Gorges de l'Hérault
June 15-19, 2014
Le pic Saint Loup
Theme and spirit

Mathematical and computational tools and concepts form an essential basis for modern evolutionary studies. The rise of sound statistical and combinatorial approaches in evolutionary and genome biology has offered considerable improvements beyond the original ad hoc methods providing new methods and algorithms to handle ever-growing data sets. Such advances require an increasingly sophisticated mathematical treatment of the problems at hand and the reliance on faster algorithms and computers in order to answer important biological questions. This year a special focus will be given to the applications of mathematical and computational evolutionary biology to the study of biodiversity in all its aspects: from its conservation to its ecology and evolution, from the diversity within a genome, to that between individuals within a species and that between species in an ecosystem. General concepts, models, methods and algorithms will also be presented and discussed, just as during the previous conference editions. The plan is to change the focus from year to year with emphasis on topical application domains. To present the recent advances in the field and discuss open questions and problems, the meeting will bring together researchers originating from various disciplines: mathematics, computer science, phylogenetics and population genetics. Keynote speakers will introduce a field of research and discuss their own work in this field (see below). Afternoon will be for short presentations and posters, with plenty of time for discussions. We will stop early every day, thus leaving time for other activities, such as hiking or visits to local tourist attractions. The number of attendees will be limited, so as to favor small group interaction.

Organization
The meeting will take place at Hameau de l'Etoile, in the Montpellier region (France). The dates are June 15-19. The first talk will begin at 09:00 on Monday 16th and the conference will end at 16:00 on Thursday 19th. We will organize a bus transfer from central Montpellier on Sunday 15th in the early evening and a return on Thursday 19th afternoon (see the meeting point). Conference fees including accommodation (4 nights, June 15-18), meals, coffee breaks, buses, etc., will be around 500€, and will vary depending on the room type (see Hameau de L'Etoile). PhD students and postdocs will benefit of the cheapest rooms.
Keynote speakers
  • Rampal Etienne (University of Groningen, NL)
    Evolutionary community ecology
  • Daniel Huson (Center for Bioinformatics (ZBIT), Department of Computer Science, Tuebingen University, DE)
    Environmental metagenomics
  • Nicolas Lartillot (Laboratoire de Biologie et Biométrie Évolutive, Lyon, FR)
    The molecular comparative method: Bayesian integrative models of macro-evolutionary processes
  • Arne Mooers (Simon Fraser University, CA)
    Considering the Tree of Life in Conservation
  • Hélène Morlon (Ecole polytechnique, FR)
    Macroevolution; macroecology; biodiversity research
  • Rasmus Nielsen (University of California, Berkeley, US)
    Theory and methods developments in Population Genetics
  • Adam Siepel (University of California, Santa Cruz, US)
    Genome-wide inference of ancestral recombination graphs
  • Mike Steel (University of Canterbury, NZ)
    What can we reconstruct from the past?
Important dates
  • Pre-registration deadline: February 28
  • Notification to applicants: March 15
  • Final list of attendees: April 15
Organizing Committee
  • Olivier Gascuel (Chair).
  • Samuel Alizon (CNRS - MIVEGEC).
  • Caroline Benoist (CNRS - LIRMM).
  • Raphaël Leblois (INRA - CBGP).
  • Vincent Lefort (CNRS - LIRMM).
  • Jean-Michel Marin (Université Montpellier II - I3M).
  • Sylvain Milanesi (UM2 - IBC).
  • Fabio Pardi (CNRS - LIRMM).
  • Pierre Pudlo (Université Montpellier II - I3M).
  • Céline Scornavacca (CNRS - ISEM).
  • Krister Swenson (UM2 - IBC).
Previous conferences and meetings
GDR BIM CNRS Université Montpellier 2 Region Languedoc-Roussillon
IBC NUMEV LIRMM ISEM Logo CeMEB
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