 We live in the age of evidence-based actions, this is also applicable to the field of clinical and public health practice. Research in these areas is the key to identify individual and community-based interventions. They can promote good behavior, protect health, reduce disease burden and associated morbidity as well as mortality. It's a huge pleasure to introduce to you Health Research Fundamentals, the first in the series of online certificate courses of National Institute of Epidemiology and Indian Council of Medical Research. We like to call them NICER courses. All the instructors for this course are faculty members of ICMR School of Public Health of National Institute of Epidemiology. They have several years of experience in conducting epidemiological, clinical and public health research. Our goal here is to provide you with an overview of principles and steps for designing for biomedical and health research studies involving patients and communities. Are you interested in public health research? Do you wish to understand how health research is planned and done? Then this is the course to begin with. You could be a student, physician, public health practitioner, a surgeon, a health counselor, a research associate, or a nurse practitioner, a pharmacist, or a data manager, or a project manager, or an ethics committee member, or just somebody with an inquisitive mind. Finding ways to solve a problem is the essence of research. In this course, you will learn how to identify researchable problems in your field of work. You will get to understand how to apply epidemiological and statistical concepts to design a research study that would yield reliable results. Gathering relevant information from the study participants and efficient use of this information in the form of data is of utmost importance in any research study. In this course, you will comprehend the steps in sampling and selection of study participants, various data collection processes, and a systematic approach to data management. Research skills have to be acquired through structured training and actual hands-on experience in clinical field-based and laboratory-based components of research projects. Moreover, every researcher needs to be mindful of the delicate balance between doing good and causing harm to the study participants. In this course, you will learn to appreciate the ethical issues in conducting a research study. Putting thoughts onto paper gives a way to convert vague ideas into organized plans. Comprehensive document detailing the study plan is critical to ensure smooth implementation of the study and an accurate interpretation of the study results. We will walk you through the systematic process of writing a research protocol in a step-by-step approach. This course will give you a head start, whether you're concerned with clinical trials, clinical research, epidemiological studies, behavioral research, translational research, or health services-oriented research. Are you ready? We promise to take you on a stimulating journey, de-mystifying health research week by week. Enroll now and join us on this eight-week long exciting journey.