UK trip [#4]

Today I am off (again: 4th time this year) to England, then Scotland, for a week. The first stop is in Bristol, where the Statistics group holds a four day workshop on Confronting Intractability in Statistical Inference, supported by SuSTain. This is a perfect theme for presenting and discussing ABC research, most obviously. I am looking forward to be back in Bristol with friends of many years. From Bristol, I will fly to Glasgow, where I give a seminar at the University of Glasgow on Friday and meet with Mike Titterington. Once more, I am looking forward to be back in Glasgow, having visited the University quite regularly since 1995.

Having a free weekend in Scotland can only imply one thing for me: head for the West and get to the mountains. Depending on the weather and on the (dis)continuation of a dark series with bag transportation, I hope to hike up Bidean nam Bian in Glencoe (as I did in 1995 upon Peter Green’s recommendation!) and climb Ben Nevis by Tower Ridge or even Point Five Gully (the epitome of Scottish Grade V!) if the ice and cold weather hold until Sunday (foolish hope!)…

And from Fort William I will drive to Edinburgh, where Mark Girolami, Antonietta Mira and myself are organizing an ICMS meeting on advances in MCMC on Monday-Wednesday of the following week. There is overlap in themes and participants between this workshop and the one in Bristol, but also a broader spectrum in Edinburgh, incl. a coverage of significant applications. Needless to say, I am also looking forward this meeting, as well as being in Edinburgh and staying in the vicinity of Arthur’s Seat once again!