Training

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Practical reflections of key lessons learnt through co-producing policy relevant maps with South African government departments at national and provincial level over the past 8 years. The presentation will highlight the co-production and approach, give an overview of projects conducted and what this has influenced our evidence-based decision making (EIDM) activities.

Speaker:

Promise M Nduku is an Evidence synthesis specialist at the Pan-African Collective for Evidence (PACE) NPC. He holds a master’s degree in development economics from the University of Johannesburg and is currently pursuing a PhD in Health economics at the same institution. He is passionate about the potential of evidence-informed decision-making to draw on the suite of evidence syntheses methodologies, and experience of responding to policy evidence needs. He specialises in conducting and supporting evidence syntheses as well as the design of institutional knowledge structures to enhance the use of evidence by decision-makers. Promise co-leads PACE’s work supporting national government decision-makers to integrate evidence in formulating and designing public policies and programmes in South Africa.

Since 2017, Promise has led 12 multi-disciplinary projects that have aimed to produce and/or support decision-makers in using systematic reviews and policy-relevant evidence maps in their policy-making processes. Promise has conducted over 30 syntheses, including systematic reviews and evidence maps and collaborations in developing policy-relevant evidence maps and responsive evidence bases with the South African Department of Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation (DPME) which informed five national policies.

In 2024, he joined the Methodological Advisory Group (MAG) supporting the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) Evidence-based Public Health Methods project in developing hands-on methods guidance for evidence synthesis and evidence-based public health advice focusing on infectious disease epidemiology, prevention, and control.

Background:

This series of workshops will provide reviewers, at the beginning of their journey in conducting a Qualitative Evidence Synthesis (QES) with a comprehensive overview of the methodology and methods including a Cochrane QES reviews. The series will offer insights into the development of a protocol, introducing participants to the methods of question generation, identification of included studies, data extraction and synthesis, the GRADECERQual assessment of confidence in the findings, and presentation the review for dissemination.

Aim:

The purpose of these workshops is to familarise all participants with the steps involved in conducting a Qualitative Evidence Synthesis.

We have designed these workshops as a companion series to allow attendees to apply what they have learned, enabling them to gain practical experience before progressing to the next stage of the process.

Objective:

The objectives of the workshops are intended to provide participants with an understanding of the methods of QES and equip them with the practical skills needed to conduct such a syntheses effectively.

Workshop 1:  will provide an Introduction to QES, including overview. We will explore how you can focus your review question and search for qualitative evidence.

Workshop 2: will highlight the methods of screening and inclusion processes including selecting studies. We will demonstrate how data are extracted for a QES and a Quality Assessment is conducted.

Workshop 3: will delve into choosing a method of synthesis, and demonstrate how to synthesisinse  qualitative data and present the findings

Workshop 4: we will illustrate the process of conducting an assessment of confidence in the findings of the QES using the GRADECERQual approach, and explore methods of writing up a review for dissemination.

Learning outcomes:

The learning outcomes for participants in this series should support them to:

• develop an understanding of the principles of QES and its importance in research
• define a research question suitable for QES
• explore methods for systematically searching and selecting relevant qualitative studies
• develop the skills to assess the quality of qualitative research studies
• gain proficiency in data extraction and methods of qualitative data synthesis
• learn how to conduct an assessment of confidence in the findings of a QES
• explore strategies for presenting and reporting the findings of a QES

Teaching strategies:

The workshops will consist of a mixture of short presentations and discussions led by members of the ESI Teaching Faculty, covering each of the methods of a QES. Breakout rooms will be used for small group activities based around worked examples and exercises. These activities will provide participants with the opportunity to discuss and develop their own skills and understanding. Participants will also be provided with a reading list and additional resources.

Places: 30 places available for individuals who are resident on the island of Ireland

Overall fee: General €120; Student €60

Skill level: Introductory

Prerequisites: Knowledge of qualitative research methodologies and methods

Target Audience:

Facilitators

Prof. Pauline Meskell, Head of Department of Nursing and Midwifery, University of Limerick

Dr Linda Biesty, Associate Professor (Midwifery), University of Galway

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

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.