System Thinking – Karien Stronks, PhD, Professor of Public Health at the Academic Medical Centre/University of Amsterdam/Amsterdam UMC.
The outcomes of many epidemiological studies are not the result of single risk factors, but the result of a complex system of factors operating and interacting at different levels. In the past years, there has been rapidly growing interest in the applicability of Systems science in which the emphasis is placed on understanding the ‘whole’ system, rather than focusing exclusively on individual components. This masterclass gives an introduction of the approach, and an hands-on experience with individual and group construction of system models .
Causality – Jay S Kaufman, PhD, Professor at the Department of Epidemiology, Biostatistics & Occupational Health of McGill University
This 90 minute tutorial will introduce fundamental issues of causal inference in epidemiological research, including:
1) The distinction between causation and association, 2) Sampling variability and adjustment rituals, 3) Causal structures, 4) Measures of effect versus measures of association, 5) Noncollapsibility of the odds ratio and 6) Understanding confounding via latent causal types.
Only basic epidemiological and statistical background is assumed.
Debate: ‘Uncertainty in your career’
In 2019, the Universities of the Netherlands, the Netherlands Federation of University Medical Centres (UNL), the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Dutch Research Council (NOW) and ZonMw published the position paper: ‘Room for everyone’s talent’. Do you know what this means for you on a local, national and international level? We will kick-start this session with a talk by Arfan Ikram (professor in epidemiology, Erasmus MC and Director ZonMW) describing the current state of affairs of the Recognition and Rewards programme. After this, there will be a debate including Arfan Ikram, Maroeska Rovers (professor in epidemiology, Radboudmc), Raymond Poot (Cell biologist, Erasmus MC) and Dionne Kringos (Director Amsterdam Public Health Research Institute), regarding the new way to recognise and reward researchers. The audience is also more than welcome to participate with their questions and views.
Speeddates: meet the professsors
Make sure to be part of this session in which you can informally speak with experts in the field of Epidemiology about their area of expertise, but also about all the hurdles and failures they have had to overcome to be in their current position. Maximum amount of people for this session is limited to 40.