MIR@W Day

Join us for a Mathematical Psychology Network event, bringing together researchers from Warwick’s Departments of Psychology and Mathematics to explore shared interests and develop new interdisciplinary collaborations. The program centers around three broad themes of agent-based, Markov chain, and reinforcement learning models.

Speakers from both departments will give short presentations on ongoing or planned work that may benefit from cross-disciplinary expertise.

Organisers: Dr. Joyce W. Zhao, (Wenjia-Joyce.Zhao@warwick.ac.uk) and Dr. Maria M. Robinson, (Maria.Robinson@warwick.ac.uk)

Date: 15 May 2026

Location: IAS Seminar Room

Who should attend?: Staff in Psychology and Mathematics (all career stages), but colleagues from other departments with relevant interests are also welcome (space permitting).

Confirmation of attendance registration form:

Programme

11:00AM-12:00PM	Lunch
12:10-12:40PM	Towards using Markov Chain Monte Carlo as a standard model of human cognition Prof. Adam N. Sanborn
12:45-13:15PM	Linking choices and their response times to perception using Markov reward processes Dr. James S. Adelman
13:20-13:55PM	Coffee break
14:00-14:30PM	Agent-based models of affective polarization Prof. Gordon D. A. Brown
14:35-15:05PM	Modelling individual differences in adaptive cognitive training Lumosity games Dr. Maria M. Robinson
15:10-15:40PM	Optimal multi-objective reinforcement learning with psychological constraints Dr. Joyce W. Zhao
15:45-16:45PM	Informal networking reception

Talk titles and abstracts: Coming soon.

Join (in person):

Please register here:

Mathematics Research Centre

Just turn up.

Outcomes: Expected outputs of the day include, forming collaborations and project ideas between Psychology and Mathematics, identifying shared theoretical, methodological or analytic research interests, and discussing potential for future interdisciplinary workshops, working groups, or joint proposals.

Discussion prompts (to guide the open discussion): Through short talks from Psychology researchers, the event will present ideas in development that use mathematical and computational models to study human cognition and behaviour, with a focus on where mathematical perspectives may open up new directions for analysis. For colleagues in Mathematics, the event offers a chance to engage with concrete psychological problems that may benefit from mathematical insight. For colleagues in Psychology, it provides an opportunity to discuss how related modelling challenges are emerging across different areas. We hope the event will encourage a shared conversation among all participants about where collaboration between Mathematics and Psychology could be most valuable.

Discussion will center around the three talk themes as well as broader questions, such as Are there news ways in which mathematics can help refine psychological theories and the way we measure cognition and behaviour? What kinds of mathematical contributions are missing in current psychological models, including from applied and ‘pure’ mathematics? What follow-up activities (reading groups, follow-up meetings, grant writing workshops) would best support longer-term collaboration after the event?