PRIMER / PERMANOVA Essentials

With Adam N. H. Smith

PRIMER-e is pleased to announce an online* course in Multivariate Analysis for Ecology & Other Sciences to be held over one week implementing the new software PRIMER 8 with PERMANOVA+.

*Note: This course was initially offered in hybrid mode, including in person, at the Washington Water Science Center, Tacoma, WA, USA. Due to unforseen circumstances, we regret that we are not able to offer these courses in person in the USA at this time. These courses are now offered online only in the USA Pacific Standard Time (PST) time-zone. We apologise for any inconvenience caused.

Overview

PRIMER / PERMANOVA Essentials, December 14th – 18th, 2026

This 5-day course will cover the essentials – a suite of core non-parametric methods implemented in PRIMER software, as well as several key semi-parametric methods encapsulated in PERMANOVA+. There will be special emphasis on the new tools and routines in the latest version of our software: PRIMER 8.

Registration Fees (in $USD)	Online only
Professional	USD $930
Full-time Student	USD $610

All prices are in US dollars ($USD). Participants who reside in New Zealand will need to pay goods and services tax (GST), at invoice. Participants may (at the discretion of PRIMER-e) be eligible for a global equity discount on their registration fees (depending on their country of residence), which will be administered at the time of invoicing. Please contact primer@primer-e.com if you would like to apply and learn more.

Sessions will run daily, with online live presentations and Q & A, Monday to Friday, from 8:30 am to 5:30 pm on each day (USA Pacific Standard Time (PST = UTC -8 hrs). Participants will join the course live and online via Google Meet. Each day will include a mixture of lectures and computer lab sessions to implement the new methods and techniques learned on example datasets.

Participants are expected to use their own computer, equipped with secure and reliable internet access, a microphone, and a camera, enabling direct communication online via Google Meet for the duration of the course. All course materials, including recordings of online sessions, will be made available to participants for the duration of the course and for a period of four (4) weeks thereafter.

A free fully functional (but time-limited) licence of our latest software, PRIMER 8 with PERMANOVA+, will be made available to registered participants for trial use during the course. (Note that PRIMER is a Windows-only product, so Macs need to run in Windows emulation.)

This course will cater both to those who are new to multivariate analysis and to those who are familiar with PRIMER methods but would like a refresher, and to learn about the latest methods in the new version. This course is designed for scientists and research practitioners; it will emphasise the achievement of a conceptual understanding of multivariate methods, with demonstrations of how to implement these methods in the software and interpret results. No prior background in statistics is required.

OUTLINE OF TOPICS

The topics covered in this course shall include:

Properties of multivariate data (summary statistics, shade plots, histograms, draftsman plots, etc.);
Pre-treatment options (transformations, normalization, standardization, & dispersion weighting);
Measures of resemblance: distance, similarity and dissimilarity (Euclidean, Bray-Curtis, Jaccard, Sorensen, etc.);
Cluster analysis (CLUSTER), including tests for significant structure within clusters (SIMPROF) to permit non-arbitrary classifications of samples or variables (species);
Ordination via projection: principal components analysis (PCA); principal coordinate analysis (PCO);
Ordination to preserve inter-sample relationships via non-metric, metric or threshold metric multi-dimensional scaling (MDS, mMDS, tmMDS);
Relating biotic to abiotic data, including tests of association between resemblance matrices (RELATE), and finding optimal subsets of environmental (or other) variables that generate a ‘best’ match to patterns among samples based on species variables (BEST – BIOENV);
Non-parametric permutation test for differences among a priori groups of samples (analysis of similarities (ANOSIM), and ordination of bootstrap averages;
Finding important variables (SIMPER and BEST – BVSTEP);
Diversity measures (DIVERSE); Taxonomic distinctness; Taxonomic resemblance
Partitioning variation; tests for centroid differences among groups (PERMANOVA), including one-way and two-way cases, tests of interactions, constructing a priori contrasts and pairwise tests.
Tests for homogeneity of multivariate dispersions and comparisons of beta diversity (PERMDISP);
PERMANOVA accounting for heterogeneity of dispersions.
Complex multi-factor experimental designs, identifying fixed and random factors that are nested or crossed with one another (PERMANOVA);
Multivariate control charts for detecting unusual observations in space or time (e.g., monitoring).
Fitting multivariate response data (e.g., species) to continuous predictor variables (e.g., environmental), including model selection (DISTLM) and visualising fitted variation using dissimilarity-based redundancy analysis (dbRDA);
Graphical tools for effective presentation of results, including matrix displays and a variety of plot types, animations of ordinations captured to video files, centroid plots, bubble plots and multi-variable segmented bubble plots.

REGISTRATION COSTS

The cost for registration includes all course materials, and a temporary licence key to use PRIMER 8 with PERMANOVA+ software (fully functional, for the duration of the course). The registration fee does not include the separate (discounted) cost of purchasing time-unlimited software.

The prices to register are:

Registration Fees (in $USD)	Online only
Professional	USD $930
Full-time Student	USD $610

All prices are in US Dollars ($USD). Participants who reside in New Zealand will need to pay goods and services tax (GST), at invoice. Participants may (at the discretion of PRIMER-e) be eligible for a global equity discount on their registration fees (depending on their country of residence), which will be administered at the time of invoicing. Please contact primer@primer-e.com if you would like to apply and learn more.

DISCOUNTED SOFTWARE PRICES FOR COURSE PARTICIPANTS

We are pleased to offer all course participants a discount of 10% off our standard prices for your initial software subscription. If you would like to receive a quote for a software subscription for PRIMER 8 with PERMANOVA+ (either a 12-month or 36-month term), please contact our team at primer@primer-e.com. All discounts for which you are eligible (including student discounts, global equity discounts, or recognition discounts for those with existing PRIMER 7 licences, etc.) will be applied to your subscription quote. Note that we will need your organisation’s Tax ID number to create your quote.

REGISTRATION

To register, please fill out the registration form available on the PRIMER-e website (or download to the right) and return it directly to primer@primer-e.com to secure your place. The deadline for registration and payment is November 30th, 2026. Late registrants will only be accepted if space permits. Unfortunately, we cannot permit attendance at the course unless the payment for registration has been received in full by PRIMER-e prior to the commencement of the course. Please get in touch with us directly at primer@primer-e.com if you have any questions, and especially if you would like:

to obtain a quote for your registration,
to register more than one individual from your organisation and pay on a single invoice (please include separate registration forms for each individual participant).
to receive a quote for a software subscription at a discounted price.

ABOUT THE PRESENTER

Adam N. H. Smith has worked with PRIMER-e since 2017 as a Workshop Presenter and Statistical Consultant. Adam obtained his PhD in Statistics from Massey University (MU) in Auckland, New Zealand. He is the Director of Sea Through Science Ltd., providing statistical consulting and marine ecological research services. Adam has extensive experience across a wide range of disciplines, including quantitative ecology, data mining, and biostatistics. He specializes in applying modern statistical methods to biology and ecology and is a key consultant to industry and government for fisheries and marine reserve assessments. As an educator, Adam is known for his enthusiastic and engaging teaching style and his passion for using statistical concepts to learn about our world.

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Terms and Conditions

Please refer to PRIMER-e’s Standard Terms and Conditions for Courses. In addition, below are PRIMER-e’s Specific Terms and Conditions for this Course.

Deadlines: Registration and payment must be received by the PRIMER-e office no later than November 30th, 2026. Please use one form per person.
Payment information: Registrants will be invoiced directly when the PRIMER-e office has received your completed registration form. All payments are to be made in $USD. Payment options are detailed on the invoice.
GST: If you reside in New Zealand, you will need to pay 15% GST, applied at invoice. If you are purchasing through your organisation which is tax-registered, then you must supply your organisation’s Tax ID number (VAT / GST / ABN) above and your invoice will be zero-rated. If you are paying for the registration personally, then taxes may apply.
Cancellation and Refund policy: The course organisers should be notified of cancellations in writing. If cancellation occurs before November 30th, 2026, the total course fee will be refunded, less any associated bank fees and administration costs. If you cancel after the deadline stated above, you may send a substitute person. Please notify the PRIMER-e office and provide us with the appropriate registration details for the substitute at the time of cancellation. In the absence of a substitute, we will still refund the payment (less administration costs) if we succeed in filling your place. “No shows” are non-refundable and are liable for the full registration costs. In the unlikely event of a course cancellation, PRIMER-e will refund registration fees in full, but shall not refund nor be liable for any additional associated costs, expenses, or losses incurred by registrants.

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