“R for Healthcare and Life Sciences” Workshop Kicks Off with Fundamental Skills

Biomedical research groups across the globe are generating vast volumes of data, spanning from single genes to entire genomes, resulting in a backlog of information that requires interpretation. Possessing the requisite skills to handle these extensive datasets can yield valuable insights. R, a programming language, proves particularly invaluable for healthcare and life science professionals engaged in the analysis of such large datasets.

With this in mind, the IMU School of Pharmacy‘s Life Science Department hosted a beginner-level workshop titled “R for Healthcare and Life Sciences” from 17-18 August 2023. This two-day workshop was designed to empower participants with the essential skills required to manage large datasets. In the future, a series of follow-up workshops will be organised to delve into intermediate and advanced levels of R programming, ultimately covering the utilisation of Bioconductor packages.

This hybrid workshop drew the interest of 37 attendees, including undergraduate and postgraduate students, lecturers, and researchers.

The workshop commenced with a concise introduction to the application of the R programming language in data analysis and machine learning. Following that, a sequence of hands-on sessions utilising real-life datasets was conducted. Overall, the workshop received an overwhelming amount of positive feedback from all participants who found its content to be informative, practical, and easy to grasp.

• Overall, quality of workshop was good. Despite doing it online, it was easy to follow through. Did not face many difficulties.
• Clear and informative.
• Good.
• Very good.
• Excellent with clear explanations.

To ensure that participants can continue their learning journey after the workshop, the entire event was recorded. The edited videos and additional resources have been made accessible through IMU’s eTraining portal at no extra cost to all participants. Furthermore, these materials will be offered in an Open and Distance Learning (ODL) format.

For those interested in R programming but have missed this workshop, please visit the IMU Centre of Lifelong Learning (ICL) website to subscribe to this workshop in ODL mode.