Chain Event Graphs in Ecological Frameworks: Building Interdisciplinary Foundations

Background

Introductions of invasive non-native species are increasingly common and have huge ecological and economic costs, with cases regularly making mainstream headlines. The source of such outbreaks is often uncertain due to complex invasion pathways and diverse evidence. Chain event graphs offer a unique perspective bringing together mathematical descriptions of risk pathways, scientific evidence and expert knowledge for use in decision frameworks by policy-makers. Applying such approaches in the ecological domain has been largely unexplored and requires new interdisciplinary teams spanning mathematics, ecology, policy and social science to realise the full potential.

With funding from the Institute of Advanced Study at the University of Warwick (Interdisciplinary Research Development Award: Award Number 23131-26), we hope to catalyse new research collaborations in this space.

Through summer 2026, we will be running a series of online scoping workshops to explore potential use cases for more in-depth investigation across a range of ecological contexts. This includes;

• (Invasive) Risks to treescapes
• Vector-borne pest invasions in agriculture
• Decision pathways in species reintroduction programmes

Following on from this, we will hold an in-person workshop 9-10 November 2026, at the University of Warwick to bridge the interdisciplinary gaps in a minimal set of critical use cases. Through these workshops we aim to;

• facilitate networking with external stakeholders
• facilitate team formation in this new collaborative interdisciplinary research space
• generate exemplar CEGs demonstrating efficacy and utility
• identify knowledge gaps for further research

If you are interested in participating in any of the workshops, please complete the expression of interest form or get in touch with Kirsty Hassall at . Please note, places at the in-person workshop are limited and priority will be given to maximise cross-disciplinary representation. Once you have received an invitation to the November in-person workshop, please register your details at the registration page before Friday 30th October 2026.

In-person workshop:

Date: 9-10 November 2026

Venue: IAS Seminar Room, Zeeman Building, University of Warwick, CV4 7AL

All events will take place in the Zeeman building. Details of how to find this are included on the Practicalities page.

Schedule:

Organisers

Kirsty Hassall (University of Warwick)

Gail Robertson (BioSS)

Stephen Parnell (University of Warwick)

Amy Wilson (University of Edinburgh)

Kathrin Schutrumpf (University of Warwick)

Any queries should be directed to