Dear GRASPA-SIS members,

we have the pleasure to draw your attention on the forthcoming initiatives of the group:

1. The TIES-GRASPA 2017 conference on Climate and Environment, which will take place in Bergamo (Italy) from 24 to 26 July 2017, is fast approaching and now abstract submission and registration are open. See graspa.org/ties2017 for all the conference information and updates. The GRASPA-SIS group will contribute to the conference with:

• two plenary sessions featuring Sudipto Banerjee (University of California, USA) and Brunero Liseo (University of Roma, Italy);
• the following invited sessions organized by GRASPA-SIS members:
  • “Spatial modeling for epidemiological data” by Massimo Ventrucci (University of Bologna) and Maria Franco Villoria (University of Torino)
  • “Spatial statistics in climate and environmental studies” by Carlo Gaetan (Ca’ Foscari University of Venice)
  • “Environmental directional statistics” and “Hidden Markov models in climate and environment” by Francesco Lagona (University of Roma Tre)
  • “Spatial analysis of Complex and Object data”, “Spatial data analysis and partial differential equations” and “Spatial data analysis on spheres and other bidimensional manifolds” by Laura Sangalli and Piercesare Secchi (Politecnico di Milano)
  • “Advances in weather forecasting” by Orietta Nicolis (University of Valparaiso, Chile)
  • “Inference on Gauss Markov Random Fields” by Luigi Ippoliti (University of Chieti-Pescara)
  • “Bayesian ecological modelling and biodiversity assessment” by Alessio Pollice (University of Bari)
  • “Interaction between population and environment” by Daniela Cocchi (University of Bologna)
  • “Some new developments in the R-INLA project” by Michela Cameletti (University of Bergamo) and Marta Blangiardo (Imperial College, London)
  • “Complex space-time modeling and functional analysis for probabilistic forecast of seismic events” by Renata Rotondi (CNR-IMATI Milano) and Giada Adelfio (University of Palermo)
  • “Environmental processes and human activities: capturing their interactions via statistical methods (EPHASTAT)” by Daniela Cocchi (University of Bologna) as PI of the PRIN 2015 EPHASTAT project
  • “Entropy measures and their applications” by Alessio Pollice (University of Bari) and Giovanna Jona Lasinio (Sapienza University of Rome).

2. During the TIES-GRASPA 2017 conference the general biennial meeting of the GRASPA-SIS group will take place. The agenda will include: formal list of the GRASPA-SIS members, regulation of the GRASPA-SIS group and membership fee. You will receive a formal invitation soon.
3. The SIS 2017 Statistical Conference on Statistics and Data Science: new challenges, new generations, will take place in Florence from 28 to 30 June 2017. See http://meetings2.sis-statistica.org/index.php/sis2017/sis2017 for all the conference information and updates. The GRASPA-SIS group will contribute to the conference with the specialized session: “GRASPA: Analysis of complex spatial data” by Luigi Ippoliti (University of Chieti-Pescara) and Lucia Paci (Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, Milano).
4. The next Applied Bayesian Statistics (ABS) summer school about “MODELING SPATIAL AND SPATIO-TEMPORAL DATA WITH ENVIRONMENTAL APPLICATIONS” will take place in Como (Italy) from 19 to 23 June 2017. The lecturer is Prof. Bruno Sansó from University of California at Santa Cruz, USA. For more information visit http://www.mi.imati.cnr.it/conferences/abs17/home.htm

With our best regard,

the GRASPA-SIS board