Training

This two-day workshop guides participants through the comprehensive GRADE methodology, from defining PICO questions and outcomes to creating Summary of Findings tables using GRADEpro GDT software. Through a combination of lectures and hands-on exercises, participants will learn how to assess evidence certainty by evaluating key domains, including methodological limitations, inconsistency, indirectness, imprecision, and publication bias. The workshop also covers evidence upgrading criteria and provides practical experience in creating Summary of Findings tables for systematic reviews of healthcare interventions.

Attendees will be enabled to:

• understand the basic principles of the GRADE approach and be able to comprehend the individual steps in the assessment of the evidence and their impact on the strength of the recommendation
• be able to create an evidence profile for a therapeutic intervention based on a systematic review
• have a basic understanding of the GRADE Software

Dates: 28th & 29th April 2025

Time: 10:00 – 16:00

Places: 25 available for individuals who are resident in Ireland & Northern Ireland

Location: The National University of Ireland, 49 Merrion Square, Dublin 2,D02 V583

Prices: General €250; Student €140

Prerequisites: Knowledge in conducting and/or using systematic reviews as well as the basic principles of evidence-based healthcare, and the critical appraisal of research studies, especially RCTs

Skill Level: Introductory

Target Audience: Systematic review authors, guideline developers, health and social care professionals, academics, researchers, postgraduate students, decision makers, Evidence Synthesis Ireland Fellows and other professionals

Facilitators:

Prof. Declan Devane, Director of Evidence Synthesis Ireland & Cochrane Ireland, Professor of Health Research Methodology, University of Galway

Dr KM Saif-Ur-Rahman, Research Fellow, University of Galway and Senior Research Methodologist, Evidence Synthesis Ireland

Philipp Kapp, Researcher, Institute for Evidence in Medicine, University of Freiburg

Overview:

Systematic reviews and evidence syntheses are powerful tools that compile and evaluate all relevant research on a particular question, providing a high-quality evidence base for decision-making. They are crucial for informing policy, guiding practice, and identifying future research needs—not just in health but across various sectors.

Join us for our Summer School at the University of Galway from May 20th to 22nd, 2025, for a hands-on three-day summer school on “Introduction to Evidence Synthesis.” This course is tailored for beginners and those looking to refresh their skills. While the focus is on health, the methods taught are applicable in multiple fields. Through interactive lectures, discussions, and practical exercises, you’ll learn how to conduct systematic reviews and evidence syntheses that can influence research and policy decisions.

Learning outcomes:

By the end of this summer school participants will:

• Understand the importance and principles of evidence synthesis, including systematic reviews.
• Understand how to formulate clear and focused research questions using appropriate frameworks.
• Learn how to develop a systematic review protocol following established guidelines.
• Know how to conduct comprehensive literature searches across multiple databases and sources.
• Gain knowledge of selecting relevant studies and extracting necessary data effectively.
• Understand the principles of assessing the risk of bias in different types of studies using standard tools.
• Understand the principles of both quantitative and qualitative synthesis methods.
• Be introduced to tools like GRADE to evaluate the certainty of evidence.
• Understand the application of these methods to their own research or professional practice across various sectors.
• Connect with peers and experts.

Audience:

Beginners and those with some knowledge seeking to learn or refresh their skills in evidence synthesis, Systematic review authors, guideline developers, health and social care professionals, academics, researchers, postgraduate students, policy and decision-makers, Evidence Synthesis Ireland Fellows and other professionals, anyone interested in evidence synthesis methods. 

Pre-requisites:

• Laptop required
• A basic understanding of research methods (not limited to health research)
• An interest in learning or enhancing knowledge on systematic reviews and evidence synthesis

Places:

100 available for individuals who are resident in Ireland & Northern Ireland

Tickets:

General admission (researchers, academia, clinicians etc): €300
Student: €200
Industry: €600
Public and patients: Please email esi@universityofgalway.ie

To register, CLICK HERE

This webinar will consider whether general purpose AI tools and research-focused AI tools can currently help with search strategy development for systematic reviews. The webinar will also consider how AI tools of various types might assist with search planning and study identification. The webinar will include demonstrations followed by a discussion of those tools and other tools that participants have found useful and would like to share during the meeting.

Speaker:

Julie Glanville  is a qualified librarian who has worked in systematic reviews for 30 years and is currently an independent consultant focusing on information retrieval for systematic reviews.  Julie is a co-manager of SuRe Info and the ISSG Search Filter Resource.

From 2008 to June 2020, Julie was Associate Director of York Health Economics Consortium (YHEC) and coordinated its information and review services.  Previously, Julie was Associate Director and Information Service Manager at the Centre for Reviews and Dissemination (CRD), University of York, for fourteen years. Julie is a co-author of the Cochrane Handbook chapter on searching for evidence. Julie is an active trainer providing training in various aspects of finding evidence for systematic reviews.

To register, CLICK HERE

The field of climate and health is situated at a sweet spot between two complementary evidence synthesis traditions. The health community has been invaluable in developing systematic review methodologies for understanding interventions. The climate community has developed an intermodal comparison toolkit for evaluating alternative policy futures. In this talk I will discuss how the field of climate and health can be instrumental in advancing evidence synthesis to the next level. Driven by an evidence base that is shaped very differently than in health, there is a requirement to adjust and expand the traditional evidence synthesis toolkit. Mutual learning between the climate and health communities could be an important driver and accelerator for innovation. The second half of the talk will be devoted to outlining the research frontiers of artificial intelligence in making evidence synthesis faster and cheaper without jeopardizing methodological rigor.

Speaker:

Dr. Jan Minx is head of the working group Applied Sustainability Science at the Mercator Research Institute on Global Commons and Climate Change. He works on a broad range of topics in climate policy such as climate and health pathways to climate neutrality, trade-offs and co-benefits of climate policies, or urban climate change mitigation and adaptation options. Methodologically, main focus of his work is on evidence synthesis: one part explores how artificial intelligence can be used to scale evidence synthesis methods to large bodies of evidence and apply them in science assessments; another part is working on the development of new evidence synthesis methods to advance scientific policy advice in the field of climate. Jan is Co-Chair of the Campbell Collaboration’s Climate Solutions Coordinating Group and has been a longstanding author in assessments by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) as well as the Lancet Countdown on Health and Climate Change.

To register, CLICK HERE

This webinar will present findings from a Study Within A Review (SWAR) evaluating the use of PubReMiner, a text-mining word frequency tool, for developing systematic search strategies used in various evidence syntheses. Conducted within the Health Information and Quality Authority’s (HIQA’s) Health Technology Assessment Directorate, the study compares the sensitivity and precision of PubReMiner-generated strategies to conventional methods used at HIQA. The session will outline the methodology, key outcomes, and considerations for incorporating such tools into systematic and rapid review processes. The SWAR was embedded across multiple reviews, offering insights into the advantages and disadvantages of this approach to answering methodological research questions compared to SWARs embedded within a single review. The webinar is particularly relevant for researchers, information specialists, librarians and others involved in evidence-based practice or policy who are interested in the evaluation of emerging approaches to literature searching.

Speaker:

Andrew Dullea is a Health Services Researcher within the Health Technology Assessment (HTA) Directorate in HIQA. Andrew previously qualified as a radiation therapist and worked for several years at St. Vincent’s Private Hospital where he led on the clinical implementation of surface guided radiation therapy (SGRT) and ‘tattoo-less’ radiotherapy. He later graduated from the University of Cambridge with a master’s degree in Public Health, and subsequently worked for the Health Products Regulatory Authority (HPRA) where he focused on the development and implementation of medical device and in-vitro diagnostic (IVD) health policy. Currently, Andrew works in the HTA Directorate’s ionising radiation evidence review team which deals with generic justification and the development of guidelines for exposures in asymptomatic individuals. He is also undertaking a PhD through the SPHeRE programme at the School of Medicine in Trinity College Dublin.

Methods for qualitative evidence synthesis (QES) are now well established and decision makers are able to access rigorous QES on issues such as patient experiences of health conditions and interventions, and contextual factors influencing intervention implementation. QES often generate theories and explanations about why and how interventions work or do not work as anticipated. By integrating these theories with evidence on intervention effects in a mixed methods synthesis, review teams can offer vital information to support implementation of review findings in practice. However, the diversity of approaches for integrating QES and effectiveness syntheses can make it challenging for reviewers to understand how best to integrate.

This two day interactive workshop delivered by co-convenors of the Cochrane Qualitative and Implementation Methods Group will introduce theory and practical examples of mixed methods synthesis. During group work participants will be encouraged to think reflectively on the strengths and limitations of diverse approaches. Each day will conclude with an open forum to reflect on the day’s activities and discuss issues relating to participants’ own review activity

By the end of this workshop participants will:

• understand why and when it is useful to do a mixed methods synthesis
• be able to recognise and appraise diverse approaches and tools for mixed methods synthesis
• describe challenges, and potential opportunities, for mixed methods synthesis
• have gained hands on experience of integrating different types of evidence
• apply lessons learnt to their own review activity

Dates: 14th & 15th October

Time: 09:30 – 17:00

Places: 15 available for individuals who are resident in Ireland & Northern Ireland

Pre-requisites: Prior experience of systematic reviews but not necessarily specific experience of qualitative evidence synthesis or mixed methods synthesis

Location: Galway Bay Hotel, Salthill, Co. Galway

Prices: General €250; Student €140

Target Audience: Systematic review authors, guideline developers, health and social care professionals, academics, researchers, postgraduate students, decision makers, Evidence Synthesis Ireland Fellows and other professionals

Facilitators:

Prof. Angela Harden, Professor of Health Sciences, School of Health and Psychological Sciences, Department of Health Services Research and Management, City University of London

Dr. Katy Sutcliffe, Associate Professor, Evidence for Policy and Practice Information and Coordination Centre (EPPI Centre), University College London

Prof. James Thomas, Professor of Social Research & Policy, Evidence for Policy and Practice Information and Coordination Centre (EPPI Centre), UCL Social Research Unit, University College London

Health care policy and practice decisions should be based on a synthesis of the global body of evidence rather than relying on individual studies. Cochrane Ireland and Evidence Synthesis Ireland promote evidence based healthcare policy and practice by supporting high quality, relevant systematic reviews and other synthesised research evidence. This workshop provides authors, actively involved in conducting a systematic review, with confidence to assess a wide range of data types. It offers an insight into more complex methods of meta-analysis.

Date: 1st, 2nd, 8th & 9th December 2025

Time: 10.00 am – 1.00 pm

Places: 20 places available for individuals who are resident on the island of Ireland

Fee: €150 General & €80 Student

Target audience

Healthcare professionals, academics, researchers, decision makers and Evidence Synthesis Ireland fellows who are actively involved in performing a systematic review.

Prerequisites

Participants should at least have completed their review protocol, developed and conducted their search strategy and begun data extraction and analysis.

Learning outcomes

In this course participants will be enabled to:

• Understand how to identify, extract and analyse dichotomous and continuous data
• Understand more complex meta-analysis methods including use of Generic Inverse Variance Meta-analysis
• Understand principles of analysis of multi-arm trials, cluster and cross-over trial designs

Teaching strategies

This course consists of online workshops with of a mixture of short presentations, small group activities and practical demonstrations using Cochrane software (RevMan Web). In addition, participants will have access to Cochrane Interactive Learning modules and will be required to complete a set of modules prior to workshops. Access to the Cochrane Interactive Learning modules will be made available for 4 weeks before and 4 weeks after the workshop and will be free of charge thanks to the support of Cochrane Training.

Facilitators

Prof. Valerie Smith, Professor of Midwifery, University College Dublin

Dr Nuala Livingstone, Senior Quality Assurance Editor, Cochrane Editorial & Methods Department

*If your type of ticket is sold out, please join the waitlist or contact us at esi@universityofgalway.ie