  In order to discern the physical nature of many gamma-ray sources in the sky,
we must look not only in spectral and spatial dimensions, but also understand
their temporal variability. However, timing analysis of sources with a highly
transient nature, such as magnetar bursts, is difficult: standard Fourier
techniques developed for long-term variability generally observed, for example,
from AGN often do not apply. Here, we present newly developed timing methods
applicable to transient events of all kinds, and show their successful
application to magnetar bursts observed with Fermi/GBM. Magnetars are a prime
subject for timing studies, thanks to the detection of quasi-periodicities in
magnetar Giant Flares and their potential to help shed light on the structure
of neutron stars. Using state-of-the art statistical techniques, we search for
quasi-periodicities (QPOs) in a sample of bursts from Soft Gamma Repeater SGR
J0501+4516 observed with Fermi/GBM and provide upper limits for potential QPO
detections. Additionally, for the first time, we characterise the broadband
variability behaviour of magnetar bursts and highlight how this new information
could provide us with another way to probe these mysterious objects.
