Participant Testimonials
This was an extremely good event. The programme was both very stimulating and comprehensive. All the participants clearly took it seriously as the papers and contributions were all very well done. Personally, I learned a lot and left with a considerable amount of new knowledge and much food for thought, which will have a long-term influence on my own work and that of some of my collaborators. It was also a great pleasure and a privilege to be invited and to be able to spend a week at BIRS. This is a superb centre; a tribute to those who created, developed and funded it. And of course to those who run it today: we were made very welcome, the friendly and supportive atmosphere created by the BIRS staff undoubtedly enhanced the workshop. It was also good to be reunited with some well-known skew-ellipticals, other folk that I’ve met before and to meet new people. Not for the first time, I was reminded that statisticians are a great group: invariably smart and always fun to be with.
The participation to the workshop on "Non-Gaussian Multivariate Statistical Models and their Applications" was a wonderful experience of which I shall keep a most pleasant memory in the years ahead. The BIRS organisation and facilities are outstanding, in an exceptionally beautiful location, and it was clear since the beginning of the workshop that the days ahead were going to be most stimulating. Indeed, in the following days, the presentations and the discussions, both in the formal and in the informal occasions, have been up to that initial perception. The workshop has offered the opportunity deepen interaction with people that I already new, but even more importantly I had the chance to meet people of whom previously I had only known the publications. Getting together with them and talking informally in a comfortable atmosphere has offered the possibility of perceiving new perspectives. All of this is offering to me a wider perspective of the theme were I am involved as well as a chance of new collaborations. I believe that the organizers have put together an excellent list of names, blending together contributions from different but related streams of the literature. This will contribute to a step forward of the discipline.
Scienze Statistiche, Università di Padova
The workshop went off very well, with lots of interesting presentations and discussions about the past, present and the future with regard to research in the focus of the workshop. Everyone enjoyed the event, the location and the facility immensely. A small group of us also discussed the possibility of putting forward a proposal for another workshop on the theme of "Stochastic Orders and Their Applications" and with special focus on reliability. I am meeting with two of them in a few weeks time in South Africa in a major reliability conference when we may finalize the details so that we can put forward a proposal. Overall, the event was a grand success and thanks for providing an opportunity for us to organize this workshop on Non-Gaussian Multivariate Statistical Models and Their Applications.
Many people participating in the workshop have a high research level. It was great to have the opportunity of hearing them in live. I have had the opportunity of knowing them and also of meeting another people that otherwise I wouldn't know. In my case, this unexpected contacts have been the most promising, in the sense that I have been discussing some ideas with them that hopefully will yield new future research projects. In summary: I have learnt many new things and I have been discussing about new research projects with professors that I did not know before.
It was a great opportunity for exchange with colleagues. The level of the talks and the discussion was superb. I have particularly appreciated the fact that in this meeting two different groups of researchers were put together to discuss a common problem. I have learned different perspectives for my own research.
MEMOTEF, University La Sapienza of Rome
This was a wonderful workshop in an inspiring location. For me it was an opportunity to meet in the flesh some figures in the area whose work I have been reading for a number of years. I now have a series of ideas to follow up and a number of potential collaborators. I feel certain this workshop experience will lead to new research outputs and I return home reinvigorated.
Actuarial Mathematics and Statistics, Heriot-Watt University
The workshop was quite stimulating. I also got the chance to work with two of my coauthors and we made substantial progress on our joint project by solving a tricky convergence result about empirical processes with pseudo observations. Otherwise, I was happy to meet new colleagues and spend a week in such a charming location.
Mathematics and Statistics, McGill University
It was a wonderful opportunity that top researchers in both skew-symmetric distribution and copula gather and discuss different aspects. Meeting top researchers in both fields is a treasure in my research life. I have learned a lot on both fields. Discussions stimulate my new research directions.
