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                CALL FOR SESSION ORGANISERS AND PAPERS 

                             ISBA 2000
The 6th World Meeting of the International Society for Bayesian Analysis

               Hersonissos, Crete, May 28-June 1 2000                 

The 6th World Meeting of ISBA will take place in Crete between May 28 and
June 1 2000. ISBA is pleased to announce participation and co-sponsorship
from EUROSTAT and from the Association of Balkan Statisticians.  

The Scientific Committee solicits proposals from individuals interested in
organising sessions, and also from authors of individual papers. A major 
focus of the meeting is Bayesian methods in government, official statistics
and public policy, and several sessions will be reserved for presentations 
on topics related to the theme. Beyond this, the meeting will feature sessions 
on research and applications of Bayesian statistics in many diverse areas, 
especially on topics consistent with the interdisciplinary outlook and mission 
of ISBA. Talks will be organised in sessions of 2 or (mainly) 3 presentations,
each talk being 30 minutes long, including discussion time. 

We invite proposals from: 

   * session organisers interested in putting together a session of 2 or 3
     talks on a specific topic, and 
   * contributing speakers on any topic.

We particularly encourage proposals in areas related to the meeting theme.
Suggested session topics are listed below, though proposals need not be
restricted to these areas. 

Possible "THEME" topics:
          Bayesian methods and official statistics
          Statistics in the European Union
          Bayesian statistics in national and international finance
	  Confidentiality and disclosure limitation
          Economic and governmental forecasting
          Government accounting and/or auditing
          Risk assessment (environmental, economic/business, etc)
          Bayesian methods in insurance 
	  Bayesian methods in agriculture
          Decision analysis in government policy
	  Statistics in education and education policy
          Bayesian methods in political science 
	  Bayesian methods in sampling and census, including
		non-response in surveys
	  Bayesian statistics in public health (disease mapping,
		health care policy, program evaluation, etc).

Under the general theme of government and official statistics, we solicit 
proposals for one or more formatted sessions with two or three speakers
presenting a coordinated discussion of important statistical and societal 
problems. Such a session might involve a subject matter expert to present
the problem and background work, followed by one or two speakers discussing
specific Bayesian approaches and contributions, highlighting challenges
and unsolved problems, and possibly discussing advantages of Bayesian
methods over earlier (Bayesian and non-Bayesian) approaches. 

We expect to publish many of the theme papers in a special issue of the 
EUROSTAT journal, "Research in Official Statistics."  Full details of the 
plan and schedule will be announced shortly.

In addition to the theme topics, we encourage proposals for sessions and talks 
in any area of Bayesian statistics and decision science, including topics in  
theory, methodology and applications.

Proposals from session organisers must include the names of proposed speakers
(preferably 3 speakers) and a session chair. Proposers of such sessions will
assume responsibility for managing the speakers and ensuring a successful 
session at the meeting. Tentative titles of all talks should be included
with the names of proposed speakers. Individual authors should simply send 
a proposed title for their talk. All proposals should include full email
addresses of all named participants, as well as their institutional affiliations. 
All individuals interested in presenting at the meeting will be able to do so, 
in either a plenary or parallel session of talks, or in evening poster sessions.
Individuals who prefer to present in a poster session should mention that on 
their submission. 

All proposals should be emailed to Mike West, and all future correspondence 
with the Scientific Committee will be carried out electronically. Enquiries 
can be emailed to any member of the Scientific Committee.  To be given full
consideration, proposals for sessions or for individual talks must be
received no later than OCTOBER 1, 1999.   While we will accept proposals
that are received later than the October 1 deadline, we cannot promise that
all organizers' requests will be met.

Future developments and details of ISBA 2000, as they become available, will
be posted on the ISBA web site:  www.bayesian.org 

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ISBA 2000 Scientific Committee:

 Alicia Carriquiry  				     [log in to unmask]
    Iowa State University, Ames IA
    USA
 George Kokolakis 				 [log in to unmask]
    National Technical University of Athens
    Greece
 Daniel Pena                                     [log in to unmask]
    University Carlos III, Madrid 
    Spain
 Gilbert Saporta                                        [log in to unmask]
    Conservatoire National des Arts et Metiers, Paris
    France
 Adrian Smith 						 [log in to unmask]
    Queen Mary and Westfield College, London
    England
 Mike West (Committee Chair) 	                       [log in to unmask] 
    Duke University, Durham NC 
    USA 

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