Introduction to Basic and Advanced Statistical Modelling

Free workshop at the Institute of Advanced Technology, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

Target audience: Master’s students, PhD students, Early-career researchers

The workshop is limited to 10-12 participants and will take place in-person.

Places will be allocated based on a selection process that considers the information provided on the registration website and the applicant’s CV.

Dates

The course is divided in two modules. Please ensure that, when applying, you are able to attend both modules. Application Deadline: 30th May 2026

•     24th – 28th August: Module A (5 days) - Basic Statistics and Data Analysis in R

•     30th – 3rd December: Module B (4 days): Advanced Hierarchical Models and Community Occupancy Models

Main objectives of the course:

•     Build foundational and intermediate statistical skills in R for wildlife research, focusing on camera-trapping

•     Train participants to implement hierarchical models, especially community occupancy models

•     Enable participants to independently analyse camera-trap and detection/non-detection datasets

•     Support participants in applying models to their own research data

Further description of the course:

Over the past decade, wildlife research and monitoring have expanded rapidly across Laos, Vietnam, and Cambodia, led by universities, research institutes, and conservation NGOs. These programs have generated large and valuable datasets. However, analytical capacity—especially in quantitative ecology and hierarchical modelling—remains limited among many early-career researchers in the region. Graduate students (Master’s and PhD) and early-career postdoctoral researchers often collect or access high-quality biodiversity data but lack formal training in statistical workflows in R and advanced ecological models. This gap limits the scientific value, publication potential of existing datasets.

This project aims to deliver an intensive, small-group training course for up to 12 participants, focusing on building practical skills in: Reproducible statistical analysis in R, ecological data handling and visualization, hierarchical modelling frameworks for biodiversity data, single-species and community occupancy models using camera trap data. The course will strengthen regional analytical capacity and foster a long-term research network among early-career conservation scientists.

Module A: This module begins with a refresher on R — the statistical programming language — and an introduction to reproducible reporting workflows using Markdown/Quarto, which allow data to be processed and presented automatically. We then revisit core statistical concepts including population and sample, null hypothesis significance testing, statistical power, and Bayes' theorem. Building on these foundations, the course covers how to construct, fit, and interpret Generalised Linear Models (GLMs): a flexible family of models for estimating the effect of multiple variables on a single outcome, and arguably the most powerful statistical toolkit available to natural scientists.

Module B: In this module, we will move into advanced ecological applications, the core coursework focuses on Hierarchical Modelling. By separating the underlying ecological process from the observation process, these frameworks allow researchers to account for imperfect detection—a fundamental challenge in biodiversity monitoring. Participants will progress from single-species occupancy models to complex community-level frameworks, learning to estimate species occurrence and richness from camera-trap datasets. The course concludes with extensive hands-on sessions; using the camtrapR dashboard and guided scripts, researchers will apply these workflows to their own data, transforming raw field observations into rigorous insights.

Registration Deadline: 30 May 2026, 12 participants

Due to the hands-on nature of the training, seats are strictly limited. A waiting list will be maintained in the event of cancellations.

Trainers: Dr. Alexandre Courtiol*, Dr. Rahel Sollmann*

Facilitator: Dr. An Nguyen*

* Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research

Leibniz-IZW-Academy
Phone: + 49 - 30 - 51 68 – 127

www.leibniz-izw.de ,
www.leibniz-izw-akademie.com

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