New Course: Strategic LLMs for Professionals
AI tools such as ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini are already changing how professionals work in life sciences, finance, medicine, and beyond. But knowing how to use them effectively and how to evaluate, procure, and oversee them for your team or organization requires more than curiosity. That’s why Dr. Ahmad Aghaebrahimian created the new course Strategic LLMs for Professionals. We asked him who the course is for and what participants will actually learn.
What was the motivation behind developing this new continuing education course?
Gen AI and LLMs are already reshaping how professionals work across many fields. Yet many professionals still lack the practical knowledge and strategic judgment to effectively evaluate and deploy these tools for their teams or organizations. We developed this course to close that gap. The course gives managers, team leads, researchers, and domain specialists the skills to make informed decisions about AI in their domain.
What sets your course apart from other offerings in the field of generative AI?
This course is built for decision-makers and domain specialists, not just developers. We combine conceptual foundations with hands-on exercises and real-world case studies, covering everything from prompt engineering and LLM landscape evaluation to building AI assistants and agentic systems. Unlike generic AI courses, we emphasize practicality by focusing on how to identify high-value use cases, communicate with technical teams, manage AI-related risks, and leave with an applied project addressing a real challenge in your own field.
What specific skills do participants acquire, both technical and methodological?
Participants gain the confidence to evaluate Gen AI tools critically and communicate effectively with technical teams. They learn to identify high-impact use cases in their domain, understand how LLMs are trained and customized, and manage AI-related risks including bias, fairness, and responsible deployment. The course covers prompt engineering, LLM workflow and connectors, cloud vs. on-premises deployment, and even an introduction to building agentic systems. Participants leave with an actionable understanding of where and how LLMs can best serve their organization, backed by a concrete applied project.
Who is this course particularly suitable for, and what prior knowledge is required?
This course is designed for professionals in managerial, research, or domain specialist roles, including project managers, team leads, department heads, research coordinators, scientists, consultants, and policy professionals, who work in or alongside AI-driven fields and need to make informed decisions about AI tools. It is especially relevant for those in life sciences, finance, healthcare, law, and beyond. Prior programming knowledge is optional. What matters is a willingness to engage with AI concepts and apply them to real challenges in your domain.
The course starts on September 9 and takes place in the evenings. The application deadline is August 26. More information and registration: Strategic LLMs for Professionals | ZHAW Life Sciences and Facility Management
Learn more about the wide range of continuing education courses offered by the Institute of Computational Life Sciences in the field of Computational Science and Artificial Intelligence: www.zhaw.ch/icls/continuingeducation