The Division of Statistics and Machine Learning (STIMA)

The Division of Statistics and Machine Learning is part of the Department of Computer and Information Science. The research and teaching activities at the division are focused on modern data analysis. 

Research and education at STIMA cover a wide range of topics including probabilistic models, Bayesian inference, deep learning, representation learning, and generative models with applications in biology, medicine, physics, and social sciences.

The division hosts the bachelor's programme Statistics and Data Analysis and the international master's programme Statistics and Machine Learning. We are also responsible for the course in machine learning taught at the engineering programmes at Linköping University, as well as the PhD study programme in Statistics. We head two popular research seminar series.

The division has around 30 employees and consists of two units:

  • Statistics (STAT)
  • Machine Learning (ML)

For more information about research and education at STIMA, please see below.

Research at STIMA

Bayesian inference and computational statistics

Development of scalable and computationally efficient Bayesian methods, including sequential Monte Carlo, subsampling MCMC, and hierarchical models, as well as deep generative models, particularly diffusion-based frameworks for generative sampling and Bayesian inverse problems.

Causal inference and graphical models

Research on causal effect identification, sensitivity analysis under unmeasured confounding, and structure learning from observational data, using probabilistic graphical models such as DAGs, chain graphs, and acyclic directed mixed graphs.

Machine learning for medicine and neuroimaging

Application of deep learning and Bayesian statistical methods to clinical and neuroimaging data - including fMRI methodology, brain tumour segmentation, synthetic medical image generation, brain connectivity modelling, and statistical analysis of cardiovascular, metabolic, and oncological cohort data.

Psychometrics, longitudinal modelling, and educational statistics

Development and application of latent-variable models, multilevel growth-curve analyses, and structural equation models in psychology and education, including the Flynn effect, cognitive ageing, bullying research, and professional self-efficacy.

Data-efficient and responsible machine learning

Research on efficient data representations (coresets, graph subsampling), privacy-preserving methods, fairness, and energy-aware/sustainable machine learning, aimed at reducing the computational, data, and societal costs of machine learning.

Machine learning for natural sciences and climate

Application of machine learning to materials discovery (2D materials, geometric deep learning), weather and climate forecasting (ensemble diffusion models), and life-cycle assessment automation for CO2 reduction.

Latest publications

2026

B. k. Masinde, A. Ozarowska, G. Zaniewicz, W. Meissner, Krzysztof Bartoszek (2026) FlyingR: An R package to analyze flight range of avian migrants SoftwareX, Vol. 36, Article 103066 (Article in journal) https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.softx.2026.103066
Karl Sigfrid, Ellinor Fackle-Fornius, Frank Miller (2026) Estimating Abilities With an Elo-Informed Growth Model Journal of educational and behavioral statistics (Article in journal) https://dx.doi.org/10.3102/10769986261489723
Ahcène Boubekki, Samuel G. Fadel, Sebastian Mair (2026) Multi-depth Concept Extraction for Post-Hoc Vision Encoder Explanation Machine Learning and Knowledge Discovery in Databases. Research Track.: ECML PKDD 2026, p. 449-467 (Conference paper) https://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-032-37664-0_26
Sophia N. Wilson, Andrew Millard, Guðrún Fjóla Guðmundsdóttir, Raghavendra Selvan, Sebastian Mair (2026) Position: Stop Preaching and Start Practising Data Frugality for Responsible Development of AI Proceedings of the 43rd International Conference on Machine Learning, p. 172585-172604 (Conference paper)
Hugo Morvan, Jonas Agholme, Bjorn Eliasson, Katarina Olofsson, Ludger Grote, Fredrik Iredahl, Oleg Sysoev (2026) Scalable multiple imputation for national-scale healthcare registries and EHR International Journal of Medical Informatics, Vol. 222, Article 106717 (Article in journal) https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijmedinf.2026.106717
Johan Alenlöv (2026) Stacked Feynman-Kac: A Generalised Method for Within-Timestep Sampling of Intermediate Distributions for Diffusion Models Transactions on Machine Learning Research (Article in journal)
Carl Soderberg, Oleg Sysoev, Rasmus Magnusson, Fredrik Kugelberg, Henrik Green (2026) Anomaly detection as a tool for identifying cases of interest in postmortem toxicology Scientific Reports, Vol. 16, Article 25686 (Article in journal) https://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-65664-5
Monika Mioduchowska, Pushpalata Kayastha, Magdalena M. Bartylak, Edyta Konecka, Bayu Beta Brahmantio, Julita Mackiewicz, Wojciech Przybyszewski, Aleksandra M. Naczk, Marcin Gorniak, Jason Pienaar, Edyta Fialkowska, Lukasz Kaczmarek (2026) "Let's Dry up and Survive Together": Is Anhydrobiosis in Two Paramacrobiotus Species (Tardigrada) Associated with a Specific Microbiome Community? International Journal of Molecular Sciences, Vol. 27, Article 5256 (Article in journal) https://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijms27125256
Marc Braun, Jose M. Peña, Adel Daoud (2026) Flow IV: Counterfactual Inference In Nonseparable Outcome Models Using Instrumental Variables Proceedings of the Fifth Conference on Causal Learning and Reasoning, p. 861-886 (Conference paper)
Martin Andrae, Erik Wikingsson, So Takao, Tomas Landelius, Fredrik Lindsten (2026) DAISI: Data Assimilation with Inverse Sampling using Stochastic Interpolants (Conference paper)

Teaching - Bachelor and Master's programme

PhD studies

Seminar series at STIMA

Contact us

Staff at STIMA

News at STIMA

News and major articles

Panel discussion on AI and sustainability.

Researchers call for greater responsibility and sustainability in AI development

AI development must be matched by responsibility, improved governance, and sustainability. That is the message from scientists at Linköping University, who met across disciplines to discuss values, security, environmental impacts and AI politics.

Innovative idea for more effective cancer treatments rewarded

Lisa Menacher has been awarded the 2024 Christer Gilén Scholarship in statistics and machine learning for her master’s thesis. She utilised machine learning in an effort to make the selection of cancer treatments more effective.

Tomas Landelius and Carolina Natel de Moura.

The focus period resulted in new collaborations for the climate

In the fall of 2024, researchers from around the world once again gathered at Linköping University for ELLIIT's five-week focus period. This time, the goal was to initiate and deepen collaborations in climate research using machine learning.

About the department