  Variational inference is a powerful concept that underlies many iterative
approximation algorithms; expectation propagation, mean-field methods and
belief propagations were all central themes at the school that can be perceived
from this unifying framework. The lectures of Manfred Opper introduce the
archetypal example of Expectation Propagation, before establishing the
connection with the other approximation methods. Corrections by expansion about
the expectation propagation are then explained. Finally some advanced inference
topics and applications are explored in the final sections.
