Course
Exposure Assessment in Nutrition Research
6th edition
The course will address methodological aspects of exposure assessment in nutrition and related fields of biomedical research.
Background
One of the main objectives of nutrition research is to provide scientific evidence for the role of diet in human health and disease. High quality dietary assessment methods and biomarkers are crucial to optimally design studies in this field. Nutrition research is often blamed for poor exposure assessment that might impair its usefulness. Therefore, studies that evaluate the validity of dietary assessment methods are important to allow proper inference from such studies. Consequently, researchers should master the concepts and principles underlying evaluation studies.
Target group
The course is meant for university graduates in biomedical sciences; nutrition, epidemiology etc. Knowledge on basic statistical concepts and methods (e.g. linear regression, paired t-test, correlation, ANOVA) and study designs is assumed. The course welcomes PhD candidates and postdocs as well as participants from industry and research centres.
Course aim
- The course will address methodological aspects of exposure assessment in nutrition and related fields of biomedical research. After participation the participant:
- is able to make a well-informed choice from different methods of exposure assessment;
- has insight in sources of measurement errors, consequences for exposure asssessment, impact on associations observed, and methods to account for these errors;
- is able to design and analyse evaluation studies, and t quantitatively present and interpret their results;
- is able to critically evaluate exposure assessment in nutrition and related fields of biomedical research.
Course design
The course consists of a series of lectures, supported by computer-assisted exercises. Also, discussions on exposure assessment in the participant’s own research will be part of the programme. The following topics will be addressed:
- State-of-the-art and recent developments in dietary assessment for different research questions and study designs, including issues relevant to collection of biomarkers in practice.
- Study designs for evaluation studies assessing validity and reproducibility, focusing on level of intake, nature of variation in diet, ability of ranking subjects, followed by the application of results in calibration of exposure and diattenuation of associations.
- Error models in exposure assessment, addressing systematic and random errors (group level bias, intake related bias, person-specific bias, day-to-day-variation, instrumental bias).
- Statistical methodology to estimate usual intake and uncertainty in dietary assessment.
Programme Exposure Assessment 2022
Organisation
Course coordinators
- Dr Jeanne de Vries, Division of Human Nutrition and Health, Wageningen University
- Cornelia van Bree, Graduate School VLAG
Faculty
- Dr Kevin Dodd, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, MD, US
- Dr Caroline van Rossum, National Institute of Public Health and the Environment
- Prof. Edith Feskens, Division of Human Nutrition and Health, Wageningen University
- Dr Elske Brouwer, Division of Human Nutrition and Health, Wageningen University
- Dr Michiel Balvers, Division of Human Nutrition and Health, Wageningen University
- Prof. Pieter van 't Veer, Division of Human Nutrition and Health, Wageningen University
- Desiree Lucassen MSc, Division of Human Nutrition and Health, Wageningen University
Date & duration
The course will be held from 7 - 10 March 2022.
Study load
The study load of this course is 1 ECTS credits.
Language
The course language will be English.
Contact information
For more information please contact:
The Graduate School VLAG
Email: cornelia.vanbree-evers@wur.nl
Location & accommodation
Lectures will be given at Wageningen Campus, Wageningen University.
Wageningen is located 5 kms from the train station of Ede-Wageningen. This railway station can be reached by train from the airport Schiphol in about one hour.
Hotels:
Wageningen International Congress Centre
Bed & Breakfast:
see Bed and Breakfast Wageningen - Unique B&Bs| Bedandbreakfast.eu
Registration & course fee
The number of participants to the course is limited to 30. We encourage all our participants to come to the beautiful Wageningen Campus for this in person and interactive training. However for those who are not able to travel to Wageningen due to COVID-19 restrictions, this course can be offered online (hybrid course). We only have a max. of 4 online places available and cannot guarantee an online spot for every participant, so in case we exceed the 4 online participants, the Graduate School VLAG will decide which participants can join online.
| WUR PhD candidates affiliated with VLAG/EPS/WASS/WIAS/WIMEK/PE&RC | € 250 |
| other PhD candidates/ WUR Postdocs | € 475 |
| University staff / Non-profit organisations | € 675 |
| Industry / For-profit | € 1400 |
The course fee includes materials, coffee/tea during breaks, lunches and one dinner but does not cover accommodation.
Cancellations policy
- No charge until 20 February 2022
- 25 % of the course fee paid or due till 28 February 2022
- No refund after 28 February 2022