Renato Alves
EMBL Heidelberg
Germany
Overview
Registration is not yet open for this event. If you are interested in receiving more information please register your interest.
Course overview
The missing step between data collection and research progress is a lack of training for researchers in crucial skills for effectively managing and analysing data, often in large amounts. This hands-on workshop teaches researchers the fundamental data skills they need to conduct their work and provides high-quality, domain-specific training covering the full lifecycle of data-driven research. The domain-specific approach allows participants to tailor the data, content, and tools to reflect the specific data and analysis needs of different areas.
Audience
The course is aimed at graduate students and other researchers in the life sciences who would like to learn good practices in data management and analysis. The course is ideally suited to students without prior experience in computational research, but some familiarity with working with tabular data on a computer is welcome
Modules
- Data organisation and cleaning
- Versioning with Git
- Introduction to R
- Data analysis and visualisation in R
- Data analysis with applications to genomics
Learning outcomes
- How to organise data and some practices for more effective data handling
- To effectively clean and format data and automatically track any changes
- To use R to handle, filter and summarise tabular data
- To use the split-apply-combine concept for data analysis
- To visualise the results of these analyses in R using the ggplot2 library
- To apply all of the concepts in an exploratory analysis of a typical biological dataset
What past participants say about the course
“The training at EMBL on ”Exploratory Analysis of Biological Data” stands out as one of the most valuable hands-on scientific training sessions I’ve experienced. It equips researchers with essential data skills crucial for their work, delivering top-notch, domain-specific training that spans the entire lifecycle of data-driven research.” – Francis Irabor, Benson Idahosa University, Nigeria
“I really enjoyed the course “Exploratory analysis of biological data: data carpentry”. It was a great opportunity and amazing experience to learn the use of R and how to apply it to analyze our own data in a very practical way!” – Marcos Galán Ganga, University of Barcelona, Spain
“A very well spent and highly instructive week, thanks to the excellent trainers and organizers as well as the inspiring and motivating environment at EMBL in Heidelberg. Already looking forward to visiting again!” – Christina Parassiadis, Robert Bosch Center for Tumor Diseases, Germany
Speakers
Trainers
Lisanna Paladin
EMBL Heidelberg
Germany
Roberto Paoli
EMBL Barcelona
Spain
Patryk Polinski
EMBL Barcelona
Spain
Daniel Santos Olivan
EMBL Barcelona
Spain
Christian Schudoma
EMBL Heidelberg
Germany
Jim Swoger
EMBL Barcelona
Spain
Scientific organisers
Renato Alves
EMBL Heidelberg
Germany
Lisanna Paladin
EMBL Heidelberg
Germany
Christian Schudoma
EMBL Heidelberg
Germany
Course organisers
Adéla Graf
Course and Conference Officer
EMBL Heidelberg
Germany
Michelle Steinhauer
Scientific Training Officer
EMBL Heidelberg
Germany
Practical information
Registration fees and motivation letter
Registration fees include admission, course materials, meals and coffee breaks. Participants are expected to book and pay their own accommodation and travel expenses.
| Academia | €450 |
| PhD Student | €450 |
| Industry | €775 |
A letter to support your visa application will be issued, on request, once payment of the registration fee is confirmed. We recommend that you book your visa appointment as soon as possible, to avoid any delay with your visa application.
Confirmation and payment
The registration fee should be paid only after acceptance to the course. The results will be announced approximately 2-3 weeks after the application deadline.
Motivation letter submission
After you have logged in and successfully registered, you will receive an email asking you to submit your motivation letter. Click on the link provided and enter your motivation letter in the text box provided. Alternatively you can submit your motivation letter by clicking on the link on the confirmation page directly after registering.
Instructions
- Include your relevant skills, experience and qualifications showing why you would be suitable for the course when answering the questions.
- Explain why you would like to attend, including what you can contribute and how you think you will benefit from the course.
Please note:
- The limit of 2000 characters refers to manually typed text and excludes spaces. If an error occurs try using a different web browser (preferably Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox).
- If you copy-paste the text into the form, hidden formatting might still be included which may cause the text to exceed the 2,000 character limit resulting in an error message. We recommend you clear all formatting before pasting in the text.
- If you have special symbols in your text, make sure you are using Unicode characters, otherwise these will not be recognised.
For detailed instructions, please watch our video on how to submit a course motivation letter.
Further details
For further information about registration and motivation letter submission please refer to the FAQ page.
Financial assistance
Financial assistance
Limited financial assistance is provided by the EMBL Advanced Training Centre Corporate Partnership Programme and EMBO in the form of registration fee waivers, travel grants, and childcare grants. Your place in the meeting is only confirmed by paying the registration fee, which is mandatory even when receiving a fee waiver.
Registration fee waiver
The fee waiver will cover the registration sum that you have paid to attend the course.
Travel grant
The travel grant will cover the cost of travel (airfare, train, bus, taxi, accommodation, visa, and/or registration fees*) and is provided up to specified caps which are normally as follows:
– up to €400 for participants travelling to an EMBL Course within Europe.
– up to €1000 for participants travelling to an EMBL Course from outside Europe.
– up to €500 for any participant travelling to an EMBO Practical Course.
– up to €1000 for any participant working in Chile, India, Singapore or Taiwan travelling to an EMBO Practical Course.
– up to €700 for any participant working in Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Poland, Slovenia, and Turkey travelling to an EMBO Practical Course.
*Registration fees are only covered for EMBO Practical Courses
The organisers may reduce the grant cap to accommodate more participants. Recipients will be notified of their travel cap amount when they are informed of the outcome of their application. Original receipts must be provided with your signature for all costs incurred within two months of completion of travel. Scanned copies cannot be accepted.
Childcare grant
There is the possibility to apply for a childcare grant to offset childcare costs incurred by participants, speakers, and organisers when attending a conference.
Eligible costs include (but are not limited to) fees for a babysitter or child-care facility and travel costs for a caregiver. Please note that priority will be given to early-stage researchers. In order to apply for this grant, you must be registered by the abstract submission deadline. There is a limited amount of funding available for the childcare grants and funds will be distributed amongst eligible applicants.
Application
You may apply for financial assistance when submitting your motivation letter for courses. In your application, you will be asked to answer questions regarding why your lab cannot fund your attendance and how your attendance will make a difference to your career. Application for financial support will not affect the outcome of your registration application.
Selection
The scientific organisers will select the recipients of all financial assistance during the motivation letter selection process. Results will be announced approximately 6-8 weeks before the event start date, however for some events this may be delayed. Selection results do not impact your admission to the course. Selection is based on scientific merit, your current work or study location, the reasons for needing financial support, and the impact this event will have on your career.
Reimbursement
Costs will be reimbursed after the meeting only once a reimbursement form and original receipts (from travel costs) have been received.
Further details
See our list of external funding opportunities and for further information about financial assistance please refer to the FAQ page.
Accommodation and travel
Travel information
For travel information to Heidelberg, please see here.
For travel information to Barcelona, please see here.
Hotel
Accommodation is not included in the registration fee. On-site participants are expected to book and pay for their own accommodation.
A combination of single and twin rooms will be pre-reserved at hotels near EMBL Heidelberg and EMBL Barcelona for the participants to book independently. After the selection process, those chosen can contact the hotel directly to secure their reservation using a provided booking code. We recommend that all course participants stay at the designated hotel for the duration of the course.
More information on the hotel booking process will follow after the participant selection.
Local transport
In Heidelberg, shuttle buses will go from the hotel to EMBL and back, mornings and evenings. A bus schedule and location of the bus stops will be made available prior to the meeting.
Sponsors
Sponsorship opportunities
We offer a variety of event sponsoring possibilities, with the flexibility to select a set sponsorship package or combine individual sponsorship options to suit your event budget. Discounts are available for companies sponsoring multiple events at EMBL Heidelberg. View other conferences, or contact sponsorship@embl.de for further information.
If you are interested in becoming a media partner of this event, please visit our media partnerships webpage.
Warning
EMBL wishes to warn sponsors of EMBL conferences and courses of fraudulent schemes purporting to offer sponsorship opportunities on behalf of EMBL or affiliated with EMBL officials. One current scam campaign of which we are aware is conducted using the name ‘Judy Eastman’ (judy@gopcontact.a2hosted.com) and entails approaches to sponsors offering sponsorship opportunities on EMBL’s behalf. Please be kindly advised that all relevant communication regarding sponsorship of EMBL conferences, symposia and courses is handled by EMBL directly and is sent from an official EMBL account. EMBL does not work with any external providers on sponsorship acquisition.
Please also note that:
- EMBL never provides attendee lists for purchase. Any offers of such are fraudulent.
- EMBL will never call or email you to ask for your credit card details or to request a payment.
- All payments are on invoice.
Suspicious communications purportedly from, for or on behalf of EMBL should be reported to EMBL at the following email address sponsoring@embl.de.
Media kit
Want to let others know you’re attending this event? Take a look at our shareable media and feel free to use them in your social media channels or presentations.
Date: 2 - 6 Feb 2026
Location: EMBL Heidelberg and EMBL Barcelona
Venue: EMBL Advanced Training Centre (Heidelberg) and EMBL Barcelona
Organisers:
-
Renato Alves
EMBL Heidelberg, Germany -
Lisanna Paladin
EMBL Heidelberg, Germany -
Christian Schudoma
EMBL Heidelberg, Germany -
Contact: Adéla Graf