Bookings open for DNA Summer School 2025

The North of Ireland Family History Society’s DNA Summer School is back for the sixth year! And it’s better than ever.

This year’s theme is “Finding Your Way”, focusing on how to effectively navigate DNA tools and strategies to get the most out of your Y-DNA, mitochondrial DNA and autosomal DNA results.

Whether you’re just starting out or have years of experience, there’s something for everyone. And, even if you’ve joined us before, you will still discover plenty of new insights and information.

We are pleased to keep the price per class at £10 and, once again, you can book all 10 classes at a discounted price of £80. It doesn’t matter what time zone you are in as the presentations are recorded and made available for 28 days after the event to anyone who has registered.

So, join us for another 5 days of DNA immersion and take your DNA research to a new level! Find out more and book here: https://www.nifhs.org/events-and-courses/courses/

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 a 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 Hochrieter

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 and 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.