Introduction to Machine Learning with Python

University of Edinburgh

Online

26-29 March 2024

10 am - 1 pm

Instructors: Ben King

Helpers: Hywel Dunn-Davies, Alan O'Callaghan

Overview

Introduction to Machine Learning with Python

This workshop comprises four lessons on applied machine learning in Python using health data. Lessons take participants through a typical pipeline for prediction, covering key concepts in preparing data, training models, and evaluating performance. We introduce models including decision trees and neural networks and highlight key issues in their responsible use. Prior knowledge of Python (for example, gained through a Carpentries course) is beneficial, but not required.

Ed-DaSH

Ed-DaSH is a Data Science training programme for Health and Biosciences. The team has developed workshops using The Carpentries platform on the following topics. See workshops for dates and registration details. All workshops will be delivered remotely.

General Information

Where: This training will take place online. The instructors will provide you with the information you will need to connect to this meeting.

When: 26-29 March 2024. Add to your Google Calendar.

Requirements: Participants must have access to a computer with a Mac, Linux, or Windows operating system (not a tablet, Chromebook, etc.) that they have administrative privileges on. They should have a few specific software packages installed (listed below).

Accessibility: We are dedicated to providing a positive and accessible learning environment for all. Please notify the instructors in advance of the workshop if you require any accommodations or if there is anything we can do to make this workshop more accessible to you.

Contact: Please email andrzej.romaniuk@ed.ac.uk for more information.

Roles: To learn more about the roles at the workshop (who will be doing what), refer to our Workshop FAQ.


Code of Conduct

Everyone who participates in Carpentries activities is required to conform to the Code of Conduct. This document also outlines how to report an incident if needed.


Collaborative Notes

We will use this collaborative document for chatting, taking notes, and sharing URLs and bits of code.


Surveys

Please be sure to complete the workshop survey (can be completed before you attend).

Ed-DaSH Survey


Schedule

The lesson taught in this workshop is being piloted and a precise schedule is yet to be established.

Day 1 (26 Mar) :

Lessons
Introduction to machine learning Introduction
Data preparation
Learning
Modelling
Validation
Evaluation
Bootstrapping
Data leakage
 

Day 2 (Mar 27) :

Lessons
Tree models Introduction
Decision trees
Variance
Boosting
Bagging
Random forest
Gradient boosting
Evaluation
 

Day 3 (28 Mar) :

Lessons
Neural networks Introduction
Visualisation
Data preparation
Neural networks
Training and evaluation
Explainability
 

Day 4 (29 Mar) :

Lessons
Responsible machine learning Introduction
Tasks
Data
Fairness
Dataset shift
Explainability
Attacks
 

Setup

To participate in a workshop, you will need access to software as described below. In addition, you will need an up-to-date web browser.

We maintain a list of common issues that occur during installation as a reference for instructors that may be useful on the Configuration Problems and Solutions wiki page.

Install the videoconferencing client

If you haven't used Zoom before, go to the official website to download and install the Zoom client for your computer.

Set up your workspace

Like other Carpentries workshops, you will be learning by "coding along" with the Instructors. To do this, you will need to have both the window for the tool you will be learning about (a terminal, RStudio, your web browser, etc..) and the window for the Zoom video conference client open. In order to see both at once, we recommend using one of the following set up options:

This blog post includes detailed information on how to set up your screen to follow along during the workshop.

Please check the “Setup” page of the lesson site for instructions to follow to obtain the software and data you will need to follow the lesson.