ApexRMS at EFI2026 in Toronto, ON

This month, ApexRMS attended the Ecological Forecasting Initiative’s (EFI) 2026 Conference in Toronto, ON. This is the first time the conference has been hosted in Canada, organized by the Canadian Chapter (CEFI). EFI has grown steadily over the past decade into an international community of researchers, agencies, and practitioners working on various aspects of ecological forecasting. This year’s program reflected that growth, with participants from academia, government, and industry across the mathematical, environmental, and data sciences.

ApexRMS sessions at EFI 2026

ApexRMS contributed two sessions to this year’s conference, both led by data scientist Alessandro (Alex) Filazzola. The first, a workshop titled Making Forecasts Usable: Open-Science Decision Support with SyncroSim, looked at why forecasting models so often fail to reach the decision-makers who need them. Using SyncroSim, Alex walked participants through how reproducible modeling workflows can be packaged, automated, and communicated so they support real-world decisions. Alex also presented on ApexRMS’s ongoing collaboration with the Invasive Species Centre in his talk, Forecasting invasive insect spread and management outcomes for improved decision-making. The presentation covered a spatially explicit model built in SyncroSim to forecast the spread of Asian long-horned beetle across Ontario landscapes. The project compares early-detection and delayed-intervention management scenarios in both a historical Mississauga, ON infestation and a hypothetical Muskoka, ON invasion.

Connecting with the forecasting community

The conference was also a valuable opportunity to connect with the broader forecasting community. ApexRMS team members connected with researchers and practitioners from Environment and Climate Change Canada and Health Canada, as well as academics and grad students, all working within the ecological forecasting space.

The two plenary talks were a particular highlight, each approaching ecological forecasting through very different case studies: one drawing on COVID-19, the other on a global long-term seed dataset. Both examined how ecological forecasting plays out in practice. Using concrete, high-profile examples as a shared frame helped ground conversations across disciplines and fostered connection for participants across fields.

ApexRMS is grateful to have participated and looks forward to future events hosted by EFI and CEFI.