Numbers of the future

The conference will bring together engineers with computer scientists, statisticians and data analysts, linguists, legal scholars, and policy analysts from across industrial, academic, and governmental institutions who must handle mission-critical data and calculations, sensitive or personal records, incomplete or bad data, or tracked data and calculations important in science, engineering, industry, commerce, finance, and forensics.  Using such data requires the collation and propagation of ancillary information that justifies the quantitative calculations and assessments in which they are used.  This multidisciplinary workshop is intended to foster cross-fertilization and creativity. 

The registration is now open at https://bit.ly/numbersofthefuture.

£100 fee for in-person registration will cover: 

• Attendance

• Lunch and refreshment breaks, and 

• Conference dinner.

On-line attendance has a £50 fee.  Additional tickets (£50 for accompanying persons includes the conference dinner, and social events) may be purchased at registration.

The registration is now open and participants can pay here. Online registration will be open until 2nd December 2025.   

PLEASE NOTE that publication of a full paper requested by acceptance of the corresponding abstract is dependent upon registration of at least one author on the paper. 

     31st October:     deadline for abstract submission

     1st November:     registration opens

     14th November:      notification of acceptance of presentation

     3rd December:     conference

January 2026:   special issue open

The conference will begin Wednesday 3rd December at 2pm. A detailed agenda will be provided soon.

Wednesday (afternoon) 

Thursday 

Friday

You can suggest possible keynote speakers on the expression of interest form.

Arnald Puy (University of Birmingham)

Ivan Oransky (Retraction Watch)

Katrina Groth; Enrico Zio; George Apostolakis;  William Kahan; Donald Knuth; Vladik Kreinovich; Lynne Billard; 

Selected papers from the conference will be invited for submission to a special issue of the International Journal of Approximate Reasoning.  

The expected publication timetable is

Conference 3-5 December 2025

Paper selection January 2026

Submission April 2026

Editorial decision

Publication

The conference will be held in person at the University of Liverpool in the Mason Bibby Common Room, Harrison Hughes Building, School of Engineering. Campus map reference: C7, Building 238. The presentations will also be live streamed for registrants via <<>>. 

The conference will be held in person at the University of Liverpool in the Central Teaching Hub (What3Words ///basin.causes.select).  The presentations will also be live streamed for registrants via <<>>. 

The closest hotel to the conference venue is Novotel (4 stars, £120 per night). Also close is the Hope Street Hotel (4 stars, £200 per night) and the Best Western Feathers <<>>.  There are many alternative options including the Premier Inn in downtown Liverpool <<>>, Holiday Inn Express on Albert Dock <<>>, and the Hilton facing Albert Dock <<>>.  Do not stay at the Adelphi Hotel.

Date: Thursday, 4th December 

Venue: TBA

Meeting point:

Date: <<TBA>> (Wednesday)

Venue: Museum of Liverpool, with views of the Liver Building and Albert Dock. 

Address: Pier Head, Liverpool, L3 1DG, England ///acted.transit.voted

Meeting point: You can join the group directly at the museum's front door, or, if you prefer, you can join us for a walk from the conference venue at 6 pm.

Menu: Dinner options will be announced before the conference, including special restricted dietary options. Please make your choice before the conference when receiving the menu. 

Program: We plan to arrive at 6:30pm at the museum front door. The museum will be open exclusively for us and we will have the opportunity to have a tour inside. At 7 pm, we will have a drink reception in a space that has some of the best views of Liverpool. More information about the museum can be found at their website http://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/mol/index.aspx.

By train

If you are travelling from within the UK, you may want to consider taking the train. We recommend the following website: https://www.thetrainline.com to check schedules and purchase tickets. When buying tickets, select "Liverpool All Stations".  You will want to take the train to Liverpool Lime Street, from which you can use within-Liverpool transportation options to the conference venue or your hotel.

By intercity coach

National Express is the only company that operates intercity coaches (regional-service buses). Check http://www.nationalexpress.com for schedules and tickets. The coach stops at the Liverpool One Bus Station from which you can use within-Liverpool transportation options to the conference venue or your hotel.

By automobile

Using the M62, at the end of the motorway, continue straight ahead onto Edge Lane (A5080 then A5047) and follow signs for Liverpool City Centre and the University of Liverpool.  Postcode for sat nav (GPS) or online directions is L3 5TR.  The What3Words of the conference venue are <<>>.

By airplane

The closest airport is Liverpool John Lennon Airport (LIV), but many international flights will more conveniently arrive at Manchester Airport (MAN).  From London Airports, you would probably prefer taking a train to Liverpool, the price for which ranges from £50 to £200.

From Manchester Airport, you can take an Uber or hire a car service from MAN to your hotel or the conference for about £80 per car. We often use Cyllenius Travel Services (+44(0)151-523-7734; cyllenius@hotmail.co.uk; https://www.cylleniustravelservices.co.uk).  You can also take a direct train (about £20 return) to Liverpool Lime Street station or a direct coach (about £15 return) to Liverpool One Bus Station. Both trips take about an hour and your stop will be the final stop, located in Liverpool's city center. 

From Liverpool John Lennon Airport, you can take a taxi or Uber to your hotel or the conference for about £30 or less.  You can also take bus 80A or 86A (about 45 min) to the city center. The 500 bus is usually faster (25 min) but not available 24 hours. See bus timetables here.  See also bus services from Liverpool Airport.  Regular train services run to and from Liverpool South Parkway rail station to Liverpool Central Station (on the Merseyrail Northern Line) or Liverpool Lime Street (on the Merseyrail City Line).  See also rail services from Liverpool Airport.

Abstracts

Abstracts are listed here <<>>. 

Presentations

Videos of the oral presentations <<>>.  Presentations are accessible here only with consent of the presenter.

Participants

Please inform the conference secretariat if you do not want your name and affiliation to appear here.

Pictures from the conference

<<>> Please inform the conference secretariat  if you do not want your photograph to appear here.

The conference is hosted by the Institute for Risk and Uncertainty at the University of Liverpool in the United Kingdom.

Co-chairs

Marco de Angelis, University of Strathclyde, United Kingdom

Scott Ferson, University of Liverpool, United Kingdom

Kari Sentz, Los Alamos National Laboratory, United States

<<cs?>>

Conference Secretariat
Andrea Jones
+44 0151 7944837
a.m.jones@liverpool.ac.uk 

Steering Committee (invited)

Ekaterina Auer, Hochschule Wismar, Germany

Anas Batou, University of Liverpool, United Kingdom

Michael Beer, Leibniz Universität Hannover, Germany

Conal Brown, TÜV Rheinland Industrial Services, United Kingdom

Mark Burgman, University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa, United States
Leslie Yu Chen, University of Liverpool, United Kingdom

Leonardo Michels Christo, Agência Nacional do Petróleo, Gás Natural e Biocombustíveis, Brasil
Silvio Funtowicz, Universitetet i Bergen, Norway
Ander Gray, Université de Technologie de Compiègne, France
Ioanna Ioannou, University College London, United Kingdom

Vladik Kreinovich, University of Texas at El Paso, United States

Adolphus Lye, National University of Singapore, Singapore

Enrique Miralles-Dolz, Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, United States

Jeremy NIcholls, Social Value International, United Kingdom

William L. Oberkampf, United States

Jason O'Rawe, Etsy, United States

Edoardo Patelli, University of Strathclyde, Scotland

Jerome Ravetz, University of Oxford, United Kingdom

Sebastian Timme, University of Liverpool, United Kingdom

<<Jeroen P. van der Sluijs, Universitetet i Bergen, Norway>>

<<Airbus; Tesco>>

<<FAIR>>

<<RW>>

Local Organizing Committee

Ioanna Ioannou

Nicholas Gray

Leslie Yu Chen

Conal Brown

Symbolic data https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symbolic_data_analysis ; https://www.ssca.org.in/media/2_SA2042021_SA_Dipanka_Bora_FINAL_Finally_R2_12062021.pdf 

Center for Open Science https://www.cos.io and the Open Science Framework https://osf.io 

Center for Scientific Integrity https://retractionwatch.com/the-center-for-scientific-integrity/ 

FAIR Guiding Principles for scientific data management and stewardship  https://www.go-fair.org/fair-principles/ 

NUSAP notation for communicating uncertainty https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NUSAP ; https://www.nusap.net 

Retraction Watch https://retractionwatch.com 

Next-generation science and engineering need their products, i.e., their documents, calculations, simulations, graphics and arguments, to be different in fundamental ways.  They must be

• distributed,
• collaborative,
• co-created,
• reproducible,
• recoverable,
• secure and lawful,
• archived automatically,
• checkable (uncertainties, units, typing, range errors, etc.),
• re-doable (new parameters, assumptions, better data), and
• accessible to support arduous peer review and citizen science, yet
• resistant to vandalism, abuse, and subversion by malware.

Many reasons have been articulated under the Open Science Initiative that would demand such changes.  But, even without these lofty appeals and prudent arguments, the plain practicality of these changes becomes evident in the overwhelming scope and interconnectedness of science and engineering today.  Our technological world built on proliferating proposals, assessments, comparisons, and calculations, and the workability of this world depends more and more on their clarity and transparency and on their reproducibility and demonstrable correctness.

This conference intends to foster discussions and collaboration on several related ideas:

§ Document abstraction. A semantic document markup language for report writing can make relevant gray literature accessible and useful.  You can't expect a busy person to read an abstract; it needs to be digested for them.  With a  markup language for document semantics and argumentation structure, a computer could read a text and understand (without conscious cognition) its main point, ancillary points, subplots, arguments, lines of evidence, the evidence itself, its sources and provenance, definitions, examples and counterexamples, and other germane aspects that allow it to fish up answers to questions such as "why?", "so what?", "what makes you think so?", and "how do you know?" that are much richer and more relevant than would be achievable using any scheme based on text searching alone.

§ Sharing platform for scientific models. Marco De Angelis envisions a platform for sharing scientific and engineering models and analyses for peer review and citizen science with a user-interface generator for scientific and engineering codes that enables modelers to share their models with others without bothering with designing a user interface. The platform handles wrangling data conversions, checking dimensional soundness, and even elementary uncertainty analysis. It automatically archives submissions and executions, tracks provenance of data sources, and publishes justifications for modelling choices about parameter values and assumptions. Such a scheme could help to modernise peer review and establish standards for accessibility that could improve transparency and scientific review generally.  Tracy Kijewski et al.  have described a geospatially explicit platform for managing real-time risk assessment, situational awareness and resilience planning by local governments during hurricanes and storms featuring cloud-based computation of efficient surrogates of meteorological models, pre-event caching of model results, collaborative visualisation on maps, and privacy and security through role-designated access.

§ Self-documenting statistics. Researchers who must analyze data and use statistics, especially if this is not their main job, could really an interactive checklist and documentation tool for statistical analyses.  The idea is that, several months after you did any analysis (or, worse, a series of analyses), it’s often very difficult to reconstruct exactly what you did. Such a tool would assemble all the essential details and inputs together into one place and in a standard format. It could automatically create files that document the analysis for use in reports. The software would be useful to comply with ISO9000 record keeping rules or with OMB's “peer review standards” guidance.

§ Memo minder. The problem with institutional memory is that it degenerates as the humans in those institutions forget and retire. The office workers we all have to deal with require adherence to certain rules even if no one in the office can quite explain why those rules exist, saying unhelpfully, “That’s the way we do it.” Sometimes the loss of history is beyond mere inefficiency. Today’s NASA could not go to the moon without a substantial and costly ramp-up effort to recover the expertise of the engineers now in retirement homes or already lost to the world. Peggy Sutherland of Long Island Science (formerly of Brookhaven National Laboratory) suggests using an elaborated computerized record system to answer questions "Why do we do this?" (and "When can we stop?") by keeping track of institutional motivations, promises, justifications and their champions, reasons legal and otherwise for the various ways and rules governing the conduct of business, retention and destruction of records, etc. [The allusion is to the memo minder in the Tom Cruise breakout hit film Risky Business, and by subreference to The Jetsons' robotic organiser, not to the misnamed in-home dementia aid.]

§ Data side-collection. Conal Brown of TÜV Rheinland suggests using text analytics and natural language processing to analyse and categorize engineering inspection records (which engineers often have boatloads of).  Engineering companies expend considerable effort to collect and store this information, but it is difficult to access after collection and it is very difficult to survey for trends in the data, which would be helpful to the discipline of engineering as a whole if it were available. The information could be more accessible to its owners and more available to researchers by making small changes in how the information is recorded and stored. 

§ Data provenence. Good practice in engineering and progress in science depend on having a reliable scheme to manage the collection, curation and promulgation of data along with details about that collection, curation and promulgation. Losing track of where the data came from and who collected it can be as great a loss as from losing track of the measurement uncertainty associated with the data, which is arguably almost as great a loss as losing track of the units the data were measured in. The interpretation of data depends on its context. Formalizing a system to manage an inclusive conception of data provenance is key to managing the torrent of data coming in the Internet of Things.  The provenance identifies the origin of each number and the details needed to understand its nature and justification that can be used to trace its chain of emendations, if any, that have been made to it as an explicit history that shows all prior values.  The meaning of the word ‘provenance’ here is as it is in the art world.  The provenance includes extended research credits for non-author contributions (sensu Emogor et al. 2025. Crediting non-author contributors in scientific publishing. Nature Human Behaviour. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-025-02123-7).  The provenance of a number answers essential questions about it such as ‘Where did this come from?’ and ‘How can we trust it is authentic?’.

§ Version control and trust. The trustworthiness of technical arguments and reliability of the answers they produce depend not only the transparency of the arguments, traceability of the analyses and the data on which they are based, and demonstration of correctness of the analyses, but also it requires that the data they depend on are legitimate, possibly reproducible, and that the assumptions are still justified, or at least were justified at the time they were made. Guaranteeing data in the past was a matter of good faith and honor among researchers in the world before climate deniers, anti-vaxxers, Flat Earthers, and Jugalos played such as prominent role in the public discourse. But it is not only today's inter-individual and institutional mistrust, but also the sheer volume of data and growing importance of algorithms in our technological world that demand a more secure system that automatically protects against mistakes, vandalism, and lies. Various technologies for version control and trust schemes have been suggested, including models used by Wikipedia (a comprehensive set of rules and an army of human and robotic editors), pre-publication announcements of experimental design, Github's open-history publication, and blockchain-mediated publishing for guaranteed authenticity. Bob Williamson of Australian National University shared his proposal "Mnemosyne–End-to-end Trustworthy Data Analytics for Science, Industry and Society".file:///C:\Users\ferson\Google%20Drive\Proposals\Rob%20Williamson%20%20MnemosyneRedacted.docx)

§ Sharing platform for data science. Jason O'Rawe envisions a platform for open-source data science, with version control, snippets, commentary, collaborative editing and testing, linkability, and features for interoperability. (file:///D:\Google%20Drive\slides\jason.pptx)

§ Human algorithms. Science-fiction writer Isaac Asimov's first "law of robotics" is that a robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.  But no one has yet fully explained exactly what is included under 'harm', nor how a robot or computer would be able to always recognise harm in the first place.  Recent experience in human−machine interactions has made clear what some of the problems are, and that harm can range widely from annoyance to injustice, and from aggravation to catastrophe.  William Kahan has suggested that algorithms need to be humane. Humane algorithms would be computer software that, insofar as is possible, (i) accepts control from humans, or relinquishes it back to them, in ways that humans find workable, (ii) checks human inputs for errors and misconceptions, (iii) self-diagnoses problems or aberrant behaviour of the algorithms, (iv) protects privacy by securing or progressively anonymising personal information, (v) creates outcomes and situations that humans would judge as equitable or fair, (vi) recognises, accepts and accommodates diversity among users, (vii) flexibly accepts inputs from humans in disparate formats, (viii) does not require humans to respond to queries precisely, immediately, or at all, (ix) handles errors and unusual conditions in ways that do not result in catastrophic system failure, (x) makes conservative/fail-safe assumptions, (xi) does not unnecessarily burden humans, (xii) is transparent, or at least interrogatable, about its internal functioning, (xiii) helps humans to understand outputs and outcomes effected by the algorithms, and (xiv) complements human skills. These properties may group under fundamentally four issues: fairness, workability, risk-awareness, and trackability.  In essence, humane algorithms are computer algorithms that work and play well with humans, anticipating and serving their needs and frailties.
Collecting data while maintaining privacy,
Bad data and various uncertainty projection projects,
Numbers of the past (inspection records),
Interpreting hedge words and verbally encoded numerical expressions,
Expert elicitation,sk governance and regulatory compliance.

How can I register?  What are the registration rates?

See conference website for details, especially the Registration section. The registration rate is £100 per person. On-line participants can register with a reduced fee of £50.

I'm a presenter.  Is there a presentation template I should be using?

We don't provide a template. However, each slide should be labelled with its slide number and the total number of slides, and your presentation should have a title slide containing the

• presentation title,

• author name(s),

• affiliation(s),

• logo of your institution or sponsors if appropriate, and 

• date of your presentation.

Do I need to upload my presentation in advance?

You do not have to, but we will provide a submission page <<>> open for uploading before the workshop. Your presentation will not be shared to anyone without your explicit consent.

Will I receive a certificate of attendance?

Yes. A certificate of attendance is available upon request by emailing the conference secretariat, Ms Andrea Jones, a.m.jones@liverpool.ac.uk, following the conference.

I am an overseas participant and need a letter of invitation before I can receive my visa. What is the procedure?

The conference organisers will provide letters of invitation upon request to registrants provided that their registration fee is paid in full. 

How much should I budget for my stay?

Typically a hotel room per night will cost less than £100, and an evening meal in a restaurant costs between £20 and £40. 

My question is not listed here. Whom do I contact to ask it?

Please address questions to the conference secretariat, Ms Andrea Jones, a.m.jones@liverpool.ac.uk, +4401517944837.

Liverpool is a vibrant and friendly city of nearly half a million people.  A world city for over a century, its extraordinary history and rich inheritance in music, architecture, museums, and sports makes it a top tourist destination in Europe.  This city has been an important centre for industry and innovation.  It is a terminus of the first steam passenger railroad in the world, and today it's one of the most rapidly growing economies in the UK.

Liverpool is one of the most decorated footballing cities in England, home to both Everton Football Club and Liverpool F.C. who together have won 27 titles in the Premier League.  Tickets usually cost between £50 and £150, but Everton v. Liverpool will be £300 or more. 

Liverpool is a fun city for sightseeing and walking tours.  It has over 250 open landmark buildings with one of the biggest varieties of architectural styles, combining modern architecture and 16th century Tudor buildings. For this reason, the city has become the most filmed city in the UK outside London. The Royal Albert Dock and the waterfront of the busy River Mersey is perfect for an afternoon or evening walk.

The city is also known as the “World Capital City of Pop”. It recently hosted the Eurovision Song Contest, and it has been important as the home of many famous musicians and bands like Billy Fury, Frankie Vaughan, Gerry and the Pacemakers, Echo and The Bunnymen, Elvis Costello, Orchestral Manoeuvres in The Dark, Flock of Seagulls, Frankie Goes to Hollywood, The Real Thing, and of course The Beatles. One can visit the historic Cavern Club to listen to live bands playing new music and covers of the ‘Fab Four’, and visit The Beatles Story museum to learn their history. 

Liverpool hosts an extraordinary assemblage of museums and galleries including Museum of Liverpool, Maritime Museum, International Slavery Museum, The Beatles Story, World Museum, FACT Liverpool, Walker Art Gallery, Sudley House, Lady Lever Art Gallery, Victoria Gallery & Museum, Garstang Museum of Archaeology, and various other attractions across the city and at Albert Dock.  The popular Tate Liverpool, host to major international exhibitions of modern art, is currently closed for refurbishment, but some of its works can be seen at a satellite gallery nearby. 

Day trips by coach to scenic 'beauty sites' and tours through Wales and to its highest peak Snowdon (Yr Wyddfa) are very popular.  The train to the ancient city of Chester costs less than £10, takes about 50 minutes, and offers many departure and return times daily.

By taxi

Uber and hackney carriage (the iconic British black taxicab) are available in Liverpool. Ask the driver to take you to your hotel or, if coming directly to the conference, to the University of Liverpool at <<Brownlow Hill and Peach Street>>. In addition to Uber, there are several local taxi companies, such as Alpha (telephone: +44 151 722 8888), Excel (telephone: +44 151 728 8888) and Delta (telephone: +44 151 922 7373). 

From Liverpool Lime Street or Liverpool Central Station, taxis are the most convenient way to the university.  From the Liverpool One Bus Station, it might be more convenient to take local bus #79 to the University of Liverpool at the Crown Street stop (8 minutes) for £2.  You could also walk to the university (20 minutes) but the trek is uphill the entire way.

Campus map

Below is a map showing the location of the Central Teaching Hub where the conference will be held, and a broader map of the University within the Knowledge Quarter of Liverpool.  You can also access the University's maps at https://www.liverpool.ac.uk/maps/university-map/.