From Data to Actionable Insight

HDDA-XV CONFERENCE

August 12-14, 2026

Istanbul Medipol University

Deadline: 01 June 2026

Invitation

We are pleased to invite you to join the 15th Conference on High Dimensional Data Analysis (HDDA-XV), which will be held at Istanbul Medipol University, Istanbul, Türkiye, in 12-15 August 2026. This workshop offers a premier forum where theory, methodology, and applications of high-dimensional statistics and data analysis converge. With the explosion of complex, large-scale data (for example from genomics, finance, environmental monitoring, social networks, and industrial sensing), the need for robust, scalable inference and computational methods has never been greater. The conference theme, ‘From data to actionable insight’, reflects the data-driven dynamics of the field and highlights current perspectives in this domain.

You are encouraged to submit contributed talks or posters, as well as propose special sessions focused on emerging and interdisciplinary themes. HDDA-XV will be offered in a hybrid format to allow both in-person and remote participation, fostering global accessibility. The conference is organized by the Multi-Omics Design and Analysis Studio (MODAS), which is part of the SABITA Institute at Istanbul Medipol University. We look forward to gathering an international community of researchers, practitioners and early-career scholars to exchange ideas, initiate collaborations and chart future directions in high-dimensional data analysis.

Contact email address: [email protected]

About HDDA

Distinguished Professor S. Ejaz Ahmed founded the High-Dimensional Data Analysis (HDDA) workshop series in 2011. Hosted by the Fields Institute in Toronto, the series has since become one of the leading international venues for advances in high-dimensional statistics and data science.Over the years, HDDA has remained committed to:

Advancing methodological and theoretical tools for high-dimensional regimes.
Bridging algorithmic innovations with real-world applications, including econometrics, finance, biostatistics, bioinformatics, social sciences, and environmental science.
Supporting new researchers through networking and mentoring opportunities.

In keeping with this tradition, HDDA-XV will showcase cutting-edge developments in:

regularization and sparsity,
high- inference,
variational and approximate Bayesian methods,
tensor and functional data analysis,
causality in large-scale settings,
streaming and federated learning,
privacy and robustness, and
domain-specific high-dimensional applications.
for example,
omics data analysis.

HDDA PLENARY SPEAKER

S. Ejaz Ahmed

BROCK UNIVERSITY

HDDA KEYNOTE SPEAKER

Ming Yuan

COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY

MODAS KEYNOTE SPEAKERS

Stanley Pounds

ST. JUDE CHILDREN'S RESEARCH HOSPITAL

Mehmet Gönen

KOÇ UNIVERSITY

INVITED SPEAKERS

Abbas Khalili

McgGıll Unıversıty

Abdulahad Bayraktar

Istanbul University Cerrahpaşa

Abdulkadir Hussein

Unıversıty Of Wındser

Ahmed El Ghini

Mohammed V Unıversıty ın Rabat

Asaf Hajiyev

Azerbeıjan Natıonal Academy

Bahadır Yüzbaşı

Inonu Unıversıty

Bei Jiang

Unıversıty Of Alberta

Bin Nan

UC IRVINE

Boxin Tang

SIMON FARSER UNIVERSITY

David Post

Modellıng and Sımulatıon

Dursun Aydın

MUGLA SITKI KOCMAN UNIVERSITY

Elif Acar

Unıversıty of guelph

Erfanul Hoque

Unıversıty of Saskatchewan

Ersin Yılmaz

Mugla Sıktı Kocman Unıversıty

Esra Kurum

Unıversıty of Calıfornıa

Farrukh Javed

Lund Unıversıty

Félix Camirand Lemyre

Unıversıte de Sherbrooke

Gökmen Zararsız

Ercıyes Unıversıty

Grace Yi

Western UNIVERSITY

Hao Mei

Renmın Unıversıty of Chına

Idir Oussou

Cadı Ayyad Unıversıty

Jabed Tomal

Thompson Rıvers Unıversıty

Jianhua Frank Hu

Unıversıty Of Shanghaı

Joan Hu

Sımon Frazer Unıversıty

Kaiqiong Zhao

York Unıversıty

Kıvanç Kök

Istanbul MEDIPOL UNIVERSITY

Kristofer Månsson

UNIVERSITY TO LINNEAUS

Leonardo Leone

Instıtut Louıs Bachelıer

Linglong Kong

Unıversıty Of Alberta

M. Erkan Karabekmez

ISTANBUL MEDENIYET UNIVERSITY

Mehmet Koçak

Istanbul MEDIPOL UNIVERSITY

Michael Evans

Unıversıty Of Toronto

Peter Song

UNIV of MICHIGAN

Rahim Mahmoudvand

Bu-Alı Sına Unıversıty

Rauf Ahmad

UPPSALA UNIVERSITY

S. Ejaz Ahmed

BROCK UNIVERSITY

Sara Bendjeddou

Unıversıté de Tamanghasset

Semih Alpsoy

Turkish-German University

Shakhawat Hossain

Unıversıty of Wınnıpeg

Shuangge Ma

Yale UNIVERSITY

Subha Guha

Dartmouth College

Taoufik Bouezmarni

Sherbrooke Unıversıty

Wei Pan

Unıversıty of Mınnesota

Wenqing He

Western UNIVERSITY

Xiao Hui Tai

US Davıs

Xingqiu Zhao

Hong Kong Poly U

Xinyuan Song

CHINESE UNIV of Hong Kong

Xinzhou GUO

Hong Kong Unıversıty

Yehua Li

UC RIVERSIDE

Yi Li

UNIV OF MICHIGAN

Yuedong Wang

UC Santa Barbara

CONTRIBUTED SPEAKERS

HDDA-XV TENTATIVE PROGRAM

Day-1

Wednesday, August 12, 2026

8:00-9:00 Registration

9:00-9:10 Welcome Speech by the President of Istanbul Medipol University, Prof. Bahadır Kürşat Güntürk

9:10-9:20 Welcome Speech by the conference chair, Prof. Mehmet Koçak

9:20-11:20 HDDA Plenary Session – Post variable selection: Cutting-edge statistical methods and applications in the AI era

Chair: Prof. Yi Li

9:20-10:20 Plenary Speech Prof. Ejaz Ahmed —Post Variable Selection

10:20-10:50 Prof. Li Yi — Inference on deep learning

10:50-11:20 Prof. Subha Guha — Enhancing Inference for Small Cohorts via Transfer Learning and Weighted Integration of Multiple Datasets

11:20-11:40 Coffee Break and Social Networking

11:40-13:20 Session 1 (Track A) — Foundations of Statistical Inference & Evidence

Theme: theoretical underpinnings of inference, evidence, and regularization

Chair: TBD

11:40-12:05 Michael Evans — Basing statistical methodology on a precise definition of statistical evidence: a cost-benefit analysis

12:05-12:30 Rauf Ahmad — Consistency of Regularized Estimators Using Bayesian Methods

12:30-12:55 Grace Yi — Function-on-Scalar Linear Model with Ultra-high Dimensional Data with Measurement Error

12:55-13:20 Xingqiu Zhao — Semiparametric Inference for Right-Censored Survival Data with Many Weak and Invalid Instruments via Generalized Empirical Likelihood

11:40-13:20 Session 1 (Track B) — High-Dimensional Inference and Regularization Methods

Chair: TBD

11:40-12:05 Jianhua Hu — Response knockoff inference for response variables selection under the false discovery rate control

12:05-12:30 Idir Ouassou — Adaptive ridge estimation in high-dimensional linear models with non-negativity constraints: theory and applications

12:30-12:55 İsmail Yenilmez — A two-stage Bayesian shrinkage strategy for high-dimensional regression

12:55-13:20 Farrukh Javed — Post-Selection Estimation in High-Dimensional Spatial Autoregressive Models

13:20-14:20 Lunch Break (Medipol Dining Hall)

14:20-15:10 Keynote Speech Prof. Ming Juan — The Estimation–Efficiency Frontier in Portfolio Complexity

15:10-17:15 Session 2 (Track A) — High-Dimensional Modeling & Regularization

Theme: feature selection, covariance structures, and scalable modeling

Chair: TBD

15:10-15:35 Bahadır Yuzbası — Hybrid Regularization Framework for Correlated Feature Selection in High-Dimensional Data

15:35-16:00 Yuedong Wang — Covariance Estimation in Multidimensional Response Linear Mixed Effects Models

16:00-16:25 Elif Acar — Robust Automated Statistical Tests for High-throughput Phenotyping Data

16:25-16:50 Abdulkadir Hussein — A New Approach for Variable Selection and Estimation in High Dimensional Beta Regression models with Collinearity: Application in Econometrics and Health Care Data

16:50-17:15 Abbas Khalili — Sparse mixture-of-experts generalized linear models in ultrahigh dimensions

15:10-17:15 Session 2 (Track B) — Advanced Regression, Semiparametric, and Theoretical Modeling

Chair: TBD

15:10-15:35 Shakhawat Hossain — A framework for optimal estimation in generalized partially linear single-index models

15:35-16:00 Ersin Yılmaz — A ridge-stabilized semiparametric logistic framework for multicollinear predictors

16:00-16:25 Wei Pan — Mendelian Randomization Using Constrained Maximum Likelihood with a Large Number of Instrumental Variables

16:25-16:50 Joseph Odunayo Braimah — Development of Sine Topp-Leone Kumaraswamy Generalized Family of Continuous Distributions with Properties and Application to Covid-19 Data

16:50-17:15 Dursun Aydın — Estimation of high-dimensional linear mixed-effects models via singular value decomposition and weighted adaptive penalization

17:15-Onwards Coffee and Social Networking. Dinner on our own.

Day-2

Thursday, August 13, 2026

09:00-09:50 MODAS Keynote Speech, Prof. Stanley Pounds — Statistics, Multi-Omics and Clinical Trials converge to Cure for Pediayric AML

09:50-11:05 Session 3 (Track A) — Spatial, Environmental & Climate Modeling

Theme: spatiotemporal modeling and environmental systems

Chair: TBD

09:50-10:15 Mehmet Koçak — Simulating Spatial and Temporal Data

10:15-10:40 TBA

10:40-11:05 Ahmed El Ghini — Climate Change Impacts on Economic Growth: Spatial Econometrics in Africa

09:50-11:05 Session 3 (Track B) — Innovative Methods in Data Science Applications

Chair: TBD

09:50-10:15 Leonardo Leone — Large scale usage of data depth for fraud detection in card transactions

10:15-10:40 Xinyuan Song — Longitudinal Mixed Membership Image-on-Scalar Model

10:40-11:05 Serhat ATAKUL — The Dynamics and Methodological Framework of Transforming Micro Data into Information

11:05-11:30 Coffee Break and Social Networking

11:30-13:10 Session 4 (Track A) — Biomedical Data Science & Multi-Omics Systems

Theme: AI and statistical modeling in biomedical and omics research

Chair: TBD

11:30-11:55 Shuangge Ma — Cancer Human Disease Networks via Deep Learning SEER-Medicare

11:55-12:20 Peter Song — Meta-Clock to Calculate Epigenetic Age Using Neural Networks

12:20-12:45 Gökmen Zararsız — Multi-Omics Integration Reveals Lipid Metabolic Reprogramming in ADPKD

12:45-13:10 Muhammed Erkan Karabekmez — Translating Transcriptomic Heterogeneity into Multicellular Metabolic Systems

11:30-13:10 Session 4 (Track B) — Biomedical Data Science, Public Health and Environmental Data

Chair: TBD

11:30-11:55 Yaqing Xu — Robust Transfer Learning for High-Dimensional GLM Using γ-Divergence with Applications to Cancer Genomics

11:55-12:20 Hao, Mei — A Functional Latent Space Model for Time-varying Networks with Applications to Clinical Outcomes Data

12:20-12:45 David Post — The potential for use of high dimensional data analysis (HDDA) in Environmental Sciences

12:45-13:10 Xiao Hui Tai — Uncovering Public Health Priorities at the World Health Organization

13:10-14:00 Lunch Break (Medipol Dining Hall)

14:00-15:40 Session 5 (Track A) — Biostatistics & Clinical/Health Data Modeling — Biostatistics & Clinical/Health Data Modeling

Theme: survival, joint modeling, microbiome, and health systems data

Chair: TBD

14:00-14:25 Esra Kurum — Time-Dynamic Joint Modeling of Longitudinal and Survival Outcomes in End-Stage Kidney Disease

14:25-14:50 Abdulahad Bayraktar — Gut-Brain Axis in Alzheimer’s Disease via Microbiome Analysis and Machine Learning

14:50-15:15 Joan Hu — Statistical Learning Strategies for Administrative Recurrent Event Data

15:15-15:40 Jabed Tomal — Bayesian Hierarchical Poisson Modeling of Fertility Patterns in Bangladesh

14:00-15:40 Session 5 (Track B) — Novel Approaches to Omics Data Analysis

Chair: TBD

14:00-14:25 Antonio Calcagni — Statistical Modeling of Multigene Fuzzy RNA-seq Counts

14:25-14:50 Aysegul Murat — Integrated multi-omics re-analysis of RNA-seq and proteomics data from human substantia nigra dopaminergic neurons in Parkinson’s disease

14:50-15:15 Berat Doğan — Clustering strategies improve structure-preserving visualization of single-cell RNA-seq data with CBMAP

15:15-15:40 Semih Alpsoy — A deep learning framework with transfer learning and multi-omics integration for cancer drug resistance prediction

15:40-16:00 Coffee Break

16:00-17:40 Session 6 — Privacy, Experimental Design & Advanced Methodologies

Theme: privacy, design optimality, and emerging statistical frameworks

Chair: TBD

16:00-16:25 Félix Camirand Lemyre — Privacy-aware Logistic Regression for Vertically Partitioned Data

16:25-16:50 Boxin Tang — Oracle Arrays for Constructing Space-Filling Designs

16:50-17:15 Shakhawat Hossain — Optimal Estimation in Generalized Partially Linear Single-Index Models

17:15-17:40 Xinyuan Song — Longitudinal Mixed Membership Image-on-Scalar Model

19:00-21:00 Gala Dinner at Cemile Sultan Fortress

Day-3

Friday, August14, 2026

09:00-10:00 MODAS Keynote Speech, Prof. Mehmet Gönen — Efficient alternatives to foundation models for single-cell and spatial transcriptomics

10:00-11:40 Session 7 — Machine Learning, AI & Representation Learning

Theme: modern AI methods and learning frameworks

Chair: TBD

10:00-10:25 Xinzhou Guo — Stein-Encoder: A White-Box Supervised Encoder via Stein Identities

10:25-10:50 Linglong Kong — Intrinsic Benefits of Categorical Distributional Loss: Uncertainty-aware Regularized Exploration in Reinforcement Learning

10:50-11:15 Bei Jiang — Understanding Fairness and Prediction Error through Subspace Decomposition and Influence Analysis

11:15-11:40 Guo Xinzhou — Stein-Encoder: A White-Box Supervised Encoder via Stein Identities

11:40-12:00 Coffee Break

12:00-12:50 Session 8 — Variable Selection (Online presentations)

Theme: inferential reliability under multiplicity

Chair: TBD

12:00-12:25 Jianhua Hu (Frank) — Response Knockoffs Inference for Response Variable Selection Under the False Discovery Rate

12:25-12:50 Kaiqiong Zhao — TBD

12:50-14:00 Lunch Break (Medipol Dining Hall)

14:00-15:40 Session 9 — Statistical Learning and Inference in Complex Data Environments

14:00-14:25 Kıvanç Kök — Algorithm-driven text mining of biomedical literature: from textual data to pattern detection and novel insights

14:25-14:50 Bin Nan — Debiased lasso after sample splitting