Methodological Training Institutes

Returning Fall 2026; check back soon for more updates.

September 8 & 22, 2025 and October 8 & 15, 2025 | 12PM – 5PM (CDT) | 4 Half-Day Virtual Hands-On Workshop

• Director: Cindy Veldhuis, PhD
• Cost: $1,000 for faculty, $500 for postdocs/students
• Using Powerpoint & Excel, we will learn to create:
  • Beautiful and effective graphs & charts
  • Clear and compelling academic posters
  • Engaging and clear presentations
  • Compelling designs using AI tools

Whether you’re prepping for a presentation, poster session, or policy briefing, this series will help turn your health research into visuals that inform, persuade, and resonate.

INSTRUCTOR BIO: Cindy Veldhuis, PhD is a tenure-track assistant professor at Northwestern who is trained in graphic design and worked in design/marketing for five years. She translates data on equity and social determinants of health into visual stories that are clear, resonate, and are deeply human. See Cindy's faculty bio here now.

Application details:

• No prior experience necessary. Bring your laptop. Bring your data. Bring your old slides. We’ll fix them!
• View the agenda here
• Join out mailing list to receive information by emailing: mss_education@northwestern.edu
• Register here now

Implementation Science Academy (Implementation Science)
April 28 - April 30, 2026 | In Person

• Directors: Rinad Beidas, PhD, and Sara Becker, PhD
• Associate Director: Allison Carroll, PhD
• Cost: $3,000
• Training Institute Structure: 
  • Pre-workshop foundational webinars 
  • 3-day in-person intensive workshop 
  • Follow-up technical assistance to ensure success

Join us as we harness Northwestern's internationally renowned strengths in dissemination and implementation science, human-centered design, digital health, and health equity to offer a unique training experience that includes pre-academy foundational webinars, 3-day in-person intensive project-based learning, and follow-up technical assistance to ensure successful project execution and mastery learning!

Pre-academy foundational work will include asynchronous webinars covering seminal topics in implementation science and practice, paired with office hours to engage with materials and begin developing your project. Our 3-day in-person training will allow for deep engagement and intensive project-based learning with moderate implementation science topics. Following the training, when you return home, you’ll be assigned a mentor for 3 months for monthly support related to executing your project.

Application details: To apply, please submit a concept paper describing your project and how you will apply the skills you learn (no longer than 1 page) and a CV/biosketch/or resume by December 15, 2025. The concept paper should include the following information (specific aims format is acceptable).

• What is the “thing” (e.g., program, practice, procedure, policy) you are trying to implement?
• What is your setting?
• What implementation strategies are you interested in deploying or have you tried?
• How are you thinking about evaluating your initiative?

Please also submit a description (up to 250 words) of what you hope to get out of this training, including:

• Why are you interested in learning about implementation science?
• How will you use what you learn in the future?

The cost is $3,000 for the entire experience. We will let accepted applicants know by the end of January. We anticipate hosting 30 colleagues for 2026. Email your application materials to MSS_Education@northwestern.edu by December 15, 2025.