Graduate Certificate in Clinical Research

This course provides individuals from medical and allied health professions (such as nurses, pharmacists, physiotherapists etc) and others with a science-based background and qualifications the opportunity to complete formal training in Clinical Research.

Course structure

The Graduate Certificate in Clinical Research requires completion of 50 points of coursework, which is achieved by completing all four core subjects.

Entry requirements

1. In order to be considered for entry, applicants must have completed:

• an undergraduate degree or equivalent qualification in medicine, an allied health profession, science or social science, and
• at least one year of documented, relevant professional work experience in a medical, scientific or allied health environment.

Meeting these requirements does not guarantee selection.

2. In ranking applications, the Selection Committee will consider:

• prior academic performance; and
• the research experience or evidence of appropriate preparation or potential to undertake research; and
• the capacity of a participating department to provide adequate supervision in a research project appropriate to the interests and preparation of the individual applicant.

3. The Selection Committee may seek further information to clarify any aspect of an application in accordance with the Academic Board rules on the use of selection instruments.

4. Applicants are required to satisfy the university's English language requirements for postgraduate courses. For those applicants seeking to meet these requirements by one of the standard tests approved by the Academic Board, performance band 6.5 is required.

Inherent requirements (core participation requirements)

For the purposes of considering a request for Reasonable Adjustments under the Disability Standards for Education (2005), and Students Experiencing Academic Disadvantage Policy, academic requirements for this subject are articulated in the Subject Description, Subject Objectives, Generic Skills and Assessment Requirements of this entry.The University is dedicated to providingsupport to those with special requirements. Further details on the disability support scheme can be found at the Disability Liaison Unit website. http://www.services.unimelb.edu.au/disability/

Intended learning outcomes

By completion, graduates of the Graduate Certificate in Clinical Research should be able to:

• demonstrate a comprehensive foundation in the methods, process, rationales and nomenclature of clinical research design;
• construct a research question that is measurable and evaluable;
• compare and contrast a range of qualitative and quantitative clinical research study designs to identify relevant design considerations;
• appropriately select, perform and interpret the results of a range of quantitative and qualitative statistical methods;
• demonstrate mastery of online literature databases to find and retrieve relevant published research studies;
• describe a systematic approach to the critical evaluation of the quality of published qualitative and quantitative research studies and justify quality assessment decisions
• describe the different types of study bias and explain how they potentially can influence the outcomes and validity of scientific research
• discuss the principles of ethical clinical research and of the responsibilities of researchers
• have developed sufficient preparatory knowledge for more detailed study in clinical research at the Graduate Diploma level