Design and Conduct of High Quality Randomised Clinical Trials

Clinical trials are the cornerstone of evidence-based medicine. Well-designed and well-conducted trials can positively impact patients, healthcare professionals, and providers. They evaluate a wide range of interventions—including drugs, therapies, procedures, and medical devices—throughout their development, from early stages to real-world application in health systems. However, trials must be conducted efficiently, rigorously, and transparently to protect participants' safety and rights and to prevent research waste. Before designing or managing a clinical trial, proper training is essential.

“Design and conduct of high quality randomised clinical trials” is a hybrid training programme, designed and delivered by a team based in the Nottingham Clinical Trials Unit, Nottingham, UK, who have substantial expertise in clinical trial design and management. The programme training is designed for health professionals and researchers who are interested in undertaking a preliminary course in clinical trials.

Its primary aim is to ensure that course participants fully understand core concepts in clinical trial design, including basic statistical considerations, management and oversight. 

Based on feedback from potential course participants, the programme has been designed to be hybrid, incorporating a one-day in-person training session at the University of Nottingham Ningbo Campus, followed by eight live online lectures and four pre-recorded lectures that can be accessed at delegates' convenience.

The draft programme, which may be subject to minor changes, is below:

* Subject to change

1. Training delivered by a world-class Faculty, with decades’ of expertise in the design and conduct of large, pragmatic randomised trials. Leading academic staff based in one of the UK’s most active and leading UKCRC-registered Clinical Trials Units will be on hand to share their expertise throughout the programme.
2. All training materials will be made accessible to course participants.
3. After the successful completion of the programme, an official programme certification from the University of Nottingham Ningbo China can be obtained.

Professor Alan Montgomery

- Professor of Medical Statistics and Clinical Trials

Professor Alan Montgomery is Professor of Medical Statistics and Clinical Trials, and Director of the Nottingham Clinical Trials Unit. Alan collaborates widely and has completed over 40 major clinical trials that test the effectiveness of complex interventions, drugs and devices across a range of clinical areas and settings. Alan also collaborates on methodology research to improve the design, conduct and reporting of randomised trials. He has published more than 200 peer- reviewed articles, and has extensive experience as an independent chair and member of trial data monitoring and steering committees.

Professor Ed Juszczak

- Professor of Clinical Trials and Statistics in Medicine

Professor Ed Juszczak is Professor of Clinical Trials and Statistics in Medicine, and Research and Knowledge Exchange Lead at Nottingham Clinical Trials Unit. Ed has over 25 years of experience in the design, conduct, analysis, interpretation and reporting of clinical trials, specialising in the perinatal field and multi-arm trial methodology. He was a key member of the RECOVERY COVID-19 trial team. Ed has 11 trial publications in The New England Journal of Medicine and is a co- author of numerous reporting guidelines including CONSORT extensions for reporting multi-arm parallel-group and factorial randomised trials and trial conducted using routinely collected health data.

Professor Jane Daniels

- Professor of Clinical Trials

Professor Jane Daniel’s early career was in molecular biology and immunology. She left laboratory research to become a clinical trial manager at Birmingham Clinical Trials Unit. Over 20 years she became an experienced academic clinical trialist and established its reputation as the leading trials unit for women’s health in the UK. She was integral to the development of a clinical trials partnership between the University of Birmingham and Wenzhou Medical University. In 2017, Jane was appointed as Professor of Clinical Trials and Deputy Director of NCTU, where she continues to develop her portfolio of research in women's health and complement this with trials in new clinical areas. She undertakes translational and definitive randomised controlled trials and test evaluation studies, and complements this primary research with systematic reviews and meta-analyses. Her research has been published in all major general medical journals and she is a member of national funding committees.

Dr Eleanor Mitchell

- Associate Professor of Clinical Trials

Dr Eleanor Mitchell is Associate Professor of Clinical Trials. Eleanor has over 20 years’ experience in the design and conduct of large, pragmatic randomised trials, particularly in maternal and newborn health. She is the Chief Investigator of several large publicly-funded RCTs. Eleanor is passionate about ensuring the patient voice is heard in the design and conduct of trials and leads patient and public engagement initiatives in the trials she leads. She also leads trials and mixed- methods studies collaborating with clinicians in low and middle income countries, particularly in Africa. She is the Director of Global Engagement in the School of Medicine at the University of Nottingham, and Chair of the UK Trial Managers’ Network (www.tmn.ac.uk) and is a member of several national groups focusing on high quality trial design and conduct.

Dr Chris Partlett

- Assistant Professor of Medical Statistics and Clinical Trials

Dr Chris Partlett is Assistant Professor of Medical Statistics and Clinical Trials. He has 10 years’ experience collaborating on various projects, predominantly randomised trials, in a variety of clinical areas. Chris also leads and collaborates on methodology research to improve the design, conduct and reporting of trials. He is a member of the research advisory board for a funding panel and is the chair and independent member of several Trial Steering and Data Monitoring committees.

Mr Garry Meakin

- Senior Clinical Trial Manager

Mr Garry Meakin is a Senior Trial Manager with over a decade of experience in clinical research. Starting his career as a scientist specialising in respiratory medicine he has since gone onto play a key role in delivering multi-centre randomised controlled trials across diverse therapeutic areas, gaining extensive expertise in the full lifecycle of clinical trials. Garry is a co-investigator on several publicly-funded multi-centre trials. He has a strong interest in trials methodology, with a particular focus on risk-based monitoring. He is a member of several large national clinical trial networks and is Deputy Chair of the NCTU Research and Knowledge Exchange Committee.

Programme fee: 6,000 RMB

Early bird fee: 5,000 RMB 

*Participants who register before 30/5/2025 are eligible for the early bird discount.

*This charge encompasses the course fee and related materials cost. Excluding unspecified costs including but not limited to transportation, accommodation, and dining. 

Scan the QR code above to complete the registration information.  

• Upon receiving your registration form, we will promptly get in touch with you and assist in finalizing the subsequent payment formalities. 
• E-mail：claudia.cai@nottingham.edu.cn
• Tel：88180000-8574

The Nottingham Clinical Trials Unit (NCTU) is part of the School of Medicine, within the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences at the University of Nottingham, UK. NCTU has expertise in the core competencies required for design and conduct of high-quality, high-impact trials: including experienced trialists, trial management, data management and systems programming, statistics, health economics and quality assurance. Full information about NCTU can be found here: www.nctu.ac.uk

The University of Nottingham Ningbo China, approved by the Ministry of Education in 2004, is the first Sino-foreign cooperative university in China with an independent legal entity status and an independent campus. Leveraging its international, interdisciplinary, and multi-dimensional faculty in the domain of health and wellness, along with first-class laboratories and hardware support, the University of Nottingham Ningbo China offers customized course training services to medical and public health institutions in China. 

The Nottingham Ningbo GRADE Centre, established through a collaboration between the University of Nottingham Ningbo China and the GRADE Working Group, serves as a hub for advancing evidence-based research and decision-making. Specializing in evidence synthesis and guideline development, it promotes rigorous methodology in health, social sciences, and policy research. By fostering interdisciplinary collaboration and capacity-building workshops, the Centre empowers researchers and policymakers to apply GRADE (Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development, and Evaluations) frameworks, ensuring transparent, high-quality evidence and trust-worthy guidelines to address global and local challenges.