Graduate School of health and Medical Sciences

Login for PhD students at UCPH Login for others

Combining randomized clinical trials (RCTs) with qualitative research
Provider: Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences

Activity no.: 3720-26-00-00	There are 4 available seats
	Enrollment deadline: 05/10/2026

Place	Panum Blegdamsvej 3B, 2200 København N
Date and time	03.11.2026, at: 08:30 - 16:00
Regular seats	16
Course fee	2,040.00 kr.
Lecturers	Jessica Carlsson Lohmann
ECTS credits	0.80

Contact person	Henriette Laugesen Attardo E-mail address: henriette.laugesen.attardo@regionh.dk

Enrolment Handling/Course Organiser	PhD administration SUND E-mail address: phdkursus@sund.ku.dk

Enrolment guidelines This is a generic course. This means that the course is reserved for PhD students at the Graduate School of Health and Medical Sciences at UCPH. Anyone can apply for the course, but if you are not a PhD student at the Graduate School, you will be placed on the waiting list until enrollment deadline. After the enrolment deadline, available seats will be allocated to the waiting list. The course is free of charge for PhD students at Danish universities (except Copenhagen Business School), and for PhD students at NorDoc member faculties. All other participants must pay the course fee. Course Aim Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) are widely regarded as the gold standard for evaluating the effectiveness of health interventions, offering strong internal validity and the ability to establish causal relationships. Yet when interventions are implemented in real-world clinical and social contexts, new layers of complexity emerge. Questions arise about how participants experience an intervention, how contextual factors shape its delivery, and why effects vary across settings or subgroups - dimensions that a traditional RCT design alone cannot fully capture. Qualitative methods play a crucial role in addressing these gaps by illuminating the human, relational, and contextual processes that influence trial outcomes. This course aims to introduce key rationales, methodological approaches, and practical strategies for combining qualitative inquiry with RCTs. Learning objectives 1. Learning objectives A student who has met the objectives of the course will be able to: 1. Describe the added value of combining RCTs with qualitative research and the underlying epistemological assumptions 2. Understand how qualitative research can be integrated into the different phases of an RCT and how it differs from traditional mixed methods research 3. Explain the relevance and usefulness of different qualitative research methods that can be used in combination with an RCT. 4. Demonstrate the formulation of relevant research questions that can be explored with qualitative methods in an RCT, including in relation to the student’s RCT study. 5. Compare and discuss different approaches to publishing papers that combine qualitative and RCT results Content The course will follow the steps for conducting a study that combines an RCT with qualitative research, including planning the qualitative components, selecting methods, and reporting the combined findings of the RCT and the qualitative data. Participants will be provided with practical examples of how qualitative research can be integrated across the different stages of an RCT, including planning, feasibility testing, and evaluation. Participants will work on their own projects and obtain feedback on these. At registration, participants must provide their enrolment date and the expected date of thesis submission, as well as a one-page description of their research field or RCT context (if the RCT is already planned). This will enable the lecturers to prepare feedback sessions. Before the course, participants are encouraged to read the course materials. Each participant must also prepare a 5-minute presentation on a current or future project in which combining an RCT with qualitative research is considered. This presentation will be a central part of the course workshops. Course program: Session 1: The value and practice of combining RCT and qualitative research as a way to grasp real-world complexity Session 2: Formulating research questions and applying methods Session 3: Workshops with 5-minute presentations of projects and 10-minute feedback Session 3: Workshops continued Session 4: Publishing and dissemination Participants PhD students and other post-graduate planning/having started an RCT and are considering including qualitative research in their study. 12-16 participants. Relevance to graduate programmes The course is relevant to PhD students from the following graduate programmes at the Graduate School of Health and Medical Sciences, UCPH: All clinical graduate programmes All graduate programmes Language The course will be held in English. Form A combination of lectures, discussion, project presentation, and group sessions. Course director Jessica Carlsson Lohman Clinical Professor, MD Mental Health Centre Ballerup Copenhagen University Hospital – Herlev and Gentofte, Denmark Department of Clinical Medicine, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark Jessica.carlsson.lohmann@regionh.dk Teachers Katrine Schepelern Johansen Senior Researcher, PhD Department of Clinical Research Copenhagen University Hospital – Amager and Hvidovre, Denmark Kathrine Hoffmann Pii Associate Professor Department of Nursing and Nutrition University College Copenhagen, Denmark Henriette Laugesen Attardo PhD, MPH Mental Health Centre Ballerup Copenhagen University Hospital – Herlev and Gentofte, Denmark Dates 3 November 2026 Course location 7.15.152 in the Mærsk Building - Panum Registration Please register before 5 October 2026 Expected frequency Yearly. Seats for PhD students from other Danish universities will be allocated on a first-come, first-served basis and according to the applicable rules. Applications from other participants will be considered after the last day of enrolment. Note: All applicants are asked to submit invoice details in case of no-show, late cancellation or obligation to pay the course fee (typically non-PhD students). If you are a PhD student, your participation in the course must be in agreement with your principal supervisor.

Click the search button to search Courses.

See which courses you can attend and when

Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr
May	Jun	Jul	Aug
Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec