15 am - 5:45 pm
Where: The course will be done in the hybrid setting. Location/Meeting-link will be announced after closing of registration.
max. participants: 16
To participate, please register for the lecture series via this link.
Contact
Graduiertenakademie der Universität Greifswald
Domstraße 11, Eingang 4, Raum 3.24, 17489 Greifswald
Telefon +49 3834 420 1618
graduiertenakademieuni-greifswaldde