Dear Colleagues,

We are organising a symposium at the upcoming joint Evolution meeting
in Montreal this July, entitled "What we can and cannot know through
current and upcoming Phylogenetic Comparative Methods". We are looking
for enthusiastic speakers to come and add their views to the discussion
and would like to encourage anyone interested in participating to submit
an abstract.

The intended topics could include 1) simulation studies, 2)
conceptual/theoretical work, 3) empirical work, or 4) new methods. The
important thing is that it focuses on the limits of our current
analytical capabilities and our understanding, and (if possible)
ideas of how to overcome them (i.e., not just the presentation of a
new model and how awesome it is). This could e.g. mean empirical work
showing how expert knowledge can be incorporated or used to identify
inferences as nonsensical, a conceptual demonstration of how the way
we are addressing these questions creates a blind spot, or simulations
pointing out inference limits we weren't aware of yet.

We are hoping for a diverse set of speakers from different career
stages, and would thus encourage everyone to apply to be part of the
symposium. The goal is for this to result in stimulating discussions,
synthesis, and a vision of the future directions of the field.

Note that there is no dedicated funding to attend this symposium, so
potential in-person presenters should apply for travel support from the
societies or other sources. However, virtual attendees can apply to be
included for the symposium too, and if selected get to have their recorded
talk played during the in-person session. In addition, we are happy to
highlight virtual talks presented during the virtual Evolution conference
which thematically fit the symposium (and also for poster presentations).

If you or your lab members are interested, follow the instructions
here (https://twitter.com/Evol_mtg/status/1760696207372881977)
and on the conference website
(https://www.evolutionmeetings.org/instructions-for-presenters.html),
register and indicate your interest in participating in our symposium.

If anyone is unsure whether an intended talk topic fits the symposium,
or plan to submit a poster on a related topic, feel free to reach out
to us with questions and suggestions! And of course feel free to share
this with whomever you feel might be interested.

Best wishes,

Orlando Schwery (schwery.macroevo@pm.me / oschwery@vt.edu) 
and Mariana P. Braga (mariana.pires.braga@slu.se

schwery.macroevo@pm.me

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