Dr Cónall Kelly receives funding for a COST Action (STOCHASTICA)

4 Jun 2025

Dr Cónall Kelly, School of Mathematical Sciences, has received funding for a COST (European Cooperation in Science and Technology) Action, entitled “Stochastic Differential Equations: Computation, Inference, Applications (STOCHASTICA)”, that will run over the next four years until 2029.

“I am delighted to have been awarded this COST Action. The project, involving partners from 18 European countries, will create a network of researchers with common goals informed by academic and industry partners. It will empower non-specialist experts to make appropriate and routine use of stochastic models in applications such as natural resource management, renewable energy transmission, medicine and public health.”

STOCHASTICA is a pan-European consortium with 32 members. Partner institutions include universities, semi-state bodies involved in agricultural development, natural resource management, and public health; and industry partners in the finance and energy sectors that are actively engaged with stochastic modelling as part of their business.

Stochastic differential equations (SDEs) are tools used by scientists and engineers to understand how things change over time when there’s some level of randomness or unpredictability involved. These kinds of models are useful in many areas, for example:
    • In medicine, SDEs can help doctors understand how tumours grow and how best to treat them.
    • In clean energy, they help model how wind flows around turbine blades, and even how whole wind farms interact with the power grid.
    • In computer science, they improve the way deep learning systems are trained.
    • In finance, they help describe future stock prices and interest rates, and assess risks across entire markets.

SDEs can be difficult or impossible to solve using classical methods, and traditional mathematical models of dynamic systems often simply ignored randomness. But we live in an uncertain world and randomness is part of its fabric. Thanks to recent major advances in computing power, we can now build and analyse powerful models that take this randomness into account. Because these models are so complex, they require experts from different fields to work together—people with very different knowledge and ways of thinking.

That is where STOCHASTICA comes in. It is the first large-scale European initiative designed to bring together the full spectrum of researchers and professionals who develop and apply SDE models. The goal is to combine mathematical theory with real-world practice, train the next generation of talent, and help ensure these models are used more widely and effectively in areas such as environmental management, energy, healthcare, and beyond.