Francisco Richter

Profile

Researcher in statistics and applied mathematics, working on causal inference and invariance, statistical network science, and biostatistics. I develop probabilistic and causal models — and the computational methods to fit them — for complex systems in the natural and data sciences.

I am Scientific Staff and a Lecturer at the Università della Svizzera italiana in Lugano. I hold a PhD in applied mathematics from the University of Groningen (2021) and a degree in mathematical engineering from the Universidad Técnica Federico Santa María, Chile (2013).

Research

My work connects three threads in the statistics of complex systems:

Causality

Causal inference & invariance Disentangling structure from cause in relational data, and extending causal-invariance principles to deep models for out-of-distribution generalization.

Networks

Statistical network science Graphical models of interacting systems — from microbiome interactions across related environments to evolutionary trees.

Dynamics

Diversification & stochastic modelling Birth–death processes on phylogenies, missing-species inference, and a general framework for diversity-dependent diversification.

Currently

Atlas

A curated atlas of empirical phylogenies Covering 600,000+ species, built to study diversification at scale.

Models

Phylodiversity-dependent diversification Generalizing diversity-dependent models with missing-species inference.

Causal

Neural causal regularization Methods for invariance and out-of-distribution generalization (joint with K. Rigana & E. C. Wit).

Selected Publications

2025

Neural causal regularization: extending causal invariance to deep models F. Richter, K. Rigana, E. C. Wit Statistics for Innovation I, 97–102. Springer Nature, 2025

2024

Random graphical model of microbiome interactions in related environments V. Vinciotti, E. C. Wit, F. Richter Journal of Agricultural, Biological and Environmental Statistics, 2024

2021

Detecting phylodiversity-dependent diversification with a general phylogenetic inference framework F. Richter, T. Janzen, H. Hildenbrandt, E. C. Wit, R. S. Etienne bioRxiv, 2021

2020

Introducing a general class of species diversification models for phylogenetic trees F. Richter, B. Haegeman, R. S. Etienne, E. C. Wit Statistica Neerlandica 74, 261–274. Wiley, 2020

2021

Microbiome and environment explain the absence of correlations between consumers and their diet in Bornean microsnails K. P. Hendriks, …, F. J. Richter Mendoza, M. Schilthuizen, R. S. Etienne Ecology 102.2, e03237, 2021

2024

Stereo 3D cloud motion from tandem satellites Y. Zhou, S. Abrahams, F. Mendoza, M. Donà, R. Verbiest Mathematics in Industry Reports, 2024

Full publication list on Google Scholar →

Teaching

Università della Svizzera italiana, Faculty of Informatics — Bachelor INF & Master IA / CS.

Bachelor

Probability & Statistics · Numerical Computing

Master

Stochastic Methods · Ordinary Differential Equations · Introduction to Data Science · Analysis of Social Networks

Selected Talks

2025

Italian Statistical Society (SIS), Genova, Italy Invited talk: Neural Causal Regularization — Extending Causal Invariance to Deep Models.

2023

Complex Networks (CompleNet), Aveiro, Portugal Detecting complex diversity-dependent diversification with a novel phylogenetic inference framework.

2018

Mathematics for Planet Earth, Utrecht, The Netherlands Invited talk: a statistical approach to species diversification dynamics.

Outreach

2025 –

TecDays, secondary schools, Ticino Hands-on data-science workshops for high-school students across several schools.

2025 –

Lavori di Maturità, USI, Lugano Mentoring high-school students through year-long thesis projects with the Faculty of Informatics.

2025 –

Giornate Autogestite, Ticino Workshops on data science and academic life at several high schools.

Contact

For research collaborations, postdoc opportunities, or any question, reach me at richtf@usi.ch. Curriculum vitae: English · Español.