Department hosts the First International Conference on the Stepped Wedge Trial Design

Posted on 15 March 2016

National and international delegates were welcomed to the "First International Conference on the Stepped Wedge Trial Design" on Thursday 10 March, hosted by the York Trials Unit at the Department of Health Sciences. This design employs the incremental randomised implementation of an intervention. It has gained popularity in the health, social and environmental sciences as a tool to enable the evaluation of interventions or policies whilst being rolled out gradually over time.

The conference brought together practitioners, researchers and methodologists to share ideas, best practice and challenges for the design, implementation and analysis of the stepped wedge model.

Keynote speakers included eminent researchers at the forefront of the development of the design: Professor Richard Lilford (University of Warwick, UK), Professor Jim Hughes (University of Washington, USA), Dr Karla Hemming (University of Birmingham, UK), and Professor Andrew Forbes (Monash University, Australia).

Dr Mona Kanaan, senior lecturer and member of the organising committee (which also included Ada Keding, Dr Noreen Mdege, and Professor David Torgerson), said: “It was an honour and pleasure to host an event that brings together a community of researchers in this growing field. We were very excited to provide a platform for knowledge exchange in this important field and to contribute to shaping its future development.”

The conference was simultaneously broadcast to remotely attending delegates from the UK and abroad via dedicated online channels.

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Conference website