ISNPS 2024: the 6th International Symposium on Nonparametric Statistics
Following the successful ISNPS conferences in Chalkidiki, Cádiz, Avignon, Salerno, and Paphos, the 6th International Symposium on Nonparametric Statistics took place in Braga, Portugal, from June 25–29. The meeting was organized by the Centro de Matemática of the Universidade do Minho, and co-sponsored by the IMS and the Bernoulli Society for Mathematical Statistics and Probability. The venue of the conference was Altice Forum Braga, a modern convention center near the center of the city of Braga, in northern Portugal.
The opening ceremony of ISNPS 2024 was chaired by the President of the School of Sciences at the Universidade do Minho, José Manuel González Meijome. In the ceremony, the representative for the ISNPS Working Group of the IMS was Ursula Müller, while the City of Braga was represented by the Councilwoman for Education, Carla Sepúlveda. Inês Sousa (Universidade do Minho) and Jacobo de Uña-Álvarez (Universidade de Vigo) joined the ceremony as conference co-chairs. All of them welcomed the attendees, encouraging them to take advantage of the meeting and to enjoy Braga and its surroundings.
The 6th ISNPS put together recent advances and trends in many areas of nonparametric statistics, including statistical learning, Bayesian nonparametrics, functional data analysis, high-dimensional data, goodness-of-fit, Survival Analysis, nonparametric econometrics, multiple testing or extremes. With seven plenary talks, 239 invited talks organized in 60 invited paper sessions, 78 contributed talks, 20 poster presentations, and almost 400 participants from all over the world, the symposium was a perfect place to facilitate the exchange of research ideas, promote collaborations and contribute to the further development of the field of nonparametric statistics.
The plenary talks focused on the hottest topics in nonparametric and semiparametric statistics: smoothing methods by Irène Gijbels (KU Leuven), causality and machine learning by Peter Bühlmann (ETH Zürich), fast algorithms for neural networks by Andrew Barron (Yale), deep learning in censored data analysis by Jane-Ling Wang (UC Davis), Bayesian biostatistics by Peter Mueller (UT Austin), goodness-of-fit testing by Wenceslao González-Manteiga (Santiago de Compostela), and bootstrap for macroeconomics by Silvia Gonçalves (McGill). The audience greatly enjoyed these lectures, which were followed by fruitful discussions.
The social programme included four organized tours through the symbolic sites in Braga, and a gala dinner at the exquisite Migaitas Forum restaurant.
All the information related to the conference, including the book of abstracts, is still available at https://w3.math.uminho.pt/ISNPS2024/
As for previous ISNPS conferences, the Journal of Nonparametric Statistics will launch a special issue on the occasion of the 6th International Symposium on Nonparametric Statistics. The special issue aims to publish on a fast track high quality papers on cutting-edge methods in nonparametric and semiparametric statistics presented at the conference. The review process will follow the general reviewing principles of the journal, and submissions are possible until September 30, 2024. More information is available at https://think.taylorandfrancis.com/special_issues/isnps2024/. All contributors to ISNPS 2024 are strongly encouraged to enhance the visibility and success of the conference by submitting their papers to the special issue.
During the ISNPS General Assembly that took place on the second day of the conference, Thessaloniki (Greece) was announced as the venue for the next symposium. The ISNPS 2026 conference dates will be June 22–26. That will be a new opportunity for the ISNPS Working Group to keep on growing!
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Written by Inês Sousa and Jacobo de Uña-Álvarez, ISNPS 2024 co-chairs.