DNA Summer School

Immerse yourself in DNA!

Our annual DNA Summer School is becoming increasingly popular. Held in August or September it is 5 days of classes, 2 classes per day.

See below for details of the last DNA Summer School and watch out for next year’s course!

Members of the Society will be notified of all upcoming courses. Non members may follow us on Social Media (see our Contact Page for details) or subscribe to our newsletter at the bottom of this page.

DNA Summer School 2025 – Finding your Way

We proudly present our sixth annual DNA Summer School. 2 classes each day covering Y-DNA, Mt-DNA and autosomal DNA, with something for all levels of DNA researchers. Even if you have attended Summer School previously, you will find lots of new content and ideas in 2025.

The theme of this year’s school is “Finding your Way” and we all need help with that! There are so many tools and strategies available. Our classes are designed to help you navigate your way through them for better results.

DNA Summer School 2025 features expert guest speakers who are the very best in their field. We are delighted they are able to join us.

Can’t attend live?

All classes are via Zoom and the live presentations will be recorded, making it easier for people in different time zones to participate. Anyone who has registered for a class will receive a link to the video after the end of Summer School. The recording will be available to view for 28 days. Recordings will not include the Q&A sessions.

Each class will be approximately 90 minutes. This is usually a one-hour presentation followed by questions and answers.

The price per class is £10 and, because we know how many of you like to book all 10, we are again offering a discounted price of £80 for the full package.

Our DNA Summer School is extremely popular – book now to secure your place!

Bookings

If you need to cancel your booking, please contact us at least 7 days before the date of the class to receive a full refund. Any cancellations within 7 days of the class date will not be refunded. However, we will transfer your booking to a different class if possible.

Classes are at 2pm and 7pm London time. Check the time where you are here.

Please email our Education team if you have any queries about this course.

You will receive your booking via email immediately following your booking and payment. Please make sure you keep it somewhere you can find it as it also contains the link for the Zoom meeting on the day.

1st September to 5th September

Book all 10 classes and save!

Immerse yourself in DNA for the whole 5 days of Summer School with 2 classes per day.

Or watch the recordings at a time to suit you. (Recordings will be available for 28 days after the event.) 

Monday 1 September – Autosomal day

2pm Leeds Method and AI – Dana Leeds

Dana is the brilliant mind behind the Leeds method for grouping your matches. You won’t want to miss her presentation of how it how it works—and how AI can make the whole process even easier. In addition, she will be giving her insight into the new clustering tool on Ancestry.

7pm Tips for Tools – Anne Johnston

Are you making the most of the DNA matching tools offered by the different testing sites and on 3rd party sites? In this session, Anne will guide you through what’s available and show you how to use these tools effectively to get the most out of your DNA matches and make real progress in your research. (See our classes on Wednesday for a deeper dive into two specific tools).

Tuesday 2 September – Y day

2pm Why Big Y? – Martin McDowell

Big Y can help you in ways that other DNA tests can’t. You can make discoveries and get answers you didn’t know were possible but how does it all work? We’ll also be looking at a case study that will make clear just why Big Y is such an important tool in your genealogy toolbox!

7pm Using Projects – why and how – Anne Johnston

DNA Projects connect people with the same ancestral interests. But how does that actually help your research? Find out what to expect when you join a DNA Project and why being a part of one may provide better results.

Wednesday 3 September – Using Tools day

2pm Raising the Dead – Martin McDowell

Did you know you can construct the DNA of your deceased parents and even grandparents which might help to find more matches? Martin will take you through the process step by step and show you how you can use the results to unlock new information.

7pm Chromosome Browsers and Bulk Uploads – Martin McDowell

Chromosome browsers provide proof and are key to understanding and working more effectively with your DNA matches. In this session, Martin will guide you through how to bulk upload chromosome data to DNA Painter and how to analyse it to get valuable insights.

Thursday 4 September – X and MT day

2pm Using the X chromosome – Martin McDowell

The X chromosome follows a very specific line of inheritance, therefore making it extremely useful to identify how you might be related to a match. Discover how it’s passed down, what makes it different, and how it can help you narrow down your possible connections.

7pm Mitochondrial DNA and the Mitotree – Paul Maier

Paul is Senior Population Geneticist at FamilyTreeDNA and a member of the Million Mito team who brought us the recently released mtDNA Tree of Humankind. He will give us an overview of the Project and drill down into the difference between a haplogroup and a haplotype and how this helps when researching your mitochondrial line.

Friday 5 September – Putting it all together day

2pm Law Enforcement – Andy Hochreiter

Andy is a well known genetic genealogist and is on the Investigative Genetic Genealogy Accreditation Board in the USA, setting standards for law enforcers who are using DNA to identify and potentially convict criminals. He will share fascinating insights into how genetic genealogy is being applied in criminal investigations and the ethical considerations involved.

7pm Integrating Y, MT and autosomal DNA – Dave Vance

Dave is the General Manager at FamilyTreeDNA. We are delighted to have him here to wrap up the week by bringing together the three main strands of DNA. He will show us how to integrate the results from Y-DNA, mitochondrial DNA, and autosomal DNA to help you make connections you might otherwise miss and to give you a more complete picture of your ancestry.