Summary

In the last years, the trend in data sciences was shifting from model-driven towards data-driven methods. A number of recent data-driven methods make use of self-similarity of patterns within the data by relating information that is not necessarily in a close proximity. These methods are termed as ‘nonlocal methods’ and constitute a rather new field of mathematical research. Nonlocal algorithms ideally incorporate information from all available data. However, the use of nonlocal methods is still restricted to academic toy projects. There is still a large gap between the academic theories for  nonlocal methods and their practical application to real-world problems: the reason why those methods work so well in practice is far from being fully understood.

The main goal of NoMADS is to build a large multidisciplinary network of universities and companies to fill the current gaps between theory and applications of nonlocal methods. Our consortium brings together a strong international group of leading researchers from mathematics (applied and computational analysis, statistics, and optimisation), computer vision, and data mining. We aim to significantly increase understanding and applicability of nonlocal methods in a wide range of applications. Our long-term vision is to discover fundamental mathematical principles for the characterization of nonlocal operators, the development of new robust and efficient algorithms, and the implementation of those in high quality software products for real-world applications.

This kickoff meeting is meant to bring together experts from the academic and industrial sector involved in this project. The aim of this event is to give a broad overview on nonlocal methods in mathematics and computer science. We will discuss the current state-of-the-art as well as open questions in terms of their theory, discretization, limit processes, and optimization. Furthermore, we will put a special focus on possible real world applications of nonlocal methods for industrial data processing and analysis tasks.

Schedule

Schedule for Monday, 12th March:

Schedule for Tuesday, 13th March:

Venue

The NoMADS kickoff meeting will take place in the foyer and in room SRZ 19 on the ground floor of the Seminarraumzentrum (SRZ) of the University of Münster, which is situated at Orléans-Ring 12 in front of the Institute for Analysis and Numerics. The location is marked on this Google map.

The SRZ is in walking distance from the Hotel am Schlosspark and can otherwise be reached by taking one of the regular bus services (see timetable) until the bus stop "Coesfelder Kreuz" using:

• bus lines 1, 5, 11, 12, 13, and 22 if you start at the main station "Hauptbahnhof" (see this map)
• bus lines 1 and 5 if you start from the hotel Überwasserhof using the bus stations "Rosenplatz" or "Überwasserstraße" (see this map)

To get to the SRZ from Coesfelder Kreuz you just have to cross the ring road and turn left (see this map).

Accomodation

We reserved rooms for all participants of this event in the hotels Überwasserhof and Hotel am Schlosspark. Both hotels are quite central and one can walk to the beautiful city center of Münster as well as to the Seminarraumzentrum, in which the kickoff meeting will take place.

We planned a dinner at the local brewery Pinkus Brauerei in the old town of Münster on Monday evening, 7pm.

All important locations for this meeting are marked on this Google map.

Contact

In case of organizational questions for this event please send an e-mail to daniel.tenbrinck@uni-muenster.de.