BayesComp 20: call for contributed sessions!

Just to remind readers of the incoming deadline for BayesComp sessions:

The deadline for providing a title and brief abstract that the session is April 1, 2019. Please provide the names and affiliations of the organizer and the three speakers (the organizer can be one of them). Each session lasts 90 minutes and each talk should be 30 minutes long including Q&A. Contributed sessions can also consist of tutorials on the use of novel software. Decisions will be made by April 15, 2019. Please send your proposals to Christian Robert, co-chair of the scientific committee. We look forward to seeing you at BayesComp 20!

In case you do not feel like organising a whole session by yourself, contact the ISBA section you feel affinity with and suggest it helps building this session together!

call for sessions and labs at Bay2sC0mp²⁰

A call to all potential participants to the incoming BayesComp 2020 conference at the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida, 7-10 January 2020, to submit proposals [to me] for contributed sessions on everything computational or training labs [to David Rossell] on a specific language or software. The deadline is April 1 and the sessions will be selected by the scientific committee, other proposals being offered the possibility to present the associated research during a poster session [which always is a lively component of the conference]. (Conversely, we reserve the possibility of a “last call” session made from particularly exciting posters on new topics.) Plenary speakers for this conference are

• David Blei (Columbia University)
• Paul Fearnhead (University of Lancaster)
• Emily Fox (University of Washington)
• Max Welling (University of Amsterdam)

and the first invited sessions are already posted on the webpage of the conference. We dearly hope to attract a wide area of research interests into a as diverse as possible program, so please accept this invitation!!!

BayesComp 2022 anyone?!

A call from the Bayesian Computation (BayesComp) Section of ISBA for proposals to host its conference: Bayes Comp 2022! [Bayes Comp 18 was in Barcelona, Bayes Comp 20 is going to take place in Gainesville, Florida, in January 2020, and it is organised by Jim Hobert, Éric Moulines, and myself.]

The expectation is that the meeting will be held in January 2022, but the committee will consider proposals for other times through January 2023. Bayes Comp 2022 will be the 3rd edition of this new conference series, which is the current incarnation of the popular MCMSki series. The conference aims at promoting original research and recent advances in the theory and application of Bayesian computational methods, and encourage the use of frontier computational tools from various disciplines among statisticians and practitioners. A three-day meeting is planned, perhaps with an additional day or two of satellite meetings and/or short courses.

Proposals with details on transportation, accommodations, contributions, and budget, should be submitted to Mylène Bédard (Program Chair) at bedard AT umontreal.ca no later than September 30, 2018.

Bayes Comp 2018 [call for guest posts]

As the next MCMski conference, now called Bayes Comp, is starting in Barcelona, Spain, March 26-29, I welcome all guest posts covering the conference, since I am not going to be there! Enjoy!

Bayes Comp 2018

After a rather extended wait, I learned today of the dates of the next MCMski conference, now called Bayes Comp, in Barcelona, Spain, March 26-29, next year (2018). With a cool webpage! (While the ski termination has been removed from the conference name, there are ski resorts located not too far from Barcelona, in the Pyrenees.) Just unfortunate that it happens at the same dates as the ENAR 2018 meeting. (And with the Gregynog Statistical Conference!)

Forte di Bard

After our aborted attempt at Monte Rosa, Abele Blanc treated us to a quick visit to Forte di Bard, a 19th Century military fortress in the Valley of Aosta [a first version of which was razed by Napoleon’s troops in 1800] on top the medieval village of Bard. Ironically, the current fortress never saw action as Napoleon’s siege was the last invasion of the kingdom of Savoy by French troops.

The buildings are impressive, so seamlessly connected to the rock spur that supports them that they appear to have grown out of it. They reminded me of Vauban’s fortresses, with the feeling that they were already outdated when they got built. (On the French Savoy side, there is a series of fortresses that similarly faced no battle as they were designed to keep the French out, becoming overnight useless when this part of Savoy was ceded to France in exchange for its support of the unification of Italy. For instance, there is such a fort in Aussois, which now houses an hostel, a gastronomical restaurant [we enjoyed at O’Bayes 03], and a via ferrata…)

The fortress has been recently and beautifully renovated with the help of the Italian State and of the European Union. It houses conferences and art exhibits. Like those on Marc Chagall and Elliot Erwitt that we briefly saw, missing the massive museum of the Alps… A few dozen kilometers from Torino, it would be a perfect location for a small workshop, albeit not large enough for a future MCMski.

next BayesComp conference planned for Jan 2018, any volunteer?

[A call from the BayesComp section of ISBA for the next Bayesian computation meeting! As suggested in an earlier post, the label MCMski is discontinued to allow for any location amenable to organise a 200 plus meeting in good and hopefully reasonably priced conditions.]

The Bayesian Computation Section of ISBA is soliciting proposals to host its flagship meeting: BayesComp 2018

The expectation is that the meeting will be held in January 2018, but the committee will consider proposals for other times through January 2019. This meeting is a continuation of the popular MCMSki on recent advances in the theory and application of Bayesian computational methods such as MCMC. The tradition was to hold MCMski meetings in ski resorts, but, as the name change suggests, we encourage applications from any venue that could support BC2018.

A three-day meeting is planned, perhaps with an additional day or two of satellite meetings and/or short courses. One page proposals should address feasibility of hosting the meeting including

1. Proposed dates.
2. Transportation for international participants (both the proximity of international airports and transportation to/from the venue).
3. The conference facilities.
4. The availability and cost of hotels, including low cost options.
5. The proposed local organizing committee and their collective experience organizing international meetings.
6. Expected or promised contributions from the host organization, host country, or industrial partners towards the cost of running the meetings.

Proposals should be submitted to Nicolas Chopin (Program Chair) no later than May 31, 2016. The Board of Bayesian Computing Section will evaluate the proposals, choose a venue, and appoint the Program Committee for BayesComp 2018.