Building Complex Apps with R Shiny

Overview

R Shiny is one of the most widely used packages for building interactive web applications with R, enabling you to transform data analyses into dynamic and user-friendly tools, custom designed to your purpose.

Shiny is the leading package for developing interactive Web applications. It provides your users the power and sophistication of R with a friendly, no-code interface, custom designed to your purpose.<-->

This one-day workshop is designed for participants who already have experience developing basic R Shiny applications and are ready to take their skills to the next level. Through a combination of practical hands-on, examples and best practices, you will learn how to create more robust, scalable, efficient and maintainable applications.

This workshop assumes that you have already used shiny and are able to build a simple Shiny app and will expand on this knowledge in order to allow you to build robust, efficient, and powerful apps.<-->

We will begin with a brief refresher on key Shiny concepts before exploring a range of advanced topics. These include interactive reporting with R Markdown and parameterized reports, dashboard development, advanced user interface customization, reactive programming techniques, and the use of modules to structure complex applications. The course will also cover common development challenges, troubleshooting strategies, and practical tips to improve the performance, usability, and reliability of your Shiny apps.

By the end of the workshop, you will have the knowledge and confidence to design and develop professional-grade R Shiny applications that are both powerful and easy to use.

It will begin with a short reminder of some important features of Shiny before discussing and implementing more advanced features. We will cover in particular interactivity options in R (including R markdown documents with Shiny components, parameterized reports, and dashboards), user interface and layout options that allow you to customize the appearance of your app, advanced reactivity programming, as well as ways to build complex apps using modules. We will also discuss many tips and tricks to improve your Shiny apps, as well as ways to troubleshoot your apps.<-->

Audience

This course is designed for PhD students, postdoctoral and other researchers in the life sciences from both academia and industry who are ready to take their skills to the next level to develop R Shiny applications.

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course, the participants should be able to:

• Build and deploy complex Shiny apps
• Apply modules to make a complex app easier to develop and maintain
• Customize the appearance of your Shiny apps
• Employ advanced features of Shiny

Prerequisites

Knowledge / competencies

This course is designed for advanced R programmers.

Participants should have experience in programming in R Shiny and R, equivalent to at least the combination of the SIB courses 'Introduction to R Shiny', 'First steps with R in Life Sciences' and 'Data Visualisation with R'. Before registering, test your R skills with the quiz here.

This course is part of the [XXX + link(s) learning path(s). To get the most out of this course, you should meet the learning outcomes of [XXX + link(s)] course(s). Upon completion of this course, you may wish to attend the [XXX + link(s)] course(s). <-->

Technical

You will need a computer with the latest versions of R and RStudio installed.

## Schedule – CE(S)T time zone <-->

Application

The registration fees for academics are 100 CHF and 500 CHF for for-profit companies.

While participants are registered on a first come, first served basis, exceptions may be made to ensure diversity and equity, which may increase the time before your registration is confirmed.

Applications will close on 12/10/2026 or as soon as the places will be filled up. Cancellation after 19/10/2026 will not be reimbursed. Please note that participation in SIB courses is subject to our general conditions.

You will be informed by email of your registration confirmation. Upon reception of the confirmation email, participants will be asked to confirm attendance by paying the fees within 5 working days.

Venue and Time

This course will be streamed.

The course will start at 9:00 CET and end around 17:00 CET.

Precise information will be provided to the registered participants in due time.

Additional information

Coordination: Patricia Palagi, SIB Training group.

A Certificate of Attendance will be sent provided you were present at the course, whereas a Certificate of Achievement recommending 0.25 ECTS will be sent provided you passed the exam.

You are welcome to register to the SIB courses mailing list to be informed of all future courses and workshops, as well as all important deadlines using the form here.

SIB abides by the ELIXIR Code of Conduct. Participants of SIB courses are also required to abide by the same code.

For more information, please contact training@sib.swiss.