SEMINARS IN STATISTICS @ COLLEGIO CARLO ALBERTO <https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.carloalberto.org/events/category/seminars/seminars-in-statistics/page/2/?tribe-bar-date%3D2019-09-01&source=gmail-imap&ust=1732719071000000&usg=AOvVaw1_VfRy4qDP_HHioNc49JU_> Venerdì 10/04/2026, presso il Collegio Carlo Alberto, in Piazza Arbarello 8, Torino, si terrà il seguente seminario: ------------------------------------------------ 12.00-13.00 Speaker: Pierre LATOUCHE (Université Clermont Auvergne) Title: Importance weighted variational graph autoencoders for inference in deep latent position block models Abstract: In this presentation, I will first show how latent position models can be made compatible with block models for network analysis through the use of deep generative models. I will focus on the binary edge case and introduce a new random graph model along with a variational graph auto encoding strategy for inference. I will discuss the identifiability of the model and explain how model selection can be performed. I will then move to the sparse discrete edge case in the same deep, block compatible, modelling framework. I will show how importance weighted variational inference can strongly improve the inference procedure over the classical variational auto encoding strategy. I will give the importance weights used for sampling and show that, in the limit, the lower bound obtained converges to the integrated log likelihood of the data. Through this presentation, I will emphasise the need to rely on flexible random graph models to obtain relevant loss functions. ------------------------------------------------ Sarà possibile seguire il seminario anche in streaming: chiunque volesse collegarsi è pregato di inviare un’email a matteo.giordano@unito.it <mailto:matteo.giordano@unito.it> Il webinar è organizzato dalla "de Castro" Statistics Initiative (www.carloalberto.org/stats <http://www.carloalberto.org/stats>) in collaborazione con il Collegio Carlo Alberto. Cordiali saluti, Matteo Giordano Assistant Professor (RTDA) Department of Economics, Social Studies, Applied Mathematics and Statistics (ESOMAS) www.matteogiordano.weebly.com <https://matteogiordano.weebly.com/>