After 5 Seasons of the One World Approximate Bayesian Computation (ABC) Seminar, launched in April 2020 to gather members and disseminate results and innovation during those weeks and months under lockdown, we have now decided to launch a "new" seminar series, the One World Approximate Bayesian Inference (OWABI) Seminar, to better reflect the broader interest and scope of this series, which goes beyond ABC. In particular, simulation-based inference and ML related techniques will play a crucial role. We are also please to announce that Stefan Radev has joined the OWABI Organiser Team.

The 1^st OWABI talk will be given by Ullrich Koethe (University of Heidelberg), who will talk about "Free-form flows for physics-informed generative modeling" on Thursday the 31st October at 11am UK time. 

Abstract: The talk first introduces a useful categorization of the (sometimes confusing) "generative model zoo" in terms of different change-of-variables formulas. It then shows how normalizing flows, a major architecture for generative neural networks, can be used for simulation-based Bayesian inference in the sciences. Finally, it proposes free-form flows to simplify the incorporation of physical prior knowledge, e.g. rotation and translation invariance or the restriction of the distribution to a manifold, into generative models.

Keywords: normalizing flows; physical-informed neural networks; simulation-based inference

The talk will be streamed on MS Teams:

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Meeting ID: 394 858 339 716
Passcode: qLKarj

We are looking forward to seeing you all,
best,
Massimiliano on the behalf of the OWABI Organisers