BayesComp homepage

Today, the BayesComp section of ISBA launched its website. It is organised as a wiki and members of the section are strongly incited to take part into the construction of the website. To quote from Peter Green’s introduction:

This new Wikidot site aims to be a community-edited resource on all aspects of Bayesian computation, available for all to read; here ‘community’ means members of the section – we hope that interested members will help us create pages of information and advice to help disseminate new research ideas in an accessible way, and promote good practice. Members can also submit links to a directory of papers, slides, videos and software, and to a diary of upcoming events such as conferences and workshops, all through easy-to-use forms.

Please visit BayesComp, read the Quick Start Guide there, actively contribute to the site’s content, and let us have feedback using the blog facility provided. Once you have editing credentials on the site, you do not need permission to make edits, just do it! Section officers may tidy things up later, if no one else does, but we won’t delete anything unless it is offensive or plainly wrong.

Thanks to the inputs of Peter Green and of Nicolas Chopin, this could be a wonderful exchange tool for the community, but only if this community strives to keep it alive!

MCMSki IV, Jan. 6-8, 2014, Chamonix (news #4)

More news about MCMSki IV! Remember, the call is still open for contributed sessions for a few more weeks, till March. 20 to be precise (make sure to contact me at bayesianstatistics@gmail.com if you are considering putting one session together). To all those who already submitted a session, thanks a lot, please stay tuned, and we will contact you very soon after March 20!

One exciting item is that there will be a satellite workshop on January 9, on Bayesian non-parametrics and semi-parametrics, organised by Judith Rousseau. BNPski, anyone?!  Details are not yet available, but anyone registered for MCMSki IV and interested should be free to attend this workshop, free of charges. (It will take place at the conference centre as well.)

Another item is that we managed to get a cheaper offer for the ski race, reaching an entry prize of 10 euros. Or less if we manage to find this sponsor… Not that bad when considering the high probability competitors have to win a pair of skis!!!

Last item for today: the list and rate of hotels available thru the conference centre is as follows

• ALPINA*** : Single Room 136€ & Twin or Double Room 106€ /pers
• PRIEURE*** : Single Room 136€ & Twin or Double Room 106€ /pers
• LOUVRE** : Single Room 85 € & Twin or Double Room 64€ /pers
• POINTE ISABELLE** : Single Room 81,90€ & Twin or Double Room 59,90€ /perss

However, many other options are available in the vicinity, from hotels to B&B, to rental apartments and chalets, with a wide range of prices if you pre-book early (like now!) See the links on our webpage.

MCMSki IV, Jan. 6-8 (9?), 2014, Chamonix (news #3)

In case you have not been constantly tracking the changes on the MCMSki IV webpage, here are some news: the number of invited and accepted contributed sessions in the program had considerably increased, to the point of almost filling two parallel sessions for the whole duration of the meeting. This includes an exciting round-table on MCMC software animated by Luke Bornn. We are actually discussing how to handle the incoming proposals, from adding one more track/room to the program to adding an extra morning (the morning after!) to the meeting—with the argument that participants will anyway leave on the 9th of January at the earliest—to sadly rejecting some of the proposed contributed sessions…. Nonetheless, the call is still open for contributed sessions for a few more weeks, till March. 20 to be precise (make sure to contact me at bayesianstatistics@gmail.com if you are considering putting one session together).

The registration page is not yet complete (we are still discussing the rates for the Richard Tweedie ski race, and managed to get them down to 10€ per person so far so we may not have to cancel this race, especially given the exciting (almost certain!) promise of a pair of brand new skis for the winners!, and more we can find benevolent sponsors…). Once again the conference fees will range from 100€ for PhD students to 210€ for participants not members of ISBA or of IMS. The additional fees for the banquet have also been lowered to 30 euros.

appliBUGS (wet)

This morning I gave my talk on ABC; computation or inference? at the appliBUGS seminar. Here, in Paris, BUGS stands for Bayesian United Group of Statisticians! Presumably in connection with a strong football culture, since the talk after mine was Jean-Louis Foulley’s ranking of the Euro 2012 teams. Quite an interesting talk (even though I am not particularly interested in football and even though I dozed a little, steaming out the downpour I had received on my bike-ride there…) I am also sorry I missed the next talk by Jean-Louis on Galton’s quincunx. (Unfortunately, his slides are not [yet?] on-line.)

As a coincidence, after launching a BayesComp page on Google+ (as an aside, I am quite nonplussed by the purpose of Google-), Nicolas Chopin also just started a Bayes in Paris webpage, in connection with our informal seminar/reading group at CREST. With the appropriate picture this time, i.e. a street plaque remembering…Laplace! May I suggest the RER stop Laplace and his statue in the Paris observatory as additional illustrations for the other pages…

ISBA Autumn sales

Some (legitimate) advertising from ISBA: (And make sure you join BayesComp in the process!):

Today ISBA reached 1000 Members!

Please encourage your colleagues to take advantage of ISBA‘s Annual Member Promotion and save on 2013 membership rates! All new ISBA, ISBA Section and now Chapter memberships are extended until Dec, 31 2013, while current members can save $10 by renewing ISBA dues now.

Member dues are modest – $15 for student or reduced rate memberships for developing countries or $50 for regular memberships. ISBA also offers 25% savings on annual IMS dues. ISBA has specialized sections in Bayesian Computation, Bayesian Nonparametrics, Biostat & Pharma, Finance and Business, Industrial Statistics, Objective Bayes, and coming soon Environmental Statistics! The new Junior ISBA section for students and new researchers that are within 5 years of completing a degree provides networking and additional benefits for new researchers! Join before October 15th to be eligible to participate in the ISBA and ISBA Section Elections!

ISBA provides a focal point for those interested in Bayesian analysis and its applications through the organization of conferences, workshops short courses, and (soon!) webinars and ISBA publications, including the open access electronic journal Bayesian Analysis, the ISBA Bulletin and the ISBA website. The ISBA Bayes News forums provide up-to-date information to a community of 2000+ statisticians and scientists interested in Bayesian statistics.

We have an exciting array of events lined up for 2013 as part of the International Year of Statistics and the 250th Anniversary of Bayes Theorem. ISBA members receive discounts on registration for ISBA sponsored or endorsed events, and ISBA and SBSS Webinars! Junior researchers are eligible for the ISBA Lifetime Members Junior Researcher Award and other travel awards. For more info on ISBA benefits and other ISBA activities such as events, awards and prizes, we encourage you to visit our membership page or login  

We encourage you to visit the ISBA website to see what has been happening and help spread the word!