Courses and events

Information and booking for courses and events run by Edinburgh Clinical Research Facility

We run a variety of in-person and online courses and events covering a diverse range of topics relating to clinical research. 

See below for information about our upcoming courses and events and associated booking links. 

A limited number of fully-funded places are available on some of our courses.  If there are funded places available, this will be listed in the course fees section of the course description.  Terms and conditions apply. 

For any queries, please refer to our Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs). Alternatively contact us at education@edinburghcrf.ed.ac.uk if you have any specific queries, are unable to find a course you are looking for or you would like to contribute to our programme. 

Join our mailing list to be kept informed of our courses and events programme and news from the Edinburgh CRF Education Core. 

Please refer to our Education Core homepage for other useful information, including educational resources, webinars etc. 

Follow us on Bluesky - Education @ Edinburgh CRF    Handle: @EduEdinburghCRF.    Podcast: Clinical Research Career Conversations  

Good Clinical Practice (GCP) Courses

We offer regular Good Clinical Practice (GCP) training courses.  See below for information and scheduled dates of available courses.

Please ensure you are signing up for the appropriate course.  We advise you to update your GCP training every two years. If you are involved in a trial, the MHRA and/or sponsor would expect you to provide an up-to-date GCP certificate. Therefore, if your GCP training has lapsed or if you have not attended GCP training before, we would advise that you book onto one of our “Introduction to GCP” courses. Alternatively, you can complete the “NIHR Introduction to Good Clinical Practice (GCP)” eLearning at https://www.nihr.ac.uk/health-and-care-professionals/learning-and-support/good-clinical-practice.htm. If you have completed an “Introduction to GCP” course within the past two years or have attended update courses every two years since completing an “Introduction to GCP course”, you should register for a “GCP Update” course.

We offer GCP courses free-of-charge for those attending from Scottish NHS or academic institutions.  Please enquire at education@edinburghcrf.ed.ac.uk to be advised of fees for those attending from elsewhere. 

You are advised to attend this course if you have not attended GCP training before or if your GCP training has lapsed (i.e. more than two years have passed since your last GCP course). 

See below for dates - to register your interest, please select the hyperlink:


You are advised to update your GCP training every two years.  If you have not attended GCP training before or if your GCP training has lapsed, you should book instead on an "Introduction to GCP" course.  

Note - The UK Clinical Trial Regulations will be changing in April 2026 and so we are not running any GCP Update courses until the new course materials are released in January 2026. The regulators expect training on the new regulations to be completed in a timely manner.  ACCORD have confirmed they will allow a short grace period if your GCP certification is due to expire before the new course is released in January 2026. For other sponsors, we suggest you seek their advice. If your sponsor requires you to update your GCP training before January 2026, you can access a free online course through NIHR. In the meantime, you may find it useful to view an online webinar provided by ACCORD on 08 October 2025 - "Navigating the New UK Clinical Trial Regulations & GCP Update: A guide for ACCORD service users".  This is not GCP training, but it will equip you with the knowledge and practical skills to comply with the updated regulations. 

 

See below for course dates - to register your interest, please select the hyperlink:

2026

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Other Scheduled Courses

See our full programme of courses below.  Please refer to our Guidance on how to book and pay for our courses.

Join our mailing list to be kept informed of our courses and events programme and news from Edinburgh CRF Education Core. 

Bitesize Introduction to Patient Public Involvement Course

This free online, self-directed Xerte course aims to help you begin your patient public involvement activities.

Research Management: Research Finances and Contracts

These one-hour training courses for NHS Lothian and University of Edinburgh staff will cover different aspects of research finances and contracts. 

Bite-size Practical Project Management

This workshop covers practical skills, tools and techniques to help you successfully plan and deliver clinical research projects. 

***FULLY BOOKED***  Please email us at education@edinburghcrf.ed.ac.uk if you would like to be added to the waiting list.

An Introduction to Public Speaking: How to design and deliver successful speeches

This course covers how to plan, design and deliver a successful speech or presentation.

***FULLY BOOKED***  Please email us at education@edinburghcrf.ed.ac.uk if you would like to be added to the waiting list.

Using Mixed Methods in Clinical Research

This course will cover the use of mixed methods in healthcare research.

GCP for Laboratories

This course will provide you with an understanding of the importance of GCP for Laboratories and its practical application in research settings.

Edinburgh Clinical Trial Management Course

This two-day course aims to develop your knowledge and skills in clinical trial management.

Planning and Conducting a Systematic Review

This course is designed to provide practical guidance on all the steps involved in doing a systematic review from planning through to completion.

Conducting Interviews in Qualitative Research

This course introduces the knowledge and skills required to conduct research interviews in qualitative research.

Lothian Clinical Research Welcome Day

An introduction event for those new to working in clinical research in Lothian. 

Edinburgh Clinical Research Methodology Course 2026

A two-day introductory course providing a comprehensive overview of methods and frameworks essential for conducting clinical research.

An Introduction to the R Statistical Software

This self-paced online training course is designed to introduce beginners to the R software.

Courses that we run

Refer to the full list of courses that we run to register your interest in future courses or to suggest other topics for training related to clinical research.

Follow us on Bluesky - Education @ Edinburgh CRF      Handle: @EduEdinburghCRF.

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