Successful Completion of R Training for Epidemiologists in Belgrade

As part of the Twinning Project “Strengthening the Capacity of Serbia’s Health Sector for Communicable Disease Surveillance,” a hands-on training on the R statistical software was conducted in Belgrade from 20 to 22 May 2025. Delivered by experts from THL Finland, the Module 5 training focused on equipping Serbian epidemiologists with practical data analysis and visualization skills using R and RStudio.

Over three days, participants engaged in structured exercises, presentations, and quizzes, with emphasis on real-world application using local datasets. Key topics included data manipulation, RMarkdown for reporting, and spatial mapping techniques. A voluntary workshop on the final day offered individualized support and advanced coding challenges.

The trainers recommended ongoing self-study, peer support channels, and integrating R into daily workflows to reinforce learning. All training materials and model solutions were shared with participants.

This training module finished the educational programme of the Twinning Project for public health epidemiologists and microbiologists, which started in May 2024. All five training modules were implemented successfully and received positive feedback from the trainees.