Workshop on Numerical Continuation & Bifurcation Analysis using XPPAUT

The Workshop on Numerical Continuation & Bifurcation Analysis using XPPAUT was held on 23rd Jan 2017 at the School of Mathematical Sciences, USM. This workshop was delivered by Dr Mohd Hafiz bin Mohd. As an applied mathematician working in the field of ecology at USM, Dr Hafiz specialises in employing mathematical models to understand different factors that can shape species’ distributions. To address these problems, he employs techniques from dynamical systems, bifurcation theory and numerical continuation using XPPAUT. In general, XPPAUT is a free package for numerically solving and analysing dynamical systems. The problems that can be solved using this package can range from deterministic ordinary-differential equations to stochastic models, to partial-differential and integro-differential equations.

(One of the hands-on tutorials using XPPAUT during the workshop)

Dr Hafiz kicked off the workshop with exciting talk on why do we need continuation methods in our research. He discussed how numerical continuation and bifurcation analysis are used to provide valuable insight into the overall dynamics of the biological systems as some parameters are varied. He then briefed the participants on how to install XPP, and discussed an overview of the numerical routines, followed by a session on solving the steady-states, graphing and plotting. Thereafter sessions gradually increased in complexity, covering general steps in bifurcation analysis and how to compute complete bifurcation diagrams in Auto.

Overall, workshop participants enjoyed a productive day filled with interesting talks, hands-on tutorials and numerous opportunities to communicate and network in a collaborative environment. Our school would like to thank the presenter and participants for helping to make this workshop a great success. See you next time!