About

The aim of the workshop is to bring together Australian researchers and practitioners as well as key international academics in areas related to data science, e.g., mathematics, statistics and computer science, to discuss recent advancements, share ideas and foster new local and international collaborations. The workshop consists of two integral parts:

1. Boot camp: Sunday 8th December to Monday 9th December,
2. Recent advances: Monday 9th December to Thursday 12th December.

We intend to organise ongoing yearly workshops with specific underlying theme for each year's boot camp. In our inaugural year in 2019, the theme of the boot camp is 'Randomised Numerical Linear Algebra' (RandNLA), which is a subject of ongoing intense study. For this, invited speakers who are the pioneers and leading scholars in the field will bring their expertise in the area of RandNLA and expose early career researchers and graduate students to related background topics. The aim of the second half of the workshop is to explore not only the interactions between the theme of the boot camp, i.e., RandNLA for 2019, and machine learning, but also a diverse range of topics in data science. For this, speakers from various areas related to the mathematics of data science will present and discuss their cutting-edge research results.

To become acquainted with the topic RandNLA, please see the introductory monograph "Lectures on Randomized Numerical Linear Algebra". The suggested prerequisite for the Boot Camp is an introductory knowledge on probability and linear algebra.

Important Dates

• Abstract submission closes: Thursday 31st October [deadline extended]
• Early bird registration closes: Thursday 31st October
• Registration closes: Friday 6th November
• Workshop:
  • Boot camp: Sunday 8th December to Monday 9th December
  • Recent advances: Monday 9th December to Thursday 12th December

Other dates will be added as they are decided.

Venue

The venue for the workshop is Fort Scratchley Function Centre, Nobbys Road, Newcastle.

Programme

The workshop consists of two integral parts:

1. Boot camp (days 1-2): the boot camp is intended to give the participants an intensive introduction and review of the key topics of the workshop,
2. Recent advances (days 2-5): during the workshop, the participants will be exposed to the most recent cutting-edge research results not only on the theme of the boot camp, but also a diverse range of topics in the mathematics of data science.

The workshop will involve a dinner, to be held on Tuesday 10th December.

Workshop programme

Download abstracts for invited talks

Download abstracts for contributed talks

Sunday, 8 December 2019
8:30-9:00	Registration
9:00-9:15	Opening	Boot Camp
9:15-10:00	Michael Mahoney
10:00-10:45	Michael Mahoney
10:45-11:15	Break
11:15-12:00	Michael Mahoney
12:00-12:45	Kenneth L. Clarkson
12:45-14:15	Lunch
14:15-15:00	Kenneth L. Clarkson
15:00-15:45	Kenneth L. Clarkson
15:45-16:15	Break
16:15-17:00	David P. Woodruff
Monday, 9 December 2019
8:30-9:00	Registration
9:00-9:45	David P. Woodruff	Boot Camp
9:45-10:30	David P. Woodruff
10:30-11:00	Break
11:00-11:50	Michael Mahoney, Kenneth L. Clarkson, and David P. Woodruff	Boot Camp Wrap-Up
11:50-12:40	Michael Mahoney	Minimax Experimental Design, Exact Expressions for Double Descent, and Implicit Regularization in RandNLA Algorithms
12:40-14:00	Lunch
14:00-14:50	David P. Woodruff	Towards a Zero-One Law for Column Subset Selection
14:50-15:40	Kenneth L. Clarkson	Quantum-inspired-inspired Algorithms for Data Analysis
15:40-16:10	Break
16:10-17:00	Michael E. Houle	Local Intrinsic Dimensionality: A Practical Foundation for Dimensionally-aware Data Analysis
Tuesday, 10 December 2019
8:30-9:00	Registration
9:00-9:50	Deanna Needell	Simple Approaches to Complicated Data Analysis
9:50-10:20	Break
10:20-11:10	Matt Wand	Streamlined Variational Inference for Random Effects Models
11:10-12:00	Peter Taylor	Some Thoughts About a Distributed Solution of the PageRank Equation
12:00-13:00	Lunch
13:00-23:00	Excursion and Dinner
Wednesday, 11 December 2019
8:30-9:00	Registration
9:00-9:50	Kate Smith-Miles	Party Tricks with Numerical Linear Algebra and the Quest for Trust
9:50-10:40	Kerri Mengersen	Bayesian Statistical Analysis of Large Images
10:40-11:10	Break
11:10-11:40	Vivak Patel	On the Practice of Solving Randomly Sketched Linear Systems
11:40-12:10	Daniel Ahfock	On Randomised Sketching Algorithms and the Tracy-Widom Law
12:10-12:40	Lindon Roberts	Improving the Scalability of Model-based Derivative-free Optimization
12:40-14:00	Lunch
14:00-14:30	Peter Eades	Large Graph Visualisation Using Spectral Sparsification
14:30-15:00	Mikhail Kamalov	Semi-supervised VAE with PageRank
15:00-15:30	Zdravko Botev	How Bayes Can Help Frequentist Model Selection
15:30-16:00	Break
16:00-16:30	Scott Lindstrom	Splitting Methods for Signal Recovery
16:30-17:00	Sevvandi Kandanaarachchi	Dimension Reduction for Outlier Detection
Thursday, 12 December 2019
8:30-9:00	Registration
9:00-9:30	Fred Roosta	Reproducing Stein Kernel Approach for Correcting Approximate Sampling Algorithms
9:30-10:00	Ali Eshragh	LSAR: Efficient Leverage Score Sampling Algorithm for the Analysis of Big Time Series Data
10:00-10:30	Glen Livingston Jr	ARMA Models and Big Data
10:30-11:00	Break
11:00-11:30	Samudra Herath	Name-like Numbers for Simulating Names in Entity Resolution
11:30-12:00	Yang Liu	Stability Analysis of Newton-MR Under Hessian Perturbations
12:00-12:30	Russell Tsuchida	Richer Parameter Priors for Infinitely Wide MLPs
12:30-14:00	Lunch
14:00-14:30	James Juniper	‘Unreasonable Effectiveness’ of Machine Learning in Both the Natural Sciences and the Social Sciences?
14:30-15:00	Vektor Dewanto	A Review on Average-reward Reinforcement Learning
15:00-15:30	Robert King	Sampling Behaviour of L-moment Estimators of the GPD Type Generalised Lambda Distribution
15:30-17:00	Farewell

Speakers

Confirmed invited speakers:

• Kenneth Clarkson	IBM Research, USA
• Michael Houle	National Institute of Informatics, Japan
• Michael Mahoney	University of California, Berkeley, USA
• Kerrie Mengersen	Queensland University of Technology, Australia
• Deanna Needell	UCLA, USA (Teleconference talk)
• Joshua Ross	University of Adelaide, Australia
• Kate Smith-Miles	University of Melbourne, Australia
• Peter Taylor	University of Melbourne, Australia
• Matt Wand	University of Technology Sydney, Australia
• David Woodruff	Carnegie Mellon University, USA

Registration

Before 31st October (early bird): Students and female ECRs: $85 AMSI/AustMS/ANZIAM members: $170 non-AMSI/AustMS/ANZIAM members: $230	After 31st October: Students and female ECRs: $110 AMSI/AustMS/ANZIAM members: $230 non-AMSI/AustMS/ANZIAM members: $300
Registration fees include attending all sessions, morning/afternoon teas, Hunter Valley tour and the conference dinner. Prices are GST inclusive.

Click here to register for the workshop on our Eventbrite page

AMSI Travel Funding

Higher-degree research students in mathematical sciences and Early Career Researchers (ECRs) at AMSI Member Institutions attending the workshop may apply to receive full or partial travel support through the AMSI Travel Fund. Applicants must, at the time of the event, satisfy one of the following:

• be enrolled in a mathematical sciences higher degree research program at an AMSI Member Institutions or
• be an early-career researcher employed at an AMSI Member Institutions who does not have access to their own research funds.

For more information on the process and to apply, please visit the AMSI Travel Funding form.

AustMS WIMSIG Awards

Additional travel support may be available to workshop attendees through one of these schemes:

• AustMS WIMSIG Anne Penfold Street Awards: provides financial support to Australian mathematicians for their caring responsibilities, while they travel for conferences or research visits to collaborators, with approximately four Awards awarded annually. The potential uses of these Awards include, but are not limited to, short-term childcare or professional carers for elderly relatives; and
• AustMS WIMSIG Cheryl E. Praeger Travel Awards: provides support for Australian female mathematicians to attend conferences or to visit collaborators.

From Newcastle Airport

For those arriving at the Newcastle Airport we recommend taking a taxi to Newcastle. The taxi rank is adjacent to the arrivals area of the terminal. Newcastle Taxis can be contacted directly, free-of-charge, on the dedicated taxi phone located in the arrivals end of the terminal. Alternatively, you can catch the 130 or 131 bus from the Newcastle Airport to the Newcastle Station. From Newcastle Station it is an easy walk to the recommended hotels. For more information and/or to plan your exact trip times see the Sydney Trains or the Port Stephens Coaches timetables.

From Sydney Airport

For those arriving at Sydney Airport we recommend taking the train. For information and trip planning, please visit www.transportnsw.info. The trip typically takes 3 hours, though the route is scenic. You should take the T2 Airport Line from Domestic or International Airport Stations to Central Station and then the Central Coast & Newcastle Line.

Local Transportation in Newcastle

Newcastle Taxis: bookings can be made online or by calling 133 300 within Australia. For public transport options, please visit www.transportnsw.info.

Accommodation Suggestions

We have recently been advised that a company contacted a couple of invited speakers in regards to booking their hotel accommodation on behalf of the Data Science Down Under workshop. We would like to confirm that the company has no relation to our event or our university. Please do not book with them as we do not know if they are legitimate. If you have any inquiries about your booking, please contact Ms Juliane Turner directly.

There are two main areas with hotels and backpacker accommodation — Newcastle East and Honeysuckle, within easy walking distance of each other and the conference venue. Honeysuckle is a popular area with lots of restaurants with great views across the harbour. Additionally, the website wotif.com sometimes has good deals.

Newcastle East:

• Noah's on the Beach
• Ibis Newcastle
• Novotel Newcastle Beach
• YHA Newcastle Beach
• Terraces for Tourists

Honeysuckle:

• Rydges
• Chifley

Organisers

• Ali Eshragh (Chair)	University of Newcastle, Australia
• Fred Roosta (Co-chair)	University of Queensland, Australia
• Ricardo Campello	University of Newcastle, Australia
• Elizabeth Stojanovski	University of Newcastle, Australia
• Natalie Thamwattana	University of Newcastle, Australia

Contact

Scientific inquiries: Ali Eshragh (Ali.Eshragh@newcastle.edu.au) or Fred Roosta (Fred.Roosta@uq.edu.au)
Logistical inquiries: Juliane Turner (Juliane.Turner@newcastle.edu.au)
Technical support: David Allingham (David.Allingham@newcastle.edu.au)

Poster

Download the workshop poster.

Abstract Submission

If you want to present a talk or a poster, please submit your abstract through the following link:

Abstract System

Note that abstract submission is a separate process from registering to attend the conference.

The deadline for abstract submission is 31st October 2019 (extended from the end of August).

Sponsors