Summer School: Probabilistic Graphical Models

[Prof. Chris Bishop]

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		   A Newton Institute EC Summer School

                     PROBABILISTIC GRAPHICAL MODELS

          	         1 - 5 September 1997

                 Isaac Newton Institute, Cambridge, U.K.

        Organisers: C M Bishop (Aston) and J Whittaker (Lancaster)


Probabilistic graphical models provide a very general framework for
representing complex probability distributions over sets of
variables. A powerful feature of the graphical model viewpoint is that
it unifies many of the common techniques used in pattern recognition
and machine learning including neural networks, latent variable
models, probabilistic expert systems, Boltzmann machines and Bayesian
belief networks. Indeed, the increasing interactions between the
neural computing and graphical modelling communities have resulted in
a number of powerful new ideas and techniques. The conference will
include several tutorial presentations on key topics as well as
advanced research talks.


Provisional themes:

Conditional independence; Bayesian belief networks; message
propagation; latent variable models; variational techniques; mean
field theory; learning and estimation; model search; EM and MCMC
algorithms; axiomatic approaches; causality; decision theory; neural
networks; information and coding theory; scientific applications and
examples.


Provisional list of speakers:

	C M Bishop (Aston)		D J C MacKay (Cambridge)
        R Cowell (City)			J Pearl (UCLA)
	A P Dawid (UCL)			M D Perlman (Washington)
	D Geiger (Technion)		M Piccioni (Aquila)
	E George (Texas)		R Shachter (Stanford)
	W Gilks (Cambridge)		J Q Smith (Warwick)
	D Heckermann (Microsoft)	M Studeny (Prague)
	G E Hinton (Toronto)		M Titterington (Glasgow)
	T Jaakkola (UCSC)		J Whittaker (Lancaster)
	M I Jordan (MIT)		S Lauritzen (Aalborg)
	B Kappen (Nijmegen)		D Spiegelhalter (Cambridge)
	M Kearns (AT&T)			S Russell (Berkeley)

This instructional conference will form a component of the Newton
Institute programme on Neural Networks and Machine Learning, organised
by C M Bishop, D Haussler, G E Hinton, M Niranjan and L G Valiant.
Further information about the programme is available via the WWW at

         http://www.newton.cam.ac.uk/programs/nnm.html


Location and Costs: 

The conference will take place in the Isaac Newton Institute and
accommodation for participants will be provided at Wolfson Court,
adjacent to the Institute. The conference package costs 270 UK pounds
which includes accommodation from Sunday 31 October to Friday 5
September, together with breakfast, lunch during the days that the
lectures take place and evening meals.


Applications: 

To participate in the conference, please complete and
return an application form and, for students and postdoctoral fellows,
arrange for a letter of reference from a senior scientist. Limited
financial support is available for participants from appropriate
countries.

Application forms are available from the conference Web Page at

         http://www.newton.cam.ac.uk/programs/nnmec.html

Completed forms and letters of recommendation should be sent to Heather
Dawson at the Newton Institute, or by e-mail to h.dawson at newton.cam.ac.uk

	*Closing Date for the receipt of applications and 
             letters of recommendation is 16 June 1997*

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