Frequently asked questions

A short list of frequently asked questions (FAQ) relating to the MATE 2011 meeting is now available to download here. We will update this with any new questions as they arise.

Timetable

A copy of the provisional timetable is now available to view here. Please note that the timetable is provisional and the order and timing may change slightly before the meeting. Please also note that some of the themed sessions have changed slightly to reflect the submitted abstracts.

A more detailed programme with talk titles is now available here to download.

Preparing talks and posters:

Please note that contributed talks should be 15 minutes long and hence the timetable allows for up to 5 minutes for questions and changeover. Keynote talks will be 35-40 minutes long and the honorary lecture will be 1 hour.

Talks should be formatted to display on a standard Windows computer (i.e. Powerpoint or Pdf formats).

Posters should be prepared in portrait format and should be no larger than A0 size.

Travel & Accommodation:

A visiting delegate pack with travel and accommodation details for the University of Essex Colchester (Wivenhoe Park) campus is now available here.

A parking permit for those using their car to travel to the University of Essex is now available here. Please print this out, fill it in, and then display it clearly in your car during your stay on campus to ensure you are not charged for parking.

Royal Society Interface Focus Special Issue:

We are producing a themed issue of Royal Society Interface Focus linked to the meeting. The best papers of those submitted will be chosen by the Scientific Committee.

Delegates are reminded that fully completed papers will be required by 30th September 2011. Note that this is a strict deadline that we must comply with!

Information on how to prepare your paper is available here. Further information is given in the MATE 2011 FAQ available to download here.

Hosted by the University of Essex:

Conference funded by the London Mathematical Society:

Additional funding provided by the Department of Mathematical Sciences, University of Essex

 Sunday 18th Sept 2011 - Understanding mathematical models in ecology: a workshop for the uninitiated empiricist

In addition to the main MATE 2011 conference, we are holding an additional 1-day pre-conference workshop aimed at giving ecologists with limited background experience basic training in simple mathematical modelling and simulation, allowing them to take a more proactive role in the rest of MATE 2011 and interact with the mathematicians and theoretical modellers better.

We invite PhD students and early career researchers who may want to take part to attend. The workshop is intended as a basic introduction and thus ecologists with reasonable theoretical modelling backgrounds are unlikely to benefit – the aim is to engage with and help ecologists who may have limited theoretical backgrounds.

The pre-conference workshop has been funded by the British Ecological Society.

The MATE 2011 meeting continues on from the successful series of MPDE meetings recently hosted at the University of Leicester in the UK (MPDE'07, MPDE'08, MDBE'09, MPDE'10). This year is the first year the meeting will be held away from Leicester and we are delighted to be able to host the meeting at the University of Essex. In 2011 we will have a central theme of ‘Linking models with ecological processes’. We expect that contributed talks and discussions will have an emphasis on novel mathematical and simulation methods or novel applications of existing theoretical methods that may be useful to address ecological problems. Alternatively, we also welcome contributions from experimental ecologists who wish to engage with theoretical modellers.

We hope to promote a two-way engagement between modellers and ecologists so that i) theoretical modellers who have developed novel mathematical or simulation models and methods will be able to discuss the relevance and realism of their models in an ecological context, and link with experimentalists who may be able to provide data to enhance or refine the models used; ii) experimental ecologists will be better able to understand the novel mathematical models or methods that are discussed and subsequently use these models to better inform or refine their own studies.

In order to structure the meeting we have proposed a number of theme sessions that will run on each day (either as a plenary session or a parallel session). The keynote speakers on each day are intended to (loosely) link to one or more of the themed sessions on that day. Please note that these proposed theme sessions are intended to be quite broad and inclusive in nature and we will be generous in interpreting the theme of any contributed talks, particularly as the nature of the proposed themes means there is always likely to be some overlap between the sessions. We will also include several 'Open' sessions where contributed talks will be accepted on any other themes relevant to theoretical ecology that are not covered by the main theme sessions. We want to be as inclusive as possible so please consider attending and contributing a talk or poster.

The 'Forum: modelling & ecology' session is designed as a forum for modellers and ecologists to discuss ways to pursue collaborative research. Case studies of research that links experimental and theoretical ecology would be ideally suited to this session. We would also welcome talks in this session from modellers looking for 'real data' to fit to their models or ecologists who need modelling expertise to help analyse or interpret their data.

Special issue: we will be producing a themed issue of Royal Society Interface Focus linked to the meeting. Please let us know if you would like to contribute a paper to the special issue when you register.

Registration for MATE 2011 has now closed.

Edward Codling

(Mathematical Sciences, Essex)

Alex Dumbrell

(Biological Sciences, Essex)

Sergei Petrovskiy (Leicester)

Andrew Morozov (Leicester)

Alan Hastings (UC Davis)

Jon Pitchford (York)

Horst Malchow (Osnabruck)

Stephen Simpson (Bristol)

Luiz Alberto Diaz Rodrigues (UFSM, Brazil)

Diomar Cristina Mistro (UFSM, Brazil)