Overview

This 3-day advanced course is targeted at life scientists or bioinformaticians using the R statistical software who want to extend their knowledge.

Lectures will be conducted in the morning, with practicals in the afternoon. Topics covered include, among others:

• Data structures in R
• R internals
• Object-oriented programming in R
• Best practices for programming in R
• Using R to conduct reproducible analysis
• Manipulation of data within R
• Profiling code

Audience

This course is designed for PhD students, postdoctoral and other researchers in the life sciences from both academia and industry who are using the R statistical software and want to extend their knowledge.

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course, the participants are expected to:
* identify where to reduce the number of potential errors and bugs when programming in R
* efficiently use R data structures in order to store and process their data
* infer how to profile their code to find and remove bottlenecks in order to make it run faster

Prerequisites

Knowledge / competencies

This course is designed for advanced users who are already comfortable using the R statistical software in practice. Having attended the "First Steps with R" SIB course does not provide enough background to follow this course; regular practice with R extending beyond the First Steps course is required.

If you are unsure if this course is for you, please contact us at [email protected].

Technical

A WiFi-equipped laptop with the latest R version and RStudio installed PRIOR to the course.

Application

The registration fees for academics are 300 CHF and 1500 CHF for for-profit companies. While participants are registered on a first come, first served basis, exceptions may be made to ensure diversity and equity, which may increase the time before your registration is confirmed.

You will be informed by email of your registration confirmation. Upon reception of the confirmation email, participants will be asked to confirm attendance by paying the fees within 5 days.

Deadline for free-of-charge cancellation is set to 10/08/2026. Cancellation after this date will not be reimbursed. Please note that participation in SIB courses is subject to our general conditions.

Venue and Time

This course will take place at the University of Lausanne. The course will start at 9:00 and end around 17:00.

Precise information will be provided to the participants in due time.

Additional information

Coordination: Valeria Di Cola, SIB Training Group.

Helper: Frédéric Burdet

A Certificate of Attendance will be sent provided you were present at the course, whereas a Certificate of Achievement recommending 0.75 ECTS will be sent provided you passed the exam.

You are welcome to register to the SIB courses mailing list to be informed of all future courses and workshops, as well as all important deadlines using the form here.

Please note that participation in SIB courses is subject to our general conditions.

SIB abides by the ELIXIR Code of Conduct. Participants of SIB courses are also required to abide by the same code.

For more information, please contact [email protected].