Old Members’ Trust Graduate Conference and Academic Travel Fund Report – Rebecca Colquhoun (2020, Environmental Research (NERC DTP))

Thanks to the Old Members Trust Graduate Conference and Academic Travel Fund, I was able to travel to attend the 12th “StatSei” Statistical Seismology Meeting. The school was based in Cargèse on the island of Corsica, in October 2022.

We were met at the airport and taken to the conference centre perched close to the beach in the Corsican countryside. After dropping our bags, we met up for drinks and pizza and to start to get to know each other.

Over the week, the program was divided into four main topics – observations, advances in data processing, mechanical and seismicity models, and forecasting. Whilst my research largely falls into the first category — my research uses thousands of observations of earthquakes to look for parameters which differentiate the beginnings of big and small earthquakes, I found all the talks very thought provoking. In particular, it was interesting to meet and hear from people who are formally trained as statisticians and whose research covers everything from COVID to earthquakes!

At the conference I presented a poster on some of my DPhil work. In doing this, I had the opportunity to get feedback from a number of eminent scientists in the field. The conversations we had, and the comments I received have proved invaluable in my development of the work I presented, including incorporating a new parameter into my calculations and looking further into the impact of earthquake duration. I also met a number of people with whom I would be interested in collaborating with in the future.

We also had a number of opportunities for informal networking. This was the first conference I have attended where I felt that I already knew some people, which made for a more relaxed experience. I feel these friendships which I further developed over the meeting, and the new friends I made during the week will be valuable in the future. Thank you to the Old Members Trust for giving me the opportunity to attend.

Find out more about the range of travel grants and scholarships available to assist Univ students on our Travel Grants page or read further travel reports.

Published: 2 March 2023

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