{"id":494,"date":"2026-05-07T13:23:30","date_gmt":"2026-05-07T11:23:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/site.uit.no\/nordicepi-norpen-2026\/?page_id=494"},"modified":"2026-05-21T11:59:19","modified_gmt":"2026-05-21T09:59:19","slug":"target-trial-emulation","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/site.uit.no\/nordicepi-norpen-2026\/target-trial-emulation\/","title":{"rendered":"Target trial emulation for causal inference in observational studies"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Date:<\/strong>&nbsp;2 June 2026&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Time:<\/strong>&nbsp;13:00\u201317:00&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Location:<\/strong>\u00a0MH2 U.09.308 &amp; MH2 U.09.309,\u00a0\u00a0Floor 9, MH2 building, UiT-The Arctic University of Norway <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Getting to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/maps\/dir\/Clarion+Hotel%C2%AE+The+Edge,+Kaigata+6,+9008+Troms%C3%B8\/MH2,+Universitetsvegen+61,+9019+Troms%C3%B8\/@69.662879,18.9454211,3677m\/data=!3m1!1e3!4m13!4m12!1m5!1m1!1s0x45c4c5ace5e7d625:0x7e667ea214b40cc!2m2!1d18.9571277!2d69.6471779!1m5!1m1!1s0x45c4c46fce2ba21d:0x88bfefe1cafb8ae1!2m2!1d18.9771361!2d69.6834092?entry=ttu&amp;g_ep=EgoyMDI2MDUxMy4wIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D\">university<\/a> from the conference hotel.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>MazeMap QR code for the workshop room<\/strong>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"235\" height=\"235\" src=\"https:\/\/site.uit.no\/nordicepi-norpen-2026\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/537\/2026\/05\/u9.309.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-497\" srcset=\"https:\/\/site.uit.no\/nordicepi-norpen-2026\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/537\/2026\/05\/u9.309.png 235w, https:\/\/site.uit.no\/nordicepi-norpen-2026\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/537\/2026\/05\/u9.309-150x150.png 150w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 235px) 100vw, 235px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Session Responsibles:<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Leader(s):&nbsp;<em>Yu-Han Chiu<\/em>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Co-leader(s):&nbsp;<em>Shuyuan Yang<\/em>&nbsp;Coordinator(s):&nbsp;<em>Therese Haugdahl N\u00f8st<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Short Description:<\/strong>&nbsp;This pre-conference course introduces the target trial emulation framework, a structured approach for drawing causal inferences from observational data by explicitly designing the study as if it were a randomized trial. Participants will learn how to specify the protocol of a hypothetical target trial and then emulate that protocol using real-world data.&nbsp;Through applied examples and interactive discussion, the course will highlight common sources of bias in observational research (e.g., immortal time bias, selection bias, and time-varying confounding) and demonstrate how careful alignment between design and analysis can mitigate these threats. We will also discuss practical implementation strategies using longitudinal data.&nbsp;The course is designed for clinical researchers, epidemiologists, biostatisticians, and data scientists seeking to strengthen the rigor and transparency of causal inference in real-world evidence research.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Learning Outcomes:<\/strong>&nbsp;By the end of the session, participants will be able to:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Formulate a clearly defined causal question in target trial terms;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Translate that question into an explicit trial protocol; and<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Identify key design and analytic decisions necessary to validly estimate causal effects from observational data.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Program<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group is-vertical is-layout-flex wp-container-core-group-is-layout-fe9cc265 wp-block-group-is-layout-flex\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table is-style-stripes\"><table class=\"has-fixed-layout\"><tbody><tr><td>Time<\/td><td>Title<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>13:00-13:40<\/td><td>Introduction and overview of target trial emulation<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>13:40-14:10<\/td><td>Designing and emulating target trials in practice-I<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>14:10-14:30<\/td><td>Q&amp;A and discussion<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>14:30-14:50<\/td><td>Break<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>14:50-15:50<\/td><td>Designing and emulating target trials in practice-II<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>15:50-16:00<\/td><td>Break<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>16:00-16:40<\/td><td>Applied examples<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>16:40-17:00<\/td><td>Q&amp;A and closing remarks<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Date:&nbsp;2 June 2026&nbsp; Time:&nbsp;13:00\u201317:00&nbsp; Location:\u00a0MH2 U.09.308 &amp; MH2 U.09.309,\u00a0\u00a0Floor 9, MH2 building, UiT-The Arctic University of Norway Getting to the university from the conference hotel. MazeMap QR code for the workshop room: Session Responsibles:&nbsp; Leader(s):&nbsp;Yu-Han Chiu&nbsp; Co-leader(s):&nbsp;Shuyuan Yang&nbsp;Coordinator(s):&nbsp;Therese Haugdahl N\u00f8st Short Description:&nbsp;This pre-conference course introduces the target trial emulation framework, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":123729,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-494","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/site.uit.no\/nordicepi-norpen-2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/494","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/site.uit.no\/nordicepi-norpen-2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/site.uit.no\/nordicepi-norpen-2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/site.uit.no\/nordicepi-norpen-2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/123729"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/site.uit.no\/nordicepi-norpen-2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=494"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/site.uit.no\/nordicepi-norpen-2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/494\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":571,"href":"https:\/\/site.uit.no\/nordicepi-norpen-2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/494\/revisions\/571"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/site.uit.no\/nordicepi-norpen-2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=494"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}