Center for Medical Research Methodology
The Center for Research Methodology (CMRM) focuses on coordinated research and teaching within medical research methodology. The mission of CMRM is to enhance undergraduate and postgraduate skills and to stimulate interest in educational and career opportunities for health sciences candidates with respect to clinical and translational research as well as drug development and testing.
Research activity among medical students is increasing, and many medical students engage in full- or part-time research during their medical training, for example in the form of a research sabbatical, as part of their Bachelor or Master’s projects or as an ad hoc research project at a theoretical or clinical department. Particularly, the opportunity to perform or take part in an original research project during the whole-semester Master’s project has gained popularity. Further, a majority of newly graduates from the Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences consider engaging in a future PhD project. It is therefore imperative that medical students learn and become interested in medical research, and that medical research methodology becomes an integral part of the undergraduate and postgraduate medical training in order to facilitate sound and valuable research throughout the preclinical and clinical disciplines.
CMRM is devoted to reinforcing medical research methodology as an academic discipline, and to strengthen teaching and education in medical research methodology at the Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences. and across faculties. The CMRM is not intended as a duplication of medical scientific theory or decision theory, but as an independent area of clinical and basic research.
The specific goals of the CMRM are:
- To strengthen undergraduate and postgraduate research methodology training at the Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences
- To perform research in the area of medical research methodology
- To perform translational basic and clinical research in collaboration with other parts of academia and industry
CMRM is involved in teaching and development of several courses within medical research methodology.
Undergraduate courses
The Bachelor thesis course is an introductory course in medical research methodology with the main aim of providing medical students with a basic knowledge about medical research methodology and preparing them to write the Bachelor thesis. The course covers topics: study designs in medical research, formulation and testing of scientific hypotheses, health research ethics, scientific article writing and interpretation, and literature search.
Postgraduate courses
Clinical research methodology is an introductory lecture- and workshop-based course in medical research methodology aimed at first-year PhD students. It covers topics: study designs in medical research, formulation of a scientific hypothesis, practical management of research studies, estimation of adequate study size, data collection, database preparation and data handling, GCP-rules, and bias in medical research. The course is ‘hands-on’ oriented based on the students’ own research projects.
The Center for Medical Research Methodology also runs a Q and A service for students engaged or interested in medical research. Please write Simon Francis Thomsen if you wish to post a question about a practical or theoretical problem relating to medical research. This service is primarily for undergraduate and PhD students who, as part of the preparation or execution of a research project, have encountered a problem they wish to discuss.
Head of CMRM
Simon F. Thomsen
Professor
+45 26139838
simonfrancisthomsen@gmail.com