PMR 2025: Course Material

To pass the course you must understand the material on the slides, the tutorials, and the material listed below as “required” (unless marked as not examinable). Working through some of the optional material may help you to better understand the content.

The material will be added as we proceed. For reference, please see the previous edition of PMR.

Note on the self-study exercises: These are additional exercises to support your learning and exam preparation. Work through them at your own pace. Try to solve each exercise yourself first. If you get stuck, that's fine, consult the solution gradually, starting with the next step.  Try to understand why you got stuck; was it a concept or a technical step? To help you generalise, after each exercise, (1) connect it to relevant lecture concepts and (2) note any useful techniques/tricks in a "technical log" to review before the exam.

Schedule

WeekDateSlides and Required MaterialTutorial
1Tue Sep 16 
Wed Sep 17
Thu Sep 18
  • Directed Graphical Models
2Tue Sep 23
  • Directed Graphical Models
 
Wed Sep 24
  • Directed Graphical Models
Thu Sep 25
3Tue Sep 30
  • Undirected Graphical Models

Tutorial 1

Wed Oct 01
Thu Oct 02
4Tue Oct 07
  • Exact inference

Tutorial 2

Wed Oct 08
  • Exact inference
Thu Oct 09
5Tue Oct 14
  • Exact inference for Hidden Markov Models

Tutorial 3

Wed Oct 15
  • Actions and their Effects (Causality) 
    [slides] [notes] [self-study exercises] [self-study solutions]
Thu Oct 16
  • Decision Theory
6Tue Oct 21
  • Basics of Model-Based Learning

Tutorial 4

Wed Oct 22
  • Basics of Model-Based Learning
Thu Oct 23
  • Basics of Model-Based Learning
7Tue Oct 28
  • Factor Analysis and Independent Component Analysis

Tutorial 5

  • Questions
  • Solutions
Wed Oct 29
  • Factor Analysis and Independent Component Analysis
  • Intractable Likelihood Functions
Thu Oct 30
  • Intractable Likelihood Functions
  • Variational Inference and Learning I: Fundamentals and the EM algorithm
8Tue Nov 04
  • Variational Inference and Learning I: Fundamentals and the EM algorithm 

Tutorial 6

  • Questions
  • Solutions
Wed Nov 05
  • Variational Inference and Learning I: Fundamentals and the EM algorithm
  • Learning for Hidden Markov Models
Thu Nov 06
  • Learning for Hidden Markov Models
9Tue Nov 11
  • Variational Inference and Learning II: Latent Variable Models and Variational Autoencoders

Tutorial 7

  • Questions
  • Solutions
Wed Nov 12
  • Variational Inference and Learning II: Latent Variable Models and Variational Autoencoders
Thu Nov 13
  • Variational Inference and Learning II: Latent Variable Models and Variational Autoencoders
  • Sampling and Monte Carlo Integration
10Tue Nov 18
  • Sampling and Monte Carlo Integration

Tutorial 8

  • Questions
  • Solutions
Wed Nov 19
  • Sampling and Monte Carlo Integration
Thu Nov 20
  • Course recap
  • Exam info
11Tue Nov 25
  • Buffer
 
Wed Nov 26
  • Buffer
Thu Nov 27
  • Buffer
License
Creative Commons - Attribution