19 Feb 2026 09:00am to 20 Feb 2026 05:00pm

Cluster Randomised Trials: From Fundamentals to State-of-the-Art

Workshop
Event Location
The University of Melbourne, “The Spot” building (Room 1022), 198 Berkeley St, Carlton
Australia
Speakers
A/Prof Fan Li
Yale University School of Medicine
A/Prof Tony Tong
Yale University School of Medicine
Jessica Kasza
Jess is a Professor in Biostatistics at Monash University School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine. She joined ViCBiostat and Monash in 2013 as a postdoctoral researcher after completing her...
Andrew is the current Head of the Biostatistics Unit in the Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine at Monash University. Since completing a PhD in Statistics at Cornell University (USA)...
Rhys received his PhD from the University of Adelaide in 2015. He is currently a Research Fellow in the Biostatistics unit of the School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine...
Kelsey Grantham
Kelsey is a Research Fellow at Monash University SPHPM. She completed her PhD " Statistical Methods For The Design And Analysis Of Longitudinal Cluster Randomized Trials " at Monash University in 2021.
Ehsan Rezaei-Darzi
Ehsan is a postdoctoral researcher in the Cluster Cluster research team at Monash SPHPM, having completed his PhD in Biostatistics in 2025. His project investigated various aspects of longitudinal cluster...

Cluster randomised trials are an important class of randomised trials used to assess the effect of interventions when separate randomisation of individuals is not possible or practical. Knowledge of the particular complexities of this class of designs – which ranges from the conventional parallel group cluster randomised trial through to stepped wedge, staircase, and cluster randomised crossover designs - is essential for any practising biostatistician working in clinical trials.

The workshop is divided into two days. Interested persons can register for one or both days.

Day one - Cluster randomised trials: The fundamentals

On day one of this workshop you will learn all about the fundamentals of cluster randomised trial designs: learning when they are appropriate; which designs are best suited to what settings; how to analyse data from these designs; and how to plan these designs. You’ll get hands-on experience in analysis and design using Stata or R.

Day two - Cluster randomised trials: The state of the art

On day two of this workshop you’ll build on your knowledge by learning about the state-of-the-art in the design and analysis of cluster randomised trials. You’ll learn about more flexible variants of standard design types (e.g. the batched stepped wedge and repeated inclusion cluster randomised trials) which can make infeasible trials feasible; about issues that can impact the interpretation of results from cluster randomised trials (e.g. informative cluster size); Bayesian approaches to design and analysis; and cutting edge efficient and robust analysis approaches. These latter two feature the two international speakers from Yale University. 

Prerequisites and intended audience:

Day 1: The target audience is statisticians and researchers with some statistical background, including working knowledge of linear mixed models with random effects.  For the hands-on computing, attendees must also have a sound working familiarity with Stata or R and have the corresponding software installed on their laptop.

Day 2: The audience will be assumed to be familiar with the design and analysis of cluster randomised trials, for which day 1 attendance will be sufficient.

Dates: Thursday 19th and Friday 20th February

Registration prices: Standard $1020, Student $740 (for both days) OR Standard $540, Student $390 for single-day attendance

 

Registration is now open via Trybooking