Centre for Research Informatics Training
Working on HPC clusters
Event details
Sessions
- 13 October 2026 — 09:30 to 13:00 — Zoom
- 14 October 2026 — 09:30 to 13:00 — Zoom
- 15 October 2026 — 09:30 to 13:00 — Zoom
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About the course
A practical introduction to High Performance Computing (HPC) for researchers working with computationally demanding analyses and large datasets.
High Performance Computing systems are widely used in fields such as bioinformatics, machine learning, image analysis and large-scale data processing. This course introduces the core concepts needed to work effectively on HPC systems, including accessing remote servers, managing files, running analyses and scheduling jobs using SLURM.
Participants learn how HPC systems are organised, how to interact with them using the Unix command line and how to develop efficient workflows for computational research.
By the end of the course, participants should be able to:
- describe what an HPC system is and how it differs from a standard computer
- distinguish between login nodes and compute nodes
- connect to and work on remote HPC systems using the command line
- transfer files to and from HPC systems using graphical and command-line tools
- understand the role of job schedulers and computational resource management
- submit and monitor jobs using the SLURM scheduler
- use SLURM job arrays to parallelise similar analyses efficiently
- apply HPC workflows to their own computational research projects
The course is highly practical, combining presentations, demonstrations and hands-on exercises throughout.
Intended audience
This course is suitable for:
- researchers and students who need to run computationally intensive analyses
- participants working with bioinformatics, machine learning, image analysis or large datasets
- researchers interested in learning how to use remote Linux servers and HPC systems
- participants who currently run demanding analyses on personal computers and want to scale their workflows
- researchers who have completed introductory Unix training and want to extend those skills to HPC environments
Prerequisites
A working knowledge of the Unix command line is essential before attending this course.
Participants should already be comfortable navigating the filesystem and running basic shell commands in a Unix/Linux environment.
If you are new to Unix command-line computing, we strongly recommend completing our Introduction to the Unix Command Line course or working through equivalent training materials before attending.
Course fees
All fees are per full training day.
| Category | Fee |
|---|---|
| Industry full charge | £130.00 |
| Academic / Government / charity concessionary | £65.00 |
| Cambridge University staff members / postdocs / visitors | £65.00 |
| Cambridge University registered students | Free |
| Cambridge University registered students non-attendance | £22.00 |
| Special events | Per event |
Payment options will be provided in booking confirmation emails sent after registration.
General information
More detailed information is available on our dedicated cancellation and non-attendance policy, waiting list, accessibility, privacy policies and terms & conditions pages.
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