BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:icalendar-ruby CALSCALE:GREGORIAN BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260623T223259Z UID:e589f665-cc80-42c7-bd03-9fb602d5845f DTSTART:20250624T090000Z DTEND:20250625T170000Z DESCRIPTION:## Overview\nCausal inference has spawned renewed interest as a formal framework for answering scientific questions across many domains\, spanning epidemiology\, economics\, medicine\, artificial intelligence an d more. \n\nUnderstanding and predicting the effect of interventions is a fundamental component of effective policy and decision-making. The ultimat e goal of a majority of scientific studies is to establish if and how chan ging certain conditions\, policies\, practices and behaviors will affect g iven outcomes of interest. \n\nQuestions about the consequences of an acti on are causal in nature. They are\, therefore\, best tackled within a caus al inference framework\, aiming to go beyond predictions to make causal pr edictions. Where appropriate\, explicitly framing study questions with cau sal language has several advantages over common analytical approaches: it adds to the transparency of the objectives and the underlying structural a ssumptions\, and it helps with the interpretation and clarification of the potential limitations of any analysis. \n\nBy reasoning about causality w ith directed acyclic graphs (DAGs) and describing data-generating mechanis ms with causal diagrams\, we can further enhance/improve the communication s between scientific investigators\, analysts and other stakeholders. Espe cially in the context of real-world data analysis\, causal inference offer s a coherent framework to strengthen the quality of the conclusions we can draw from quantitative analyses of empirical evidence to inform and guide decisions which carry the potential to impact society. \n\nThe course pro poses itself as a gentle introduction to causal thinking\, aiming to provi de the key concepts and principles of causal inference\, touching upon som e of the most common tools for causal inference. \n\n## Audience\nThis cou rse is addressed to researchers new to causal reasoning who wish to famili arize themselves with the causal language and grasp the foundational conce pts for delving into the causal inference literature.\n\n## Learning outco mes\nAt the end of the course\, the participants will be able to: \n\n * F ormulate research questions in the language of causal inference. \n\n * D efine causal effects. \n\n * Describe data-generating mechanisms with caus al diagrams. \n\n * Identify potential sources of bias with the help of gr aphical criteria to inform the study design and analysis. \n\n * Choose ap propriate methods to estimate causal contrasts/effects from real data\, an d implement them using the `R` statistical software. \n\n## Prerequisites\ n##### Knowledge / competencies\nThe course is targeted to life scientists who are already familiar with the R programming language and who have bas ic knowledge on statistics\, especially regression modelling. \n\nAdditio nal knowledge such as how to use tydiverse or knowledge of survival analys is are a plus but are not mandatory. \n\n \n\nThe competences and knowledg e levels required correspond to those taught in courses such as: [First St eps with R in Life Sciences](https://www.sib.swiss/training/course/2025101 3_FSWR) and [Introduction to statistics with R](https://www.sib.swiss/trai ning/course/20240122_STATR). \n\n \n##### Technical\nYou are required to b ring your own laptop with the following software installed \n\n* R and Rst udio \n\nAs well as the following R libraries: \n* ggplot2 \n* tydiverse \ n\n\n\n## Application\nThe registration fees for academics are **200 CHF** and **1000 CHF** for for-profit companies.\n\nYou will be informed by ema il of your registration confirmation. Upon reception of the confirmation e mail\, participants will be asked to confirm attendance by paying the fees within 5 days.\n\nApplications close on *10/06/2025*. Deadline for free-o f-charge cancellation is set to *10/06/2025*. Cancellation after this date will not be reimbursed. Please note that participation in SIB courses is subject to our [general conditions](https://www.sib.swiss/training/terms-a nd-conditions).\n\n## Venue and Time\n\nThis course will take place at the University of Basel.\n\nThe course will start at 9:00 and end around 17:0 0. Precise information will be provided to the participants in due time.\n \n\n## Additional information\nCoordination: Valeria Di Cola\, SIB Trainin g Group.\n\nWe will recommend 0.5 ECTS credits for this course (given a pa ssed exam at the end of the course).\n\nYou are welcome to register to the SIB courses mailing list to be informed of all future courses and worksho ps\, as well as all important deadlines using the form [here](https://list s.sib.swiss/postorius/lists/courses.lists.sib.swiss/).\n\nPlease note that participation in SIB courses is subject to our [general conditions](https ://www.sib.swiss/training/terms-and-conditions).\n\nSIB abides by the [ELI XIR Code of Conduct](https://elixir-europe.org/events/code-of-conduct). Pa rticipants of SIB courses are also required to abide by the same code.\n\n For more information\, please contact [training@sib.swiss](mailto://traini ng@sib.swiss). SUMMARY:Causal Inference URL;VALUE=URI:https://www.sib.swiss/training/course/20250624_CAUSI END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR