9th „Taming the BEAST” Workshop in Beijing
This July, an international team of researchers, co-led by Professor Rachel Warnock, organised a “Taming the BEAST” workshop at the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology (IVPP) in Beijing, China.
BEAST2 is a software package used to reconstruct evolutionary trees (phylogenies) and is widely applied in diverse areas, including paleobiology, epidemiology, and developmental biology. It can be used to answer a huge range of research questions, from understanding the origins of animals and plants in deep time, to tracking the spread of contemporary infectious diseases. However, phylogenetics is a complex and rapidly evolving field, and it can be challenging for new users to apply the software to their own data.
The Taming the BEAST workshops were developed to provide practical training in the theory, with hand-ons applications using real datasets and empirical problems. The workshop in Beijing was the 9th Taming the BEAST workshop and for the first time emphasised applications in macroevolution and the use of fossil data. It was the first iteration of the workshop hosted in Asia and the event brought together a large group of international instructors and students. The team of instructors included researchers based in Australia, China, France, Germany, Switzerland and the United States. Throughout the week participants exchanged ideas and problems, highlighting important directions for future work.
The event was supported by the Bayerische Hochschulzentrum für China (BayChina).