2026 - Summer School in Advanced Statistics for the Life Sciences - Advanced schools

Hierarchical models in the life sciences

June 1 – 5, 2026

Presentation

The main theme of this summer school is "Hierarchical Models in the life sciences". The course aims to introduce hierarchical models from both a theoretical and practical point of view. Hierarchical models with and without constraints (e.g. spatial and/or time) as well as multivariate hierarchical models will be presented. Everything will be done using R with an introduction to Stan. Bring your dataset!

Official 3-credit course (at the MSc or PhD level) from the Faculty of Science of the Université de Sherbrooke or Non-credit continuing education

Teacher

Guillaume Blanchet, Ph.D
Professor, Université de Sherbrooke

Prerequisites

Intermediate knowledge level in statistics and scientific programming

Location and cost

The summer school will be held at the Gault Nature Reserve in Mont-Saint-Hilaire (Québec)
Price includes course registration, accommodation and meals
The registration fee is $600 (shared room)

Objectives

The general objective of the course is to develop the necessary statistical knowledge to be able to build statistical models adapted to answer a precise problem.

Specific objectives

Learn statistical theory to better build, apply and interpret various statistical models applied to the life sciences
Become familiar with primary research in statistical modeling for the life sciences
Gain experience working collaboratively on problems related to the development and application of statistical methods

Format

The course days will be divided in two. In the morning (8am-12pm), theoretical notions will be transmitted through lectures interspersed with discussions with students. The afternoon (1-4pm) will be used to practice the notions learned via the R and Stan programming languages.

Students are strongly encouraged to bring their data in order to apply the concepts learned during the course to their study systems. As such, from Tuesday to Thursday, the last hour of the day (4-5pm) will be reserved for students to present their research projects via short oral presentations.

Preliminary registration

Applications will be reviewed to ensure that the prerequisites are met. If the number of applications is too high, a selection of applications will be made.

Admission and official registration

Official registration (admission and payment of registration fees) will take place in during the week of May 4, 2026.

1. Required documents for your admission

No document

Copy of birth certificate

Copy of birth certificate

A copy of both sides of your citizenship card OR a copy of both sides of your permanent resident card
A copy of your birth certificate OR a copy of your passport

Copy of passport
Copy of visa (if required by Immigration Canada)

2. Admission form

* Sections to fill out :

Participants currently studying in Quebec or who have studied in Quebec : Complete sections 1 to 8
All other participants : Complete sections 1 to 5 and 7 and 8

3. Send the form and all required documents

By email : etud.superieures.biologie@USherbrooke.ca

Earning University Credits

This activity is part of the course offerings for research-oriented master’s and doctoral programs in biology at the Department de biologie at Université de Sherbrooke. As such, the credits earned for this course may be applied toward the master’s or doctoral program, provided that all program requirements are met.

Students enrolled at another university in Quebec or outside Quebec should check with their home institution to see if these credits can be transferred and, if so, what the transfer requirements are.

Transcript

To obtain an official transcript, you must submit a request by filling out the online form available on the UdeS secure web portal. Please note that you are responsible for arranging the transfer of credits.