Dear all,

The fifth edition of Modern Statistical Thinking for Biologists will run online from 24 March till 30 June. This introductory statistics course is unusual because it adopts a primarily Bayesian perspective. Bayesian methods are increasingly prevalent in many fields of biology, though most strikingly in ecology and evolutionary biology, as they are particularly well-adapted to the noisy, messy data that are common in these fields. It has also been argued that the Bayesian lens makes basic statistical concepts more intuitive and more accessible to beginners. The course is therefore suitable both to students that are pure beginners in statistics, as well as to those that already have a background in classical statistics and would like to discover Bayesian methods.

The pedagogical approach used on the course reflects the principle that statistics is not merely applied maths: it is its own distinct way of thinking about the world. We will therefore put the emphasis on conceptual understanding and on honing our intuitions about data, rather than on rote memorisation of tests or on excessive mathematical detail. Much time will also be spent on hands-on manipulation of real datasets (mostly from biological research) in R. There are no prerequisites in terms of maths or statistics skills.

The course is composed of weekly Zoom sessions with lots of interaction. There are also weekly assignments, to which the participants receive written feedback each time, allowing each student’s progress to be followed individually. Towards the end of the course, the students will have the opportunity to put what they have learned to practice in two projects: one on data provided by the instructor and another on each participant’s own data.

The course takes on 15 participants on a first-come-first-served basis. For registration and for more information, see here:

https://www.mondegoscience.com/courses/modern-statistical-thinking-for-biologists

If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to drop me a line on rosina@mondegoscience.com.

Best regards, Rosina.