Oxford Clinical Neuroimaging Course

The Oxford Clinical Neuroimaging Course is a fully online and self-paced course, which is flexible to your schedule. For the 2022-2023 version, you will have unlimited access to all materials until 30th October 2023. The course content includes, among others:

HOW DO I SIGN-UP?

The course is hosted in “Canvas” the University of Oxford virtual learning platform. You can sign up and register for the course via the University of Oxford Shop here.

Please note: All accounts are added manually. So, if you sign up over a weekend or holiday, there may be a short delay and your account access may not be granted until the next working day. Thank you for your patience. 

Where did the idea for the course come from?

The course came about as a result of requests from clinical neurosurgery and neuroradiology trainees at our local hospital in Oxford. While there are plenty of neuroimaging courses out there, these tend to be either very broad clinical courses (without the direct applications of advanced techniques like fMRI or DTI in practice) or very in-depth research-oriented courses that focus on the physics or analysis of imaging data. Our trainees desired something in-between that would offer a little bit of technical insight but would focus strongly on how advanced methods are used in clinical practice, and why.

The Oxford Clinical Neuroimaging Course was therefore created by a team of neuroimaging scientists at the FMRIB-WIN and Consultant Clinicians who use advanced neuroimaging technologies in their daily clinical practice. The purpose of the course is to bridge the clinical-research gap, providing a comprehensive overview of neuro MRI in the clinic, whilst also expanding into more specialist topics such as advanced sequences and analysis methods supported with direct illustrations of how MRI and MRI-adjunct technologies are used for clinical intervention.

Who’s the course aimed at?

The course covers practical aspects of MRI with a view toward its use in clinical settings. Consequently, it is aimed mostly at clinical trainees and other health professionals with an interest in MRI (such as MRI radiographers and related Allied Health Professionals). However, the course materials also cover various applications of imaging in clinical research and would therefore equally appeal to neuroscientists who are interested in translational applications of MRI.

Does the course assume any knowledge?

This course assumes only basic familiarity with MRI, as would be encountered naturally in most clinical, healthcare or neuroscience settings. In order to keep the focus very translational, we have not delved deeply into fundamentals of neuroscience and anatomy that you would easily find in textbooks, or dwelled too much on the physics of MRI. Instead, the course aims to have a practical approach to the clinical applications of neuroimaging, illustrating when specific types of MRI techniques are clinically helpful and what kinds of applications these are useful for (or not!). The content of the course ranges from introductory content to more advanced optional content for those who wish to develop their understanding even further.

What does the course cover?

The course comprehensively covers MRI of the adult brain, divided into 5 inter-linked modules, which describe

The full course programme is available for download here.

Please note at this time we have not included other imaging modalities such as PET, CT, MEG or EEG. As this course is brand new, we would love to hear your feedback on any topics you might like to see included in future. Please don’t hesitate to contact us with any suggestions you might have by emailing win-clinmricourse@ndcn.ox.ac.uk.

How long will the course take to complete?

The course is self-paced and completion time will vary depending on your prior knowledge and the level of understanding you wish to achieve by the end of the course. The course content includes approximately 45 hours of contents, including 32 lectures and various types of interactive content. You may choose to complete the whole course, or only specific modules depending on your interests. We recognise the difficulties of fitting learning around a busy clinical schedule, so you will have access to all the materials until 30th October 2023. 

How much does the course cost?

We have aimed to make this course maximally accessible by keeping the charges minimal. The course costs £55 per registrant, which includes a CPD certificate upon successful completion of the course materials. The £55 is used to cover the annual cost for this certification service.

What will happen once I’ve signed up?

You will be emailed instructions on how to log into our online learning platform Canvas, where the course is hosted. Please note that Canvas supports Google Chrome (preferred), Mozilla Firefox or Safari. Canvas, at present, does not support Internet Explorer.

You will be given full access to all the course materials until 30th October 2023, within which you can complete the required criteria to gain your CPD certificate. Once you have completed all the required materials, please email win-clinmricourse@ndcn.ox.ac.uk so that we can organise and issue your CPD certificate!

If you have any questions about the course, please don’t hesitate to get in touch by emailing win-clinmricourse@ndcn.ox.ac.uk

FAQs

I'm an undergraduate, would this course be suitable for me? 

The course does not make specific assumptions about knowledge as it is targeted to a broad range of specialties. However, it does roughly assume the equivalent knowledge of a completed undergraduate degree and/or hands on familiarity with MRI. If you are interested in the course then you are of course very welcome to sign up, but you may feel the level of assumed knowledge is sometimes quite advanced.  

Do you have any financial aids or fee waivers for individuals from low-income countries/backgrounds? 

At present, we're sorry to say that we do not have financial aids or fee waived registration options. The small registration fee (£55 for the full course) was introduced to cover the cost of providing the CPD accreditation and to keep the course as widely accessible as possible. This fee is lower than most reduced rates for most courses. 

Can I watch the lectures in real-time? 

All lectures and tutorials have been pre-recorded and uploaded onto our online learning platform Canvas, so that they can be viewed in your own time. Unfortunately, there is no live or any real-time version. 

Can I get a pdf handout of the lecture slides? 

Sorry for any inconvenience here but the slides have not been uploaded as a pdf onto Canvas. This is partly for practical reasons to do with the way the lectures are created (they are created as movies to allow the sliding intros and interactive popups, rather than powerpoints) and partly to minimise the chances of the course materials accidentally leaving Canvas.

Does the £55 course fee include the CPD certificate?

The course fee of £55 covers everything, including the CPD certificate. There are no additional hidden costs. The course is divided into various modules - once you have completed either the whole course, or the modules of interest to you, please email us and we will issue your certificate for the applicable number of credits.

Is anyone eligible to apply for the course?

Yes, anyone can sign up for the course. We have had a range of registrants from many locations and disciplines. There are no entry requirements or restrictions on who can take the course.  

How flexible is the course to a busy schedule?

The course is designed specifically with the busy clinician in mind, so can be completed flexibly in your own time to work around busy clinical, research or educational schedules. Signing up for the course gives you unlimited access until 30th October 2023, so this should give you plenty of time to work through materials in your spare time.