Workshop on non-reversible MCMC methods held at Newcastle
Giorgos Vasdekis (Newcastle) together with Sam Power (Bristol) and Andi Q Wang (Warwick) organised a Workshop on Non-Reversible MCMC Sampling Techniques at Newcastle University, 8–10 September.
The event brought together researchers a the forefront of modern sampling techniques and related disciplines to discuss recent advances in the field and catalyse collaboration. In total, there were over 40 in-person attendees (including from outside the UK), plus a small online contingent.
Speakers came from diverse academic backgrounds, spanning applied statistics, computational statistics, and numerical analysis. There was a strong focus on early-career researchers, with over half of the talks given by Ph.D. students and postdoctoral researchers. The well-attended poster session featured work from other junior researchers; the poster prize was awarded to Yuan Chen (Bristol).
Funding was provided by the ProbAI Hub, and the Royal Statistical Society supported the event through promotion.
Dani Leonard joins the group
Dani Leonard has joined the group a Lecturer in August 2025. They work on Bayesian parameter inference and model comparison, as well as machine learning techniques, to constrain and compare cosmological models.
Axel Finke joins the group
Axel Finke has joined Newcastle as a Senior Lecturer in February 2025, and will also take over as head of the Computational Statistics group.
Featured article in the September 2024 issue of Genetics
Work on data structures for computational genetics by Jere Koskela, as well as coauthors at the Oxford Big Data Institute and the Universities of Edinburgh, Glasgow, and Stanford, has been selected as a featured article in the September 2024 issue of Genetics.
Professor Chris Oates wins 2024 Guy Medal in Bronze
Chris Oates has been awarded the Guy Medal in Bronze by the Royal Statistical Society for his body of work which has led to substantial improvements in the efficiencies of Bayesian Monte Carlo methods, impacting methodological and applied work in statistics and machine learning. The announcement of the 2024 winners is available here.
Professor Chris Oates announced as one of the 2023 Philip Leverhulme Prize winners
Chris Oates has been announced as one of the five recipients of the 2023 Philip Leverhulme prize in mathematics and statistics. A full press release is available here.