Bayesian Modeling for Environmental Health Workshop at Columbia University 2025

This training is needed for those who are interested or who have heard about Bayesian modeling and work in Environmental Health, but who have little theoretical or practical experience of it and would like some tools and know-how to get started in an approachable and friendly setting.

This two-day intensive workshop introduces the ideas of Bayesian inference and modeling in the context of Environmental Health, designed to be as approachable and friendly as possible while still providing technical and practical know-how. Led by a team of scientists with many years of diverse combined experience, the workshop will integrate seminar lectures with hands-on computer sessions to put concepts into practice. Several examples will be given using existing data, and conversations on starting new investigations with attendees' research questions will also be encouraged. The lectures and lab sessions will give an overview of the principles of Bayesian inference, as well as how to deal with different data structures, the various software options available, different types of analyses, and current and future research.

Table of Content

• Summary
• Benefits
• Requirments
• Interview Process
• Application Deadline
• How To Apply

Summary

• Application DeadlineAugust 15, 2025
• Study LevelTraining
• SponsorColumbia University
• City to studyNew York
• School to studyColumbia University

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Benefits

By the end of the workshop, participants will be familiar with the following topics:

•  Principles of Bayesian inference
• Practicalities of Bayesian inference
• Choosing priors
• Different data structures (spatial, point, continuous, categorical)
• Advantages and drawbacks of Bayesian approaches
• Temporal modeling
• Spatial modeling
• Spatio-temporal modeling
• Hierarchical modeling
• Exposure response functions
• Examples of use

Requirements

Investigators at all career stages are welcome to attend, and we particularly encourage trainees and early-stage investigators to participate. There are three requirements to attend this training:

1. Basic familiarity with R and R studio (how to download R/R studio, and how to install a package) is recommended to get the most out of the workshop. 
2. Familiarity with spatial and temporal data structures, as well as exponential family distribution types (normal, Poisson etc.) would also be useful, though not essential.
3. Each participant is required to bring a personal laptop as all lab sessions will be done on your personal laptop. Each participant will be using RStudio Cloud to carry out tasks while attending the Workshop.

Interview Dates and Process

Summer 2025: The Bayesian Modeling for Environmental Health Workshop is a live, in-person training taking place August 14-15, 2025 from ~9:00am - ~5:00pm at the Columbia University Irving Medical Campus in NYC. All training start and end times are in EDT.

Application Deadline

How To Apply

For more details visit Columbia University Training Webpage