Introduction to Protocol Writing

This 1 day online course will be held live with a mix of lectures and interactive practical sessions based on real life examples and challenges.

We will also hold a 'protocol surgery' where attendees can bring a specific question about a protocol they are writing. Please note that we will ask questions to be submitted to us ahead of the course, and we are not able to offer review or feedback on entire protocols.

By the end of the course participants will have acquired: 

1. an understanding of why protocols are important and the information that should be included;
2. knowledge of the requirements for a range of health research protocols, an understanding of who should be involved and when, and the expectations of external stakeholders; 
3. knowledge of relevant external guidance, checklists and templates; and
4. an appreciation of the challenges of writing protocols in real life scenarios. 

This is an introductory course aimed at those who are new to writing protocols for health research projects, including health and social care professionals, post-graduate researchers and clinical trials staff.

This course does not cover design and conduct of studies, or research governance. Other short courses are available to cover these topics.

This course will cover: 

1. what is a protocol, why is it important and what information should be included? 
2. who should be involved and when, and what are the expectations of external stakeholders? 
3. what are the key considerations and potential challenges of writing a protocol? 
4. what guidance should be followed, and where can you get help and advice? 

This course is led by Dr Lucy Culliford and Dr Jo Worthington from the Bristol Trials Centre. 

Before booking this course, please make sure you read the information provided above about the target audience. It is important that you have access to the relevant IT resources needed for the course to ensure you can get the most from the course.

Bookings are taken via our online booking system, for which you must register an account. To check if you are eligible for free or discounted courses please see our fees and voucher packs page. All bookings are subject to our terms & conditions, which can be read in full here.

For help and support with booking a course refer to our booking information page, FAQs or feel free to contact us directly. For available payment options please see: How to pay your short course fees.

Participants are granted access to our virtual learning platform (Blackboard Ultra) 1 to 2 weeks in advance of the course. This allows time for any pre-course work to be completed and to familiarise with the platform.

To gain the most from the course, we recommend that you attend in full and participate in all interactive components. We endeavour to record all live lecture sessions and upload these to the online learning environment within 24 hours. This allows course participants to review these sessions at leisure and revisit them multiple times. Please note that we do not record breakout sessions.

All course participants retain access to the online learning materials and recordings for 5 months after the course. 

University of Bristol staff and postgraduate students who do not wish to attend the full course may instead register for access to the 'Materials & Recordings' version of this course: Further information and bookings.

100% of attendees recommend this course*.
*Attendee feedback from 2025.

Here is a sample of feedback from the last run of the course:

“Good introductory course, pitched at a good level for me (I have never written a protocol but am due to in the next few months). Informative, well paced, nice amount of interactive work considering the topic." - Course feedback, July 2025

“Good mixture of session types, helpful and knowledgeable tutors." - Course feedback, July 2025

“Good overview of where to find support to write protocols, what common barriers are, general themes to think about when writing a protocol or devising a study." - Course feedback, July 2025

“I enjoyed the structure of the course and how the sections of protocol writing were broken down into small sections with a review section at the end." - Course feedback, July 2025

“I feel more confident if  required to write a protocol. I know where to find the guidance I need." - Course feedback, July 2025

“Lucy and Jo managed to fit a lot of relevant content into the course. The two different forms of interactive sessions kept things interesting and engaging." - Course feedback, July 2025

“Really informative and knowledgeable tutors who were really helpful in answering questions." - Course feedback, July 2025

“The protocol practical was really good to open up discussion and see real life examples of good and poor protocols." - Course feedback, July 2025