UK Biobank Instructional Workshops
February 9 – 10, 2026
Held in conjunction with the Research Symposium
We are pleased to host a 1.5-day UK Biobank Instructional Workshop aimed at providing both foundational theory and hands-on training in accessing and analyzing UK Biobank data. The sessions are designed to be informal and interactive, offering plenty of opportunities to ask questions and engage with instructors.
Workshop Requirements:
A laptop with R and RStudio installed will be useful (but not essential) for participants intending to follow along with some practical components.
Day 1: Monday, February 9, 2026 (Half Day – Afternoon)
Session 1: Introduction to Quantitative and Population Genetics Theory
Time: 01:30 PM – 02:15 PM
Content: Heritability, Hardy-Weinberg Equilibrium, Linkage Disequilibrium (LD)
Q&A: 02:15 PM – 02:30 PM
Break: 02:30 PM – 02:45 PM
📊 Click here to view the slides
Session 2: Introduction to Genome-Wide Association Study
Time: 02:45 PM – 03:30 PM
Content: History of GWAS, methods, quality control, software tools, population stratification
Q&A: 03:30 PM – 03:45 PM
Break: 03:45 PM – 04:00 PM
📊 Click here to view the slides
Session 3: Analyses Downstream of GWAS
Time: 04:00 PM – 04:45 PM
Content: Meta-analyses, PheWAS, Conditional analyses, fine-mapping, gene-based test, pathway enrichment, LD score regression – more on the phenotype (ICD+ and phecodes etc.)
Q&A: 04:45 PM – 05:00 PM
📊 Click here to view the slides
Day 2: Tuesday, February 10, 2026
Session 4: Introduction to Polygenic Score Methods
Time: 09:00 AM – 09:45 AM
Content: General motivation, Bayesian models, functional annotations, genome-wide fine-mapping
Q&A: 09:45 AM – 10:00 AM
Break: 10:00 AM – 10:15 AM
📊 Click here to view the slides
Session 5: Introduction to Mendelian Randomization
Time: 10:15 AM – 11:00 AM
Content: General motivation, methods, software tools
Q&A: 11:00 AM – 11:15 AM
Break: 11:15 AM – 11:30 AM
📊 Click here to view the slides
Session 6: Introduction to Imaging Data Analysis
Time: 11:30 AM – 12:15 PM
Content: Different types of imaging data, normalisation and QC, software tools, research questions
Q&A: 04:45 PM – 05:00 PM
📊 Click here to view the slides
Lunch: 12:30 PM – 01:30 PM
📊 Click here to view the slides for session 7, 8 and 9
Session 7: Introduction to the UK Biobank Research Analysis Platform
Time: 01:30 PM – 02:15 PM
Content:
Q&A: 02:15 PM – 02:30 PM
Break: 02:30 PM – 02:45 PM
Session 8: Navigating Genetic and Phenotypes on RAP
Time: 02:45 PM – 03:30 PM
Content:
Q&A: 03:30 PM – 03:45 PM
Break: 03:45 PM – 04:00 PM
Session 9: Running GWAS on RAP
Time: 04:00 PM – 04:45 PM
Content: Using pre-existing resources (PCs, family structure, sample exclusion files, sample QC, etc.)
Q&A: 04:45 PM – 05:00 PM