The next SSA ACT Branch meeting is the 2024 Foreman Lecture. This will be a hybrid meeting, which you can either attend in person or via Microsoft Teams.

Venue: Knibbs Theatre, Australian Bureau of Statistics, 45 Benjamin Way, Belconnen, or via Microsoft Teams (Zoom is unavailable from the ABS building).

Date: Thursday 1 August 2024 [Note: This event is on Thursday to avoid a clash with another important SSA online event on the Tuesday of that week (https://www.statsoc.org.au/event-5778460?CalendarViewType=1&SelectedDate=7/10/2024]?) ]

Time: 5:45pm – 7:00pm AEST 

Teams link: Join the meeting now (full details below)

Speaker: Siu-Ming Tam

Topic: The ABCDE of Big Data - Analytics, Bias Correction, Classification, Data Integration and Evaluation.

Abstract: If data is the new oil, then big data is a vast and rich oil reserve.  Just as oil reserves require exploration, extraction, and refining to become useful, big data requires advanced statistical tools and techniques to extract valuable insights for informed decision making. In this talk, Siu-Ming will explore various types of big data that can be leveraged for producing official statistics. He will also discuss an error framework to evaluate the quality of big data and examine the different data structures utilized in big data analysis.

Following this, Siu-Ming will delve into methods for integrating big data with survey data to address the shortcomings of big data, aimed at enhancing the production of efficient national and small area estimates of finite population parameters. Finally, he will present examples using data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics to illustrate the methodology discussed.

Biography: Siu-Ming joined the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) in 1986 after completing his PhD at the Australian National University. Since then, he has held various roles, including Program and General Manager overseeing population censuses, surveys, data management, dissemination, and information management transformation programs. From 2012 to 2019, he served as the General Manager and Chief Methodologist of ABS's Methodology Division.

Siu-Ming has also held leadership positions in the statistical community. He was the Chair of the UN Task Force on Satellite Imagery and Geo-spatial Statistics, Chair of the Paris Micro-data Group at the OECD, Vice-President of the International Association of Official Statistics and chair of the Chief Methodologists Network. Additionally, he was the founding Editor-in-Chief of the Statistical Journal of the International Association of Official Statistics and served as Applications Editor for the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Statistics.

He is also an elected member of the International Statistical Institute and honorary professorial fellow of the University of Wollongong.

Dinner: 

After the talk we will be holding a dinner at 7.15pm at #10 Restaurant, 3 Grazier Lane, Belconnen ACT (No. 10 Restaurant + Bar | Woden | Belconnen (number10restaurantandbar.com)

Menu: https://www.number10restaurantandbar.com/_files/ugd/6a948a_c59705a97d3e4b01b628f3b26db4c083.pdf.

If you are interested in attending the dinner, please let us know by 5pm Wednesday 31 July by entering your details at SSA Canberra Branch dinner attendance sheet or contacting Nelson Chua (nelson.chua@anu.edu.au; 0423 054 035). Please regard this as a firm commitment, not just an intention. For withdrawals after the deadline, please remove your name from the sheet and phone or text Nelson (0423 054 035).

NOTE: We are offering discounts to SSA early career and student members who attend dinner! For this meeting, dinners will be a fixed charge of $10 for student members and $20 for early career members. 

Warren Müller

(Secretary, SSA Canberra Branch)

Teams link:

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Meeting ID: 489 407 229 815

Passcode: HsxdRP

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+61 2 9161 1235,,588171942# Australia, Sydney

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Phone conference ID: 588 171 942#

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