Advanced Planetary Health and Exposure Science

Course goals

After completing the course the student will be able to
-    apply basic concepts of human exposure assessment, including the causal chain from source to internal exposure; 
-    apply and evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of exposure assessment methods 
-    can describe and compare various study designs (cohort, case control, cross-sectional, time series studies), evaluate their appropriate applications and methodological challenges associated with each;
-    can apply state-of the art data analytic techniques for the assessment of exposure-health associations and control of confounding; 
-    can apply data manipulations, data description and simple analyses with the software program R
-    can critically evaluate study design, analytic methods, data presentation, and conclusions of scientific papers;
-    understand the principles of systematic reviews and is able to apply meta-analyses
-    can evaluate (limitations of) evidence synthesis methods

Content

Period (from - till): 19 October - 06 November 2026 (BMS_P1_A)

Course description:
The Advanced Exposure Science and Environmental Epidemiology course will train students in more advanced methods of exposure science and environmental epidemiology. We will address exposures in the general environment (i.e. air pollution, green space, noise, EMF,  pesticides, climate change) and work environment. Topics that will be addressed include the implementation of the exposome concept; improvement of individual exposure assessment using wearables; exposure modelling and epidemiological data analysis using the computer program R; analysis of correlated exposure data; practical measurement of exposure and lung function. We will discuss methods to translate epidemiological study results into assessment of health impacts and (global) burden of disease, using systematic reviews, meta analysis and recent (controversial) confidence assessment methods (risk of bias, GRADE).

Course coordinator:
Dr. G.S. (George) Downward, UU Utrecht, Institute for Risk Assessment Sciences, Utrecht, the Netherlands

Contact details: education.iras@uu.nl or g.s.downward@uu.nl

Registration:
Registration only open to Health and Environment students who will automatically be enrolled and MSc Epidemiology students who can register by contacting the course coordinator.

Mandatory for students in Master’s programme:
Yes

Optional for students in other GSLS Master’s programme:
Only for MSc Epidemiology students

Prerequisite knowledge:
introduction to Epidemiology
Study Design in Etiologic Research
Classical Methods