| The course runs from 13 - 17 July 2026. |
This short course is run by the School's Cancer Survival Group.
A highly experienced international faculty will present a stimulating and intensive one-week course on the principles, methods and applications of cancer survival estimated with population-based cancer registry data. You will enjoy lectures and discussions, daily review sessions, a session for participants to present their own work or ideas for debate, and hands-on computer exercises with completely anonymised data sets, in which all the dates have also been randomly changed from the original. You will be provided with digital or printed copies of all lectures, practical exercises and solutions. For computer-based exercises, you will be expected to use your own laptop.
Net survival will be the main approach to analysis, with a discussion of recent methodological developments. The methodological concepts of cancer survival will be illustrated by public health and policy applications throughout the week. Results from recent survival studies will be presented and their interpretation discussed.
Accreditation
The Royal College of Physicians has awarded 32 Continuing Professional Development (CPD) credits for the July 2026 running of the course.
Faculty
Lectures and discussions will be led by an expert faculty from the Cancer Survival Group at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM), joined by Professor Paul Dickman from the Karolinska Institutet, Sweden, and Professor Maja Pohar Perme from the University of Ljubljana, Slovenia.
Who should apply?
Epidemiologists, statisticians, physicians and oncologists, public health specialists and others with a direct interest in applied cancer survival analysis, and particularly those working in a cancer registry.
You should have a basic understanding of cancer survival analysis, since this course will include a discussion of advanced statistical methods and practical computing, as well as a discussion of the public health applications of cancer survival data.
We do not insist that you have a qualification in statistics, but some experience is essential for you to take full advantage of the statistical components of the course. All practical sessions will use Stata, so some experience with Stata would be advisable. Free online video tutorials are available on the Stata website to introduce the basic functionality.
The applied public health elements of the course will be accessible and relevant to all groups.
Additional information
Aims and objectives
The aims of the course are:
- to teach the main statistical methods for population-based cancer survival analysis.
- to discuss the main controversies in the estimation and interpretation of cancer survival.
- to provide opportunities for computer-based practical analysis of real cancer data.
- to discuss the relevance of the surveillance of trends and inequalities in cancer survival in the development of public health strategies for cancer control.
Intended learning outcomes
We expect students to:
- acquire basic knowledge of the importance of complete and accurate data and the statistical principles for estimating population-based cancer survival.
- be able to perform basic analyses of population-based data with simple statistical programs.
- understand how trends in cancer survival can be deployed both to stimulate and to evaluate public health strategies for cancer control.
Topics covered will include:
- Cancer survival research and cancer policy
- Population-based measures of the cancer burden
- Introduction to survival analysis
- Population-based cancer survival: concepts and estimation *
- Population-based cancer survival: data quality and quality control
- Age-standardisation of cancer survival
- Impact on cancer survival estimates of using different lifetables *
- Period analysis and "prediction" of cancer survival *
- Modelling net survival *
- Secondary measures of cancer survival, including statistical cure
- The mortality-to-incidence ratio
- Participants' case studies
- Data visualisation
- Excess hazard regression models
- International comparisons of cancer survival
- Tools for cancer survival analysis
- Open review sessions are held every day
* Followed by a computer practical
Course attendance certificate
Participants will receive a Certificate of Attendance. There is no examination.
Comments by course participants
"I greatly appreciated the warm welcome from faculty members, including the reminder of the diversity among course participants and that many did not speak English as a first language."
"It was an honour for us to participate in the short course and we are already applying the teachings in our daily practice. We would like to take this opportunity to thank the course team for their warm welcome, kindness and high quality and intellectually intense teachings."
"Based on my previous LSHTM experience, I joined with the expectation to get first-in-class teaching, including very well thought through practical sessions, and this is exactly what I got! I express my special gratitude to the course organisers and to external faculty: their presence throughout the course really does make a difference. Great course! I highly recommend it to others."
"Really enjoying the short and impromptu debates between the presenters."
"Thank you for the cancer survival course - it was a unique opportunity that gave me new knowledge and a broader view of survival analysis and how to best use it. It was very rewarding to be among so many people who could promote all this knowledge. I felt very welcome by everyone."
"Thank you for all the kindness and attention the course team gave me which was really amazing. It was an honour to meet such experienced faculty members who all gave their best to transfer the knowledge they have."
"Thank you all for a wonderful and insightful week, the organisation and programme were top-notch throughout the week."
"I really enjoyed the structure and variety of contents in the course. I like how the start and end of the week focused lectures on the context and uses of cancer survival analyses, and the middle lectures built gradually in complexity when focusing on the statistical methods. It’s been a really great experience, and I think the passion of the lecturers really showed in the presentations and when talking to staff."
- Full fee: £1,700
- Current MSc and Research Degree students: £850
- Participants based in LMICs: £578
A small number of discounted places will be made available to participants based in low- and middle-income countries (see the full list of eligible countries), and to participants currently studying for an MSc or research degree. Early application is advised.
When applying for a discounted fee, please include proof of your student status, or of your base in an LMIC country, and your CV.
The fee covers all course materials, lunch on the first and last days of the course, and refreshments at each break. The fee does not include travel or accommodation. The course is for a whole week; daily rates are not available.
Applying for this course
Applications for 2026 are now closed. Please register interest and you will be notified by email when the course is next open.
The application deadline will be 23:59 (UK time) on Saturday 13 June 2026. We strongly advise that you apply early as courses may close earlier than the stated deadline if they become full.
Please read LSHTM's Admissions policies prior to submitting your application.
Visas
You are responsible for obtaining any visa or other permissions to attend the course that may be required, and you are encouraged to start the application process as early as possible, because obtaining a visa for the UK can sometimes take a long time. The Short Courses team can provide supporting documentation if requested.
Accommodation
A list of hotels located in the vicinity of LSHTM, along with further resources for short-term accommodation, can be found on our accommodation pages.
Important information
Please note:
- You will be required to bring your own laptop. The Stata package will be available, free of charge, for the duration of the course.
- If you have been offered a place on the course, you will only be able to register on arrival if you bring a formal ID (Passport) and you have obtained the correct visa, if one is required.
- It is essential that you read the current visa requirements for short course students.
- LSHTM may cancel courses two weeks before the first day of the course if numbers prove insufficient. In those circumstances, course fees will be refunded.
- LSHTM cannot accept responsibility for accommodation, travel and other losses that may be incurred as a result of the course being cancelled.