Tenth Annual Conference of the Australasian Bayesian Network Modelling Society (ABNMS2018)

Conf Home | Call for Abstracts | Register | Workshop and Conf Program
December 4-5, 2018 : Workshops
December 6-7, 2018 : Conference
National Wine Centre of Australia, Adelaide

Overview

In 2018, ABNMS will host our eleventh annual conference in partnership with the University of Adelaide and the Defence Science and Technology Group. The ABNMS exists to promote the understanding and use of Bayesian network (BN) models in scientific, industrial and research applications. Through this annual conference and associated events, the ABNMS seeks to provide opportunities for BN modellers to exchange ideas, socialise and establish useful networks of support and collaboration beyond the conference. In particular, we seek to encourage people new to the field to present and discuss their initial ideas on employing BNs. Our Website can be found at http://abnms.org/ .

Plenary presentations -- The conference will be held at the National Wine Centre of Australia in Adelaide on the 6-7th December 2018. Abstracts are invited from all fields. Past presentations have covered a wide range of disciplines including environmental management, geology, law, ecology, medicine, natural hazard assessment, defence capability and strategy and a variety of technical aspects on methods of development, data mining, linking GIS with Bayesian Networks, and lessons learned from BN projects.

This year we are introducing two new session and presentation formats in addition to individual presentations during the plenary sessions: mini-workshops and panel discussions. These new formats will run concurrently as part of the main conference during pauses in the plenary sessions. There is no extra fee for these sessions beyond the conference registration fee.

Mini-workshops -- Mini-workshops are for those beginning or in the throes of a Bayesian network modelling project, and who would like to present their work in an informal setting for discussion, feedback and hands-on advice. Mini-workshops will run as small group discussions, facilitated by one or two seasoned BN modellers, and attended by other, interested conference attendees. Feedback will be provided on initial model formulation, data collection, model validation, sensitivity analysis and related topics. The length of these informal Mini-workshops will vary depending on the nature of the project and problem. Applicants should be prepared to display a concise summary of their project and problem for interactive discussions.

Panel discussions -- Panel discussions are interactive sessions with a broader audience led by a panel of up to five subject matter experts selected by the ABNMS 2018 Conference Committee, to address topics relevant to BN modelling, e.g. interpolating CPT values, best means of doing multi-expert elicitation, validating BN models etc. If you are interested to contribute to one of these new session formats as a panellist, please submit an abstract as outlined below. We envision panel discussions to be fun, interesting, think-tank brainstorming sessions, not lecture-style presentations. Panel sessions are expected to run for 30 minutes. Panel moderators will be selected by the ABNMS 2018 Conference Committee.

Please note that space is limited for the number of the mini-workshops and the panel discussion sessions.

Training tutorial course -- Prior to the conference, an Introduction to Bayesian Network Modelling training tutorial course will be held at the University of Adelaide on the 4-5th of December. The training course will introduce participants to the basic theory behind Bayesian networks, common software packages used in BN modelling, methods to develop BN models and to incorporate a range of data, linking BN to GIS and introduction to expert elicitation. You will be able to register for the training tutorials and the conference separately or together. Note that that an additional fee is charged to attend the training tutorials.

Accommodation

The registration fee for the conference does not cover accommodation and attendees are responsible for organising their own accommodation. There are number of good hotels relatively close to the venue in Adelaide. The following hotels are offered as suggestions only and may be suitable and are listed here as being within 1km of the conference venue and Adelaide University.

  1. Majestic Roof Garden Hotel
  2. Mantra Hindmarsh Square
  3. Stamford Plaza Adelaide

Conference Dinner

The conference dinner will be held at the Wine Centre on the evening of the 6th of December. The cost of the conference dinner is included in the registration fee. Please check the appropriate box to confirm that you plan to attend the dinner. If there are any special dietary requirements, please advise the conference organisers via the comment field on the registrations form.

Outing

On Saturday we are offering a group tour to the beautiful McLaren Vale to visit some great wineries, taste world leading wines and lunch at the award winning Red Poles restaurant. The tour minibus will pick you up from the CBD at 09:00 and return you to the city by 17:00. Cost is expected to be approximately $50 per person with the final price confirmed during the conference. The price covers the mini bus hire but does not include the cost of lunch or any tasting fees charged by the wineries. Tasting fees are usually around $5 - $10 per person, and are sometimes redeemable against purchases. There are limited seats on the minibus, so please indicate your interest when registering, and book early at the conference.

Keynote Speakers

The conference organisers are pleased to announce that there will be three key note speakers at the 2018 conference.

Dr Bruce Marcot

Integration of Bayesian Network Modelling Technologies: A Review

Dr Darryn Reid

Unknowing, Intelligently

Victoria Hemming

Eliciting models and networks: Evidence, practicality and research avenues


Key Dates

Call for abstracts: 5th July, 2018
Abstract submission deadline:25th September, 2018 (4th September - Extended)
Decision on abstracts:28th September, 2018
Deadline for conference registration
(including pre-conference tutorials):
26th Nov, 2018

We invite abstracts for presentations, mini-workshops and panel discussions. Please submit your abstracts via the Call for Abstracts page. These abstracts will be reviewed by the ABNMS Board and successful abstracts will be asked to give a presentation, to define a mini-workshop or to lead or participate in a panel discussion at the conference.

In your abstract, please include the title of your presentation/mini-workshop or panel discussion, authors, affiliations, contact details for the corresponding author and abstract. Abstracts for ABNMS 2018 should be no longer than 300 words. The abstract should be self-contained and explicit, covering the aims, methods, results and main conclusions of the work (for presentation) or planned project (for mini-workshop). The abstract should not contain figures, tables or references. Plenary presentations run 15 minutes followed by 5 minutes of Q&A, and should be prepared using Microsoft PowerPoint with the file provided to the session moderator on the day of presentation. Individual Panel Sessions and workshops are expected to run for an hour.

Costs

Two day workshop
Members$200AUD
Students$100AUD (includes 1 year membership to ABNMS)
Non-members$250AUD
Conference
Members$250AUD
Students$150AUD (includes 1 year membership to ABNMS)
Non-Members$300AUD

Payment

Details on making payments can be found here.

Travel Grants

The Australasian Bayesian Network Modelling Society (ABNMS) is offering three travel grants to attend the ABNMS Tutorials and Conference on December 3-7, 2018 in Adelaide, South Australia. Awards will be for $500 to contribute to the costs of travel to and from the conference. Two Student Grants will be awarded and one 2018 Travel Grant for any person who attended the ABNMS tutorials in 2017 and will present in 2018.

In 2018, we are pleased to also offer attendance grants to cover the cost of conference registration for a number of new and existing members of ABNMS.

Applications should include a brief statement indicating the type of grant (student travel, 2018 attendee travel or registration only) being applied for, justifying the application, an estimate of travel costs, a scanned signed statement from an academic supervisor verifying student status (if in application for one of the student travel grants), and a CV. An abstract of the talk to be presented at the conference must be submitted in parallel (see above). Student travel grants will only be awarded if the recipient registers for the conference and tutorials. Please note the 2018 Travel Grant recipient is not required to register for the pre-conference tutorials but may do so separately.

Travel grant applications must be submitted by email to president@abnms.org by 15th Sept, 2018.

If you have any questions regarding ABNMS2018, please email ABNMS2018@abnms.org.

Sponsors

ABNMS would like to gratefully acknowledge our conference sponsors: