Oxford Clinical Neuroimaging Course

HOW DO I SIGN-UP?

The course is hosted in “Canvas” the University of Oxford virtual learning platform. Registration is through the University Shop. Registration will be open until end April 2026, providing access to all course materials until 31^st Oct 2026. Please register using the same e-mail address you’d like to use to access the course.

We aim to make this course maximally accessible by keeping the charges minimal. The course fee for 2025/2026 is £150 for clinical consultants and industry-funded participants. A discounted rate of £75 is available for clinical trainees and MSc/PhD students. The course fee includes CPD certificates available on successful completion of each end-of-module quiz.

Please note, the next course update is planned for late spring 2026; fees will likely increase then.

You will be emailed instructions on how to log into our online learning platform Canvas. Canvas supports Google Chrome (preferred), Mozilla Firefox and Safari.

Oxford registrants: If you registered using your university email address, simply follow the Canvas Course link that will be sent automatically to your email.

External registrants: Currently, email addresses outside of the university need to be manually added to the course. Please bear with us, there may be a small delay while we are notified through the Shop, especially during weekends. 

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, these tend to be either very broad clinical courses (without showing direct applications 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 some 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 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.

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.

This course assumes only basic clinical or neuroscience familiarity with MRI i.e. familiarity with some overall brain anatomy and disease terminology, as would be encountered naturally in most clinical, healthcare or neuroscience settings. 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 MRI physics. Instead, the course provides a practical overview of clinical applications of neuroimaging, illustrating when specific types of MRI techniques are clinically helpful and what kinds of applications these are useful for. The content of the course ranges from introductory content to more advanced optional content for those who wish to develop their understanding even further.

Some modules (e.g. advanced MRI sequences) are more technical while other modules are more interpretational; you may take any or all modules, as you desire. However, please note that the course does not explain how to practically acquire MRI data; the course focuses instead on applications of imaging.

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

• Section A: Brain Function, Cortical and Subcortical Brain Anatomy
• Section B: Interpreting Clinical MRI
• Section C: Advanced MRI in the Clinic
• Section D: Image Guided Intervention
• Section E: Brain Imaging in Psychiatry and Neurodegeneration

Please note that while we touch on complementary imaging modalities such as PET, CT and ultrasound, we do not currently cover MEG or EEG. 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 oxford-clinmricourse@ndcn.ox.ac.uk.

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 50 hours of contents, including lectures and various types of interactive content. You may choose to complete the whole course, or only specific modules depending on your interests. 

A guide that may be useful for planning is:

1. If you are planning to set aside regular time (e.g. to watch 1 lecture per week):

• To complete 1 module: each module might take 6-8 weeks to complete. 
• To complete the whole course: there are 5 modules in total. So, at a pace of 1 lecture per week it may take approx. 10 months.

2. If you are planning on taking the course like a ‘workshop’:

Many people are interested in a particular subset of the modules. Each module is designed to be similar to a weekend learning workshop. 2 to 3 days should be sufficient to complete one module, watching two lectures in the morning and two in the afternoon, with additional time to explore tutorials/optional materials.  

If you have any additional questions about the course, please don’t hesitate to get in touch by emailing oxford-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. Without this, you may feel the level is sometimes quite advanced.  

Do you have any financial aids or fee waivers available? 

Not at present, sorry. The small registration fee (£150/£75) 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 real-time version. 

Can I get a pdf handout of the lecture slides? 

No, sorry, slide handouts are not available. This is partly for practical reasons, since the lectures are movie recordings, and partly to minimise the chances of the course materials accidentally leaving Canvas.

Does the course fee include the CPD certificate?

Yes, the course fee covers everything, including the CPD certificate. There are no additional hidden costs. 

Is anyone eligible to apply for the course?

Yes, there are no entry requirements to take the course.  

How flexible is the course to a busy schedule?

The course is designed with the busy clinician in mind, to work around busy clinical, research or educational schedules. However, please to note our suggested timings to complete the many materials available in the course.

Does this course provide credit accumulation and transfer (CATS) recognition points? 

Sorry, no. The online neuroimaging course offers CPD credits but is not (currently) a formal award-bearing degree.

Do you offer extensions?

Sorry, no. To be fair to all and enable periodic updates to course materials, we regret that access is limited to the course year of sign-up. If you have not had time to complete the entire course, CPD credits are available for individual modules.

You can of course re-register on the University shop to join the following year’s course (at the advertised cost). Please email oxford-clinmricourse@ndcn.ox.ac.uk to receive updates on new release dates.

Where can I find the terms & conditions?

Please see here.