Phylomania 2023: Nearest Neighbours

The Fifteenth UTAS (mainly) Theoretical Phylogenetics Meeting

November 22nd - 24th, 2023

Sandy Bay Campus, Hobart, TASMANIA

 

Organized by: Michael Charleston, Barbara Holland, Luke Yates and the rest of the Mathematical Biology Research Group at UTAS

Phylogenetics is concerned with one of the most important problems in biology: reconstructing the evolutionary history of present-day organisms from molecular data, such as DNA, or morphological characters. Hidden from view, in phylogenetics software packages used by biologists, are algorithms implementing stochastic and combinatorial methods on binary trees, as well as more general network structures. The mathematics involved represent a unique confluence of probability theory, discrete mathematics, stochastic methods, and statistical inference, as well as algebraic methods such as group theory. There are many important theoretical and practical problems that arise, such as statistical identifiability of models, consistency and convergence of methods. These problems can only be solved using a multi-disciplinary approach. Phylomania brings together internationally recognised experts, with the aim of discussing the pressing research problems in phylogenetics.
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Bonus Workshop!
Gavin Huttley is kindly putting on a free Cogent3 workshop for us Phylomaniacs:
drawing

Data Wrangling with Cogent3 Workshop

The workshop is geared towards researchers who specialize in developing new phylogenetic methods. Acquiring empirical data for evaluating the performance of a new method is challenging. Your choice of data has important ramifications for your evaluation of the performance of your method. While the standard strategy of recycling published data sets is convenient, this risks perpetuating biases embedded in those data sets.

We will show how cogent3 and associated tools can greatly simplify getting public data for analyses, serving the needs of phylogenetic method developers. As there is an overlap with standard phylogenetic data pre-processing workflows, users of phylogenetic (or molecular evolutionary) methods can also benefit from attending this workshop.

Registration, Time, Location

The workshop is on the afternoon of 21st November 2023 (before the start of Phylomania) and it's free 🎉!

You can register here.

Workshop Content

The topics we will cover are:

Prerequisites

All you need for this workshop is a laptop and some familiarity with command-line applications.

Ideally, you should be able to install software on your machine (see Computer Setup page).

More workshop information

Details regarding physical location and setting up your computer before the workshop will be posted to the Cogent3 Workshop Wiki.

We look forward to seeing you there!

cogent3's development team.

Now, back to the Phylomania information:

Code of Conduct

We are committed to providing a safe and harassment-free environment for all conference participants. By registering for Phylomania, participants agree to abide by this Code of Conduct and to conduct themselves in a professional and appropriate manner. This involves scientific and ethical integrity, respectful and courteous behaviour towards others, and equality of opportunity and treatment for everyone. Discrimination, bullying and harassment of any nature, whether intended or not, is a form of misconduct that has no place at the conference. Any conference participant who wishes to report or discuss an issue related to misconduct is encouraged to contact any member of the Organising Committee, in person or via email. All concerns will be taken under the strictest confidence and treated in due regard.
Guiding Policies: The Phylomania conference is guided by the framework of Equity & Diversity policies and strategies of the University of Tasmania (UTAS) and Australian Mathematical Science Institute (AMSI).

2022 PROGRAMME HERE

Group Photo
Phylomania 2018

Registration

Register HERE

Registration is not payment: once you've registered, you must also go to the payment site and pay because we'll need to buy supplies.

Payment

A link to the payment page will be provided here when it is ready (financial services has to do it for us).
Full price cost is $200AUD; Student cost is $130AUD.
The registration cost is to cover catering --- morning and afternoon tea / coffee / snacks, and lunch, and some awards, and is worked out based on previous conferences: we think it's pretty reasonable and we think the food and drink will be excellent. Conference dinner is NOT included in the registration fee.

Schedule

The talks will be scheduled for the Wednesday 22nd, Thursday 23rd, and Friday 24th. The meeting will start 9am Wednesday and conclude officially at 5pm Friday. We will arrange a group excursion, such as a guided walk (weather permitting) for the following Saturday, depending on numbers and the weather. The conference dinner will be on Thursday night : venue to be confirmed

Social Whatnots

  • Twitter Hashtag: Nup, and you know why.
  • Mastodon: I guess...??
  • Facebook page: Hah! We don't have one.

    • Talks and Posters

    Talks are 20 minutes long (including time for questions!), and posters are very welcome! Yes we would love it if you would bring a poster as well as give a talk!

    Local information

    Delegates with parenting responsibilities: UTAS parenting rooms have breastfeeding and changing facilities. The childcare centre on the Sandy Bay campus is managed by Lady Gowrie.
    Phone: +61 3 6226 2088; UTAS web page on child care facilities     here.

    Social Events

    There is a lot to do in Hobart. We will schedule our conference dinner for Thursday night so if you must leave early on Friday, you may. But please don't: there's terrific hiking, the amazing MONA, the Saturday market at Salamanca, an amazing replica of Mawson's Hut, and if you're feeling ridiculously fit, the gruelling Point to Pinnacle half-marathon starts on Sunday the 20th. A good idea to avoid walking or running up the mountain on that date.

    Accommodation

    For those of you looking to book accommodation, there are a range of options both near to the Uni and in the City itself. The University of Tasmania Accommodation Services also has a range of cheap(ish) possibilities.

    As well as the University itself, the surrounding suburb of Sandy Bay has a range of accommodation options that will cater to all needs. These are all within walking distance to the University, Hobart city and the wharf area. Some examples of the kind of places that may be available include Grosvenor Court Apartment, St Ives Apartments, Mayfair Plaza Hotel, and the Blue Hills Hotel. Of course it is also worth checking out Stayz and Airbnb for plenty of great alternative options.

    Beyond Sandy Bay, the city offers a myriad of potential accommodation options (too many to list here).
    The city is within easy walking distance from the University (20 - 30 minutes) but there are also several buses that service the University from the centre of the city.
    For those of you looking for budget accommodation (but possibly loud) the city has a number of hostels.
    These include the Pickled Frog hostel, Imperial Hotel, and Hobart Central YHA.

    Organising Committee

    Last modified September 2023 by Michael Charleston.