Introduction to Systematic Reviews and Meta-analysis

This 5-day course will be online and consist of a mixture of live and pre-recorded lectures, with exercises for participants to complete themselves and tutor-facilitated small group sessions. It is full time over the five days.

By the end of the course participants should be able to:

1. explain the need for systematic reviews and meta-analyses;
2. list the important aspects of a systematic review;
3. perform a comprehensive search for relevant literature;
4. appreciate the role of tools to assess risk of bias, including their application to randomised controlled trials;
5. explain the basic methods of meta-analysis;
6. use R software to perform a basic meta-analysis;
7. describe issues in conducting systematic reviews of observational studies;
8. summarise the findings of a systematic review or meta-analysis; and
9. evaluate the quality of a systematic review.

This course is designed for clinicians, researchers, public health specialists and other health care professionals who want to perform and/or evaluate systematic reviews and meta-analyses. The course predominantly focuses on systematic reviews of healthcare interventions and particularly on randomized controlled trials, although much of the material translates to systematic reviews in other areas. Two sessions examine issues in systematic reviews and meta-analyses of observational studies.

This course will cover:

1. why we need systematic reviews and meta-analyses;
2. the systematic review process;
3. identifying relevant studies;
4. selecting studies and data extraction;
5. assessing risk of bias in primary studies;
6. statistical methods for meta-analysis of dichotomous and numerical (continuous) outcomes;
7. explaining heterogeneity: subgroup analysis and meta-regression;
8. meta-analysis and meta-regression in R;
9. synthesis without meta-analysis;
10. brief introduction to network meta-analysis;
11. understanding, investigating and dealing with bias in systematic reviews;
12. systematic reviews and meta-analysis of non-randomized studies;
13. assessing certainty of the evidence in a systematic review;
14. reporting a systematic review; and
15. critical appraisal of a systematic review.

The course is co-organised by Dr Jelena Savovic, Dr Clare French and Dr Annabel Davies.

Course teaching staff are drawn largely from the Bristol Evidence synthesis, Appraisal and Modelling (BEAM) Centre at the University of Bristol. The group, led by Professor Julian Higgins and Professor Nicky Welton, has extensive experience and expertise in all aspects of systematic reviews and comprises systematic reviewers, research synthesis methodologists, information retrieval specialists and statisticians.

To make sure the course is suitable for you and you will benefit from attending, please ensure you meet the following prerequisites before booking:

Before booking this course, please make sure you read the information provided above about the target audience and prerequisites. It is important that you have access to the relevant IT resources needed for the course and meet the knowledge prerequisites 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.

96% of attendees recommend this course*.
*Attendee feedback from 2026.

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

“Clear and enthusiastic speakers. Explanation pitched at a good level. Good size for breakout rooms. Liked the way the computer practicals were run.” – course feedback, March 2026

“Excellent course, very challenging content very clearly explained.” – course feedback, March 2026

“Great quality of lectures, particularly enjoyed the hands on practicals using R and lots of real-world examples. They really helped to explain the importance of rigor and narrowing down the research question. The order of the week was good and helped guide you through the process.” – course feedback, March 2026

“I feel much more confident to interpret systematic reviews and understand when they are appropriate.” – course feedback, March 2026

“I feel the course was comprehensive, and I went from a basic understanding of systematic review previously to a much deeper understanding.” – course feedback, March 2026

“I really liked the computer activites [sic], clear what to do but not entirely spoon-fed the answers. I also liked the smaller breakout rooms which made it more comfortable to ask questions.” – course feedback, March 2026

“It was a really good course to teach about why SR and MA are important and it has made me much more confident in interpreting these and hopefully even doing one myself in the future. Discussing key topics like risk of bias and heterogeneity in detail and in multiple contexts throughout the course was really useful to consolidate knowledge.” – course feedback, March 2026

“Really good understanding of the methodology behind a systematic review - will make planning so much easier and make sure my protocol has all the important aspects in.” – course feedback, March 2026

“The publication bias was well explained and an eye opener. Understanding the different methods for meta analysis was very helpful.” – course feedback, March 2026

“This was a really thorough course, and I feel a lot more confident in my abilities to conduct a systematic review. Instructors were lovely and always willing to answer questions.” – course feedback, March 2026

“Very efficient sessions, great feedback from the live facilitated sessions and great explanations. All the speakers were very clear and took time to answer the questions. All the presentations were very clear.” – course feedback, March 2026