Advanced Webinar Series on Spatiotemporal Modeling of Climate-Sensitive Diseases
Join the HISP Centre at the University of Oslo for our advanced webinar series on spatiotemporal modeling for climate-sensitive diseases! On Wednesday, 17 December at 10-11 UTC, and every Wednesday from 7 January to 4 February at the same time, we will dive into time series modelling, statistics and machine learning, climate-health relations, DHIS2 tools, GitHub workflows, the Chap Modeling Platform, climate data/GIS, and more.
While open to everyone, these webinars introduce advanced technical concepts and assume prerequisite knowledge. You’ll benefit most if you bring technical skills and real-world ambition to transform climate data into operational health forecasts. You’ll get the most value if you have:
- Experience with Python or R programming.
- Preferably some background in epidemiology, statistics, or data science
- Motivation to develop or work with early warning systems for climate-sensitive diseases.
Through practical examples tied to DHIS2 workflows, attendees will gain the tools to build more robust, defensible climate-health forecasts that support operational decision-making in public health systems.
Note: This webinar series was designed as a pre-requisite for an internal workshop being organized in Kigali, Rwanda from 23-27, February, 2026. This workshop is not open to the general public, but we are happy to invite the DHIS2 and modeling community to join us for the webinar series.
Learning aims:
- Understand the full picture of spatiotemporal modelling for an operational context - the role of data, models and evaluation for an early warning system
- Understand how climate-sensitive disease forecasting can be approached through modelling
- Develop an understanding of the statistical underpinnings of various modelling approaches, as well as what different evaluation metrics and visualisations capture mathematically.
- Establish an effective software setup for the development and use of spatiotemporal models using the open-source Chap modeling platform and DHIS2 modeling app - a setup including version control and sharing of developed code, streamlined installation of libraries, streamlined running of developed code, and good organisation of code and data.
Further material
Theoretical and practical Introduction to spatiotemporal modelling for climate-sensitive disease (still under development): Learning Modelling - Climate Health
Dates and Topics:
Introduction to spatiotemporal modeling and the webinar series
Webinar Date: 2025-12-17T10:00:00Z→2025-12-17T11:00:00Z
(note: the date and time are being updated to your local timezone)
- Introduce climate-health relations
- DHIS2 context and technical setup
- Webinar/workshop/process overview
- Use case brainstorming
Register here: Meeting Registration - Zoom
Working with codebases
Webinar Date: 2026-01-07T10:00:00Z→2026-01-07T11:00:00Z
(note: the date and time are being updated to your local timezone)
- Working with codebases and version control (essentials to work effectively with the learning material and use cases - GitHub, virtual environments, installation).
Register here: Meeting Registration - Zoom
Introduction to the Chap modeling platform
Webinar Date: 2026-01-14T10:00:00Z→2026-01-14T11:00:00Z
(note: the date and time are being updated to your local timezone)
- A basic working example with input data, model training, disease forecasting and evaluation of predictions (using the Chap platform to streamline the process).
Register here: Meeting Registration - Zoom
Climate factors, climate change, and their health impacts
Webinar Date: 2026-01-21T10:00:00Z→2026-01-21T11:00:00Z
(note: the date and time are being updated to your local timezone)
- Recap of basic principles of statistics, Including Bayesian statistics.
- Time series data, modelling and forecasting
- Brief introduction to uncertainty, and the sources of uncertainty for time series forecasts
Register here: Meeting Registration - Zoom
Fundamentals of statistical modeling
Webinar Date: 2026-01-28T10:00:00Z→2026-01-28T11:00:00Z
(note: the date and time are being updated to your local timezone)
- How climate change is affecting climatic patterns at a global and local level
- How local climate and weather affects disease and health
- Example: how Dengue is influenced by climatic though multiple pathways
Register here: Meeting Registration - Zoom
Climate data tools, GIS, and data harmonization strategies
Webinar Date: 2026-02-04T10:00:00Z→2026-02-04T11:00:00Z
(note: the date and time are being updated to your local timezone)
- Climate factors, climate and weather observations, and available climate data from global and local sources
- GIS and the harmonisation of climate data to match regions for which health data is available
Register here: Meeting Registration - Zoom
Organizers:
HISP Centre at University of Oslo (HISP UiO)
Ministry of Health, Rwanda
HISP Rwanda
CSID Network
Data Lab for Social Good Research Group, Cardiff University, UK.
TRUST - The Norwegian Centre for Trustworthy AI