The Postgraduate Certificate in Clinical Trials is a part-time programme delivered wholly online and runs for three 10-week blocks (comprising 8 teaching weeks and 2 weeks' reflection and absorption) beginning in late September.

1. Students accepted on the Postgraduate Certificate in Clinical Trials are expected to hold an honours primary degree (NFQ Level 8), minimum second class honours grade two, or equivalent, in a science or health related discipline, or relevant subject area.
2. The Postgraduate Certificate in Clinical Trials is also open to registered (not necessarily in current employment) health care professionals in Medicine, Nursing, Pharmacy, Clinical Therapies and Allied Health care disciplines who may not have a primary degree. Such applicants must provide evidence of current registration with the relevant professional regulatory body in their country (e.g. the Irish Medical Council, the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Ireland, the Pharmaceutical Society of Ireland etc. for Irish applicants).
3. All applicants will be required to write a 500 word personal statement on why they wish to pursue a career in clinical trials.
4. In exceptional circumstances, applicants with an honours primary degree (NFQ Level 8 or international equivalent) in an unrelated field, and who can demonstrate relevant experience in clinical research, may be considered for entry to the programme, subject to the approval of the programme team.
5. Applicants may be asked to participate in an interview.
6. In all cases, decisions will be based on qualifications and quality of application.

Exemptions
As part of UCC's commitment to Continuing Professional Development (CPD) students who have successfully completed a module from the Postgraduate Certificate in Clinical Trials as a CPD module and subsequently undertake the programme within 24 months will be exempt from that module.

This programme will be delivered wholly online. To access and interact with the course content, assignments and assessments etc., students will require:

1. Access to a laptop or desktop (either Mac OS or Windows) running a relatively recent operating system (Windows 7 or Mac OSX 10.8 or later). Tablets and smartphones are not officially supported by UCC.
2. Access to a reliable broadband connection with at least 2MB download speeds.
3. A modern standards compliant web browser. The most reliable options for use with UCC online learning are Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome. Download and installation instructions will be provided. Safari is not suitable.
4. Common plug-ins such as Java and Flash Runtimes. Download and installation instructions will be provided.
5. An Office suite of software (Microsoft Office 2003 or later or equivalent) and a PDF reader (preferably Adobe Acrobat Reader XI or later).

Students must satisfactorily complete modules to the value of 30 credits.

Core modules
EH6123 Fundamentals of Clinical Trials (10 credits)
EH6124 Introduction to Clinical Trial Design and Analysis (10 credits)
EH6125 Ethics, Data Management and Quality in Clinical Trials (10 credits)

Module Semester Information may be found here. Module Descriptions may be found here.

Examinations
Full details and regulations governing Examinations for each programme will be contained in the Marks and Standards 2020/2021 Book and for each module in the Book of Modules, 2020/2021.

Two Year Rule
The Postgraduate Certificate in Clinical Trials must be completed within a maximum of 24 months from the date of initial registration.

Progression to Postgraduate Diploma in Clinical Trials
Students who successfully complete the Postgraduate Certificate in Clinical Trials and who attain a minimum of Second Class Honours Grade Two (2.2) will be eligible to register for the Postgraduate Diploma in Clinical Trials.

Programme Learning Outcomes for Postgraduate Certificate in Clinical Trials (NFQ Level 9, Minor Award)
On successful completion of this programme, students should be able to:

• Examine the methodological considerations of formulating a clinical research question;
• Describe the phases of clinical trials and the requirements for their conduct;
• Outline the basic clinical trial designs;
• Interpret evidence from relatively simple clinical trials;
• Demonstrate understanding of how relatively simple clinical trials should be analysed;
• Demonstrate knowledge of effective data management practices;
• Outline the ethical principles governing clinical trial conduct;
• Demonstrate knowledge of quality systems and regulatory requirements for the conduct of clinical trials;
• Attain a Good Clinical Practice (GCP) certificate;
• Manage their own learning, including working effectively to deadlines.