Morphological Phylogenetics Workshop

After the success of our last phylogenetics workshop, we have now partnered with the Systematics Association and the Palaeontological Association to co-organise a three-day workshop on Morphological Phylogenetics!

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This three-day event will be run by experts in the field of Morphological Phylogenetics, covering a broad range of areas (e.g., constructing character matrices, ancestral character estimation, morphological models, Bayesian inference, fossilised-birth-death model, total-evidence dating approaches) as well as hands-on training on how to use tailored scripts and specialised tools including PAUP, RevBayes, MCMCtree, and others. The workshop shall be held at the IOE at University College London (more details to come once applicants are selected).

Due to limited capacity, we are asking those interested in joining the workshop to fill out a pre-registration form — priority shall be given to applicants that already have the rudiments of phylogenetic analyses and command line use. You have until October 8^th 2026 (17:00h GMT+0), do not miss the deadline!

In addition, please note that we will be offering a small number of travel bursaries to help SRUK/CERU Members (regular student membership) to cover travel costs (accommodation will not be covered). These will be assigned based on attendees’ justifications for the requests and will be capped at 120GBP. We will prioritise UK-based PhD students, but all students and postdocs are welcome to apply. If you were thinking of joining SRUK/CERU, please remember to do so before sending your application — you can navigate to the “Members” section on our website and select the regular student membership. The deadline to apply for travel bursaries is October 1^st 2026 (17:00h GMT+0).

Tentative schedule

DAY 1

Time	Session
09:30h – 10:15h	Morphological character construction
10:15h – 10:35h	Coffee break (20 min)
10:35h – 11:15h	Introduction to parsimony
11:15h – 11:25h	Short break (10 min)
11:25h – 12:30h	Practical on Biscuit Cladistics
12:30h – 13:45h	Lunch break (1h 15 min)
13:45h – 14:55h	Ancestral character estimation with parsimony
14:55h – 15:15h	Coffee break (20 min)
15:15h – 16:15h	Practical on ancestral state estimation using parsimony
16:15h – 16:30h	Short break (15 min)
16:30h – 17.30h	Continue practical session + Q&A

DAY 2

Time	Session
09:30h – 10:15h	Introduction to morphological models
10:15h – 10:35h	Coffee break (20 min)
10:35h – 11:15h	Practical to simulate morphological data in R
11:15h – 11:25h	Short break (10 min)
11:25h – 12:30h	Introduction to Bayesian statistics (part I)
12:30h – 13:45h	Lunch break (1h 15 min)
13:45h – 14:55h	Introduction to Bayesian statistics (part II)
14:55h – 15:15h	Coffee break (20 min)
15:15h – 16:15h	Introduction to RevBayes
16:15h – 16:30h	Short break (15 min)
16:30h – 17.30h	Introduction to model adequacy

DAY 3

Time	Session
09:30h – 10:15h	Practical on model adequacy
10:15h – 10:35h	Coffee break (20 min)
10:35h – 11:15h	Introduction to the FBD model
11:15h – 11:25h	Short break (10 min)
11:25h – 12:30h	Practical on the FBD model with RevBayes
12:30h – 13:45h	Lunch break (1h 15 min)
13:45h – 14:55h	Introduction to total-evidence dating
14:55h – 15:15h	Coffee break (20 min)
15:15h – 16:15h	Practical with MCMCtree using GMM and molecular data
16:15h – 16:30h	Short break (15 min)
16:30h – 17.30h	Wrap up practical session + Q&A

Fees

The cost of the workshop includes training and light refreshments for the three days. Attendees will have to procure their own lunches.

• Student SRUK/CERU member – £40
• Student non-member – £60
• Standard SRUK/CERU member – £55
• Standard non-member – £90

If you are not an SRUK/CERU Member yet, consider joining our Society! Depending on your current situation, you may choose between a regular membership (student, junior, senior) or an associate membership, select the one that best suits your needs through our membership page!

Looking forward to meeting you in November!