Statistical Mechanics of the Climate System and of Ecosystems

International Conference at the University of Leicester, Leicester, UK
1-3 July 2025

Satellite Workshop of StatPhys29 - the 29th International Conference of Statistical Physics, Florence, Italy
13-18 July 2025 - Link

Keynote speakers

  • Alan Hastings , UC Davis
    Spatial Ecology
  • Sandro Azaele, University of Padua
    Statistical Mechanics of Ecological Systems
  • Matthew Colbrook, University of Cambridge
    Koopman operator-based analysis of complex systems
  • Nisha Chandramoorthy, University of Chicago
    Algorithms for understanding Variability and Response to Perturbations in Complex Systems
  • Juergen Kurths, PIK-Potsdam
    Network Theory and Climate Dynamics
  • Susanne Ditlevsen, University of Copenhagen
    Early Warning Signals for Critical Transitions
  • Liubov Tupikina, CNRS
    Dissecting embedding methods: learning higher-order structures from environmental data
  • Jonathan Daemayer, Royal Meteorological Institute
    Climate Predictability across Scales
  • Johannes Lohmann, University of Copenhagen
    Multistability of the Ocean Circulation
  • Kyle Welch, Physical Review Letters
    American Physical Society: Climate and Ecosystems
  • Others TBC

Themes

The ongoing climate crisis and Holocene mass extinction are extremely serious challenges faced by humanity. A rapidly evolving and increasing interdisciplinary scholarship is addressing causes, impacts, and potential solutions or at least adaptation and mitigation measures. Ideas borrowed from statistical physics, dynamical systems, stochastic processes together with numerical modelling and extensive deployment of the most recent methodologies of Deep Learning and data-driven methods in general are moving forward the understanding of the climate system and of ecosystems.

A great deal of work is devoted to the understanding of phenomena like extreme events in weather and climate, tipping points, multi/metastability, response to perturbations, long transients in ecosystems, and mass extinctions. On the other hand, ideas of general relevance for mathematics, physics, and data science are taking inspiration from problems emerging in Earth system science, where multiscale dynamics lacking the comfort zone given by presence of time scale separation requires the need to go beyond classical model reduction methods and a detailed analysis of the interplay of non-trivial noise laws and non-markovian effects.

Our initiative, which contributes to StatPhys29 as a topical satellite workshop, wishes to explore this exciting interdisciplinary field and bring together a group of diverse scientists. We invite contributions on a wide range of topics from and around statistical mechanics, including large deviation theory, extreme events, response theory, nonlinear dynamics and chaos, diffusion processes, pattern formation, metastability, early-warning indicators, reduced order modelling, interpretable machine learning, with a special focus on the climate sytems and ecosystems. Contributions of methodological nature are also welcome.

Key info

  • Venue: Sir Bob Burgess Building , Leicester LE2 6BF (view on Google Maps)
    Check-in and badge collection in Room 1.02
  • Registration opens: 8.30 am, 1 July
  • Programme start: 9.30 am, 1 July
  • Conference dinner: 7.00 pm, 2 July
  • Programme ends: 17.00 am, 3 July

Presenter guidelines

  • Invited keynote talks:
    35 mins (+ 10 min for questions and changeover). Please send us your slides at least 12 hours before the start of your talk. Accepted formats: .pptx, .pdf, Google Slides link.
  • Contributed talks:
    15 mins (+ 5 min for questions and changeover). Please send us your slides at least 12 hours before the start of your talk. Accepted formats: .pptx, .pdf, Google Slides link.
  • Poster presenters:
    Please bring your poster already printed. Maximum poster dimensions: size A0. We will have multiple ways of putting up your poster depending on the format.

Important dates

  • Abstract submission deadline: 15 May 2025
  • Notification of acceptance: Sent on 17 May 2025
  • Early-bird registration deadline: 22 May 2025
  • Registration deadline: 2 June 2025

Abstract submission

Abstract submissions will soon be opened. Please contact for information.

Registration

Late registration TBC

The registration fee includes full attendance (Tuesday to Thursday), lunch, coffee breaks, and the poster reception on Tuesday evening. Attendees are invited to join the self-funded dinner on Wednesday evening.

  • Student fee: £70
  • Early-bird regular fee (until 22 May 2025): £100
  • Regular fee: £150

Support

Early career

If you are an early-career researcher and face difficulties covering the costs of attending this conference, please get in touch with us as we may have limited funds available to support early-career researchers. Please understand that decisions will be made on a case-by-case basis.

Venue

The conference will take place in the Sir Bob Burgess Building, Leicester LE2 6BF. Come to Room 1.02 for check-in and badge collection.

Getting there. Located in the heart of England, Leicester is conveniently linked by rail to other UK cities (London - 1h, Birmingham - 1h, Leeds - 2h, Edinburgh - 5h) and airports (East Midlands Airport - 1h, London Luton and Birmingham Intl Airport - 1.5h, London Heathrow and Stansted - 2.5h).

Accommodation

We recommend College Court, a conference centre and hotel connected with the University of Leicester that offers convenient and affordable rooms. College Court Hotel is located about 1 mile from the conference venue (20-25 min walk). Rooms there can be booked through booking.com or expedia.co.uk. Alternatively, Leicester offers a wide range of accommodation options to meet your preferences.

Organisers

Contact: v.lucarini@leicester.ac.uk

This workshop is partially supported by the American Physical Society, by the London Mathematical Society, by the International Centre for Mathematical Sciences, by the School of Computing and Mathematical Sciences of the University of Leicester, and by the University of Chicago's AI for Climate. This event is a satellite workshop of StatPhys29.