Date & Place
30 July - 1 August, 2025
Ghent, Belgium
About the summer school
The Burden of Risk Factors summer school aims to equip professionals, researchers, and students in public health and related fields with a comprehensive understanding of assessing disease burden associated with various behavourial, metabolic and environmental risk factors, such as tobacco use, excess weight, and air pollution.
Learning objectives
- Understand Comparative Risk Assessment (CRA): Gain a thorough understanding of CRA frameworks used to evaluate the impact of risk factors on public health, including the necessary data inputs and methodological approaches.
- Apply CRA to Real-World Scenarios: Learn to implement CRA methodologies across various exposures, enabling the quantification of health policy impacts and the assessment of potential health effects in terms of burden of disease.
- Translate Knowledge Effectively: Develop skills in knowledge translation to effectively communicate findings from burden of disease studies to stakeholders, facilitating informed decision-making and policy development.
Structure
The summer school is structured into three modules, each combining theoretical lectures with practical sessions, including exercises and follow-up discussions.
- Module 1 – Introduction to Comparative Risk Assessment
- Content: Introduce the basics of burden of disease and provide a detailed overview of the CRA framework for assessing disease burden linked to risk factors, including an in-depth assessment of the required data inputs.
- Activities: Theoretical lectures followed by practical exercises to apply CRA frameworks.
- Module 2 – Applications of Comparative Risk Assessment
- Content: Explore advanced topics within CRA through a series of real-world applications, covering a wide range of exposures, and provide insights into how CRA can be used to quantify the impact of health policies.
- Activities: Theoretical discussions complemented by exercises on applying CRA to various scenarios.
- Module 3 – Knowledge Translation
- Content: Address the general concepts of knowledge translation and how to apply them to various aspects of conducting a burden of disease study.
- Activities: Interactive sessions focusing on communicating findings effectively to stakeholders.
Each module builds upon the previous one, ensuring a cohesive and comprehensive learning experience. Participants will have the opportunity to engage with experienced burden of disease researchers, fostering an environment conducive to learning and professional development.
Program
| Time (CET) | Module 1 Wednesday 30/7 | Module 2 Thursday 31/7 | Module 3 Friday 1/8 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 9h00 | Welcome & introductions | ||
| 9h30 | Welcome & wrapup of previous session | Welcome & wrapup of previous session | |
| 10h00 | Recap of Burden of Disease basics Introduction to Comparative Risk Assessment |
Applications of Comparative Risk Assessment | Introduction to Knowledge Translation |
| 12h00 | Q&A | Q&A | Q&A |
| 12h30 | Lunch break | Lunch break | Lunch break |
| 13h30 | Practical steps for estimating the attributable burden: examples and exercises | Practical implementation of the Comparative Risk Assessment framework: examples and exercises | Practical steps for doing KT regarding BoD: examples and exercises |
| 16h00 | Q&A | Q&A | Q&A |
| 16h30 | Closure of module 1 | Closure of module 2 | Closure of module 3 |
Trainers
Brecht Devleesschauwer, Sciensano, Belgium
Dr. Brecht Devleesschauwer is a senior epidemiologist at Sciensano (the Belgian institute for health) and visiting professor in Risk Analysis at Ghent University. He conducts policy-driven public health research in the domain of composite measures of population health and health inequalities. As a member of the World Health Organization Foodborne Disease Burden Epidemiology Reference Group (WHO/FERG), he contributed to the estimation of the global burden of foodborne disease. Currently, he is coordinating the Belgian National Burden of Disease Study, and chairing the European Burden of Disease Network (COST Action CA18218). Brecht holds PhD degrees in Public Health and Veterinary Sciences, and MSc degrees in Biostatistics and Veterinary Medicine.
Vanessa Gorasso, Sciensano, Belgium
Dr. Vanessa Gorasso is senior scientist at Sciensano, the Belgian institute for health, and vice-president of the EUPHA Section on public health economics.
Dietrich Plass, German Environment Agency, Germany
Dr. Dietrich Plass holds a PhD and MSc in Public Health and a BSc in Health Communication. He is currently working as a senior researcher and is deputy head of the department “Exposure Assessment and Environmental Health Indicators” at the German Environment Agency. There he is responsible for national assessments of population health effects due to different environmental exposures with major focus on ambient air pollution. He is an expert in the field of burden of disease and environmental burden of disease assessments as well as in the field of environmental epidemiology. Prior to joining the German Environment Agency he worked as a senior researcher and lecturer at Bielefeld University in the working group "Public Health Medicine" with focus on infectious disease epidemiology, population health and burden of disease. Dr. Plass is collaborator in the Global Burden of Disease Study, member of the WHO European Region "European Burden of Disease Network" and chair of the working group "risk factors" in the COST Action "European Burden of Disease Network".
Elena von der Lippe, Robert Koch Institute, Germany
Dr. Elena von der Lippe is a scientific researcher at the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) in Berlin, Germany. She studied statistics and obtained her PhD in Demography. She has been working in RKI since 2008 in the Department of Epidemiology and Health Monitoring. She has worked on the conception, organization, quality assessment and analysis of different epidemiological studies conducted at RKI. Since 2015 she is involved in Burden of Disease assessments and is the methodological leader of the Germany BURDEN2020 Project.
How to participate
Eligibility and prerequisites
The summer school is open to everyone with a basic understanding of epidemiology and burden of disease.
Teaching will be in English. Exercises will require a basic proficiency in MS Excel.
Registration
The number of participants will be limited to a maximum of 30. Applicants will be enrolled on a first-come, first-served basis.
Please refer to the overview page for general information on cancellation rules, venue, and travel and accomodation.
Registrations are open until 30 June 2025.
More information
For more information on the Summer School, please contact us via .
