Archive for Aussois
refuge de la Dent Parrachée [souvenir]
Posted in Books, Mountains, Running with tags Aussois, avalanche, Dent Parrachée, Le Monde, O'Bayes03, refuge, ski touring, Vanoise on August 23, 2026 by xi'an
BayesComp²⁰²⁷ mirror in Aussois
Posted in Mountains, Statistics, Travel, University life with tags Aussois, Bardonecchia, BayesComp 2027, Bayesian Computing Section, CAES, conference, conference fees, France, French Alps, high speed train, ISBA, MCMSki, mirror workshop, Modane, multihub conferences, Paul Langevin, registration fees, Texas, Texas A&M University, Torino, Tunnel du Fréjus on August 13, 2026 by xi'an
Here we go! We have just completed the webpage for the BayesComp 2027 mirror conference in Aussois, French Alps, and launched the call for contributions.
This meeting mirrors the main BayesComp 2027 conference, held in Texas on the same week. As such, it will broadcast live and delayed sessions from the main conference, including plenary sessions, host local talk and poster sessions (to be broadcasted), and more generally provide an alternative forum for researchers in Bayesian computational statistics who cannot attend BayesComp 2027. As discussed earlier on the ‘Og, and following a debate launched at the ISBA 2024 World Meeting in Venezia, ISBA is now considering mirror (or multi-hub) meetings as a possible way to address accessibility, sustainability, and inclusiveness issues in its scientific meetings.
The scientific committee will select presentations soon after the submission deadline, on 30 November 2026. Note that due to the capacity of the CAES Paul Langevin conference centre in Aussois the number of participants will be capped at 200. (Travel to Aussois by train to Modane is easy, thanks to direct, fast trains from Paris (4h), Torino (1h), and Lyon (2h). And by car if need be, since Modane is the French exit of the Tunnel du Fréjus (aka Traforo Alpino del Fréjus) linking France and Italy, the Italian exit being Bardonecchia.)
Important Dates
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Submission deadline: 30 November 2026
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Decisions expected by 15 January 2027
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Registration start on 15 January 2027 (Registration will open after the proposals are assessed by the Scientific Committee and when the fees (supporting the main BayesComp 2027 conference) are confirmed. There should be no local fees.)
ISBA⁵
Posted in pictures, Running, Statistics, Travel, University life with tags Aussois, Bayes at CIRM, BayesComp 2027, Bayesian predictive, Chamonix, committee on the future of ISBA conferences, cut models, ISBA 2021, ISBA 2026, Japan, Laplace approximation, Marseille, MCMSki IV, mirror workshop, misspecified model, multi-hub conference, Nagoya Castle, skew-symmetric distribution, Susie Bayarri, typhoon on July 4, 2026 by xi'an
After a pleasant run under the pouring rain (noisy rain that had not helped with my sleep or lack thereof), I attended both morning episodes of Calibrated Bayes, with a range of interesting, mostly novel, questions and solutions. And rekindling my interrogations about overparameterised models and model misspecification within a Bayesian framework. And the elusive notion of outliers.
The noon discussion around our report as the committee on the future of ISBA conferences went on rather well, given the circumstances, with about 50 participants with ideas and opinions on the opportunity of splitting the ISBA World into multiple hubs. And on the practical difficulties. (Despite the itch to do it, I did not intervene with my counter-objections to most of the raised objections! Nor mentioned BayesComp in Aussois.) Participants of the (unofficial) 2021 mirror in Marseille brought some welcomed support!
Daniele Durante’s Bayarri lecture on skew symmetric approximations was also attuned to the approximation spirit of the morning. The symmetrisation of the target reminded me of our (unpublished) folded method. With the (unrelated) question of the statistical meaning of a higher order Laplace expansion. And the calibration of this skewed approximation.
The final session on Cut Bayes couldn’t be missed!, since this has been an interest of mine’s since MCMSki IV in Chamonix! With an automated cut model construction by Robert Goude and an optimised choice of generalised Bayes posteriors by David Nott.
ISBA³
Posted in pictures, Running, Statistics, Travel, University life with tags adversarial privacy, approximate Bayesian inference, Aussois, BayesComp 2027, Bayesian predictive, differential privacy, ERC, European Research Council, grilled eel, hitsumabushi, ISBA 2026, Isle of Skye, mirror workshop, Ocean, Oceanerc, persuasive privacy, privacy, PSL Research University, Savage award, Skye, student visa, Université Paris Dauphine, Warwick Statistics, working visa on July 2, 2026 by xi'an
After another absurdly early run along the Sendai River, in higher humidity than yesterday, I had plenty of time to have breakfast and commute to the conference centre for our privacy section. (“Ours” since I organised and chaired the session, but also all speakers were related with our ERC OCEAN project.) With talks by Antoine Luciano (Dauphine), Shenggang Hu (Warwick) and Joshua Bon (formerly Dauphine), Shenggang presenting his work with Gareth on calibrating a DP, noisy, unbiased, version of Metropolis-Hastings. Given the other sessions highly competing with ours, this 100% OCEAN session was well-attended! My second morning session was the theory & method part of the Savage Award, with unfortunately two of the speakers stuck in the US for visa issues and presenting remotely. There have been years where this session suffered from competition from parallel sessions, but this time showed a quite decent attendance.
As most members of the scientific committee of the BayesComp mirror in Aussois were present, we went out for lunch at a nearby hitsumabushi restaurant to plan registrations and local sessions. Which proved very productive despite enjoying the fantastic eel dishes! If making me miss the beginning of the afternoon session… and then the whole session as the room on predictive Bayes was packed (and some speakers had already delivered on the Isle of Skye). I managed to get to Bottond Szabo’s Foundation lecture, with again common threads with Skye, and then returned to my rental as I was quickly crashing…
invited sessions for BayesComp 2027
Posted in pictures, Travel, University life with tags Aussois, BayesComp 2027, Bayesian Computing Section, conference, France, invited talk, ISBA, MCMSki, mirror workshop, multihub conferences, Texas, Texas A&M University, USA on June 12, 2026 by xi'an
BayesComp 2027, ISBA computational conference (and successor to the MCMski series) will take place in Texas A&M University, College Station, on 18-20 May 2027. The scientific committee has launched a call for invited session proposals, with deadline 15 Aug 2026. For those unable to get to Texas, a mirror meeting is planned in Aussois, French Alps, on the same week. (Details to follow.)
