Template-less searches for gravitational wave bursts and astrophysical signatures

A growing network of collaborations between gravitational wave experiments, 
numerical relativity, astronomy and particle physics is taking shape, in 
preparation for the second generation of ground-based gravitational wave 
interferometers.
In this talk I will review results, status and prospects for some of these 
collaboration efforts, in the context of template-less searches for 
gravitational wave bursts and binary black hole coalescences.
Template-less searches are designed to sift through data from multiple detectors
for gravitational wave transients with minimal assumptions on the signal. 
I will review the challenges and advantages of these searches, with particular 
attention to the coalescence of black hole binary systems over a wide parameter 
space.