Workshop Schedule

16–17 September 2026 | Stellenbosch University & Online

This page outlines the schedule for the two-day Advanced Animal Movement Modelling Training Workshop. All times are listed in South Africa Standard Time (SAST, UTC+2).

📍 Venues

In-Person: NITheCS Seminar Room, Merensky Building, Stellenbosch University, South Africa
Online: Zoom link provided upon registration

Focus: Animal Movement Patterns

Time	Session & Details
08:30 – 10:15	Session 1: Foundations of Movement Ecology • The movement ecology paradigm • Wildlife telemetry systems and sampling design • Example applications to conservation • Hands-on coding: Data exploration, cleaning, and processing
10:15 – 10:30	☕ Tea Break
10:30 – 12:15	Session 2: Space Use Estimation • Utilisation distributions (UDs) and ecological interpretation • Occurrence vs. range distributions • KDE, dynamic Brownian bridge movement models (dBBMM), and AKDE approaches • Individual- and population-level space use estimation & spatial overlap • Hands-on coding: Estimate space use using multiple methods
12:15 – 13:15	🥪 Lunch Break
13:15 – 15:45	Session 3: Behavioural State Modelling • Defining behavioural states & temporal resolution impacts • Discrete vs. continuous states (HMMs & SSMs) • Interpreting estimated states & drawing ecological inferences • Integrating accelerometer and auxiliary sensor data • Hands-on coding: Regularise tracks & estimate states using HMMs and SSMs
15:45 – 16:00	☕ Tea Break
16:00 – 16:30	💬 Q&A Session
18:00 – 21:00	🍷 Social Event: Drinks at a Stellenbosch wine farm (TBC)

Focus: Environmental Data, Habitat Selection & Emerging Methods

Time	Session & Details
08:30 – 10:00	Session 4: Environmental Data Access and Extraction • Remote sensing products (LULC, NDVI, temperature, dynamic water) • Local geoprocessing and cloud workflows • Environmental annotation of movement tracks • Hands-on coding: Download/process remote-sensing data & extract time-matched layers
10:00 – 10:15	☕ Tea Break
10:15 – 12:45	Session 5: Species-Habitat Associations • Resource selection functions (RSFs), step selection functions (SSFs), and iSSFs • Scale dependence & state-specific habitat selection • Hands-on coding: Fit RSF, SSF, and iSSF models; interpret results, generate spatial predictions, and compare inferences
12:45 – 13:45	🥪 Lunch Break
13:45 – 15:15	Session 6: Bayesian Modelling for Ecological Inference • Crash course in Bayesian modelling & model checking • Post hoc Bayesian analyses using Stan and `brms` • Bayesian hierarchical RSF/SSF models & spatial random effects using INLA • Hands-on coding: Complete a Bayesian workflow & explore fast implementations in INLA
15:15 – 15:30	☕ Tea Break
15:30 – 16:00	Session 7: Machine Learning and Emerging Directions • Behavioural classification & habitat selection via Random Forests, GBMs, and Gaussian processes • Deep learning applications for accelerometer data and SSFs • Emerging directions in predictive movement ecology
16:00 – 16:30	💬 Q&A Session
18:00 – 21:00	🍷 Social Event: Drinks at a Stellenbosch wine farm (TBC)