The Statistical Society of Australian and CSIRO/Data61 are delighted to announce the inaugural winners of the Betty Allan travel award as:

• Karen Lamb who will visit the Winton Centre for Risk and Evidence Communication in Cambridge
• Sharmala Thuraisingam who will visit the University of Calgary and attend the North American Primary Care Research Group Conference

The award of $3000 each is to support early career female statisticians in Australia to travel anywhere in the world in order to further their career.

There were 14 applications for what should have been just one award, but the judging panel recommended two awards because they were so impressed with the quality of the applications.

The president of the Statistical Society of Australia, Adrian Barnett, said, “The quality of the applications was inspiring. It proves that we have incredible early career female statisticians in Australia. But it did make the final decision very difficult.”

Frances Elizabeth (“Betty”) Allan (1905 to 1952) was CSIRO’s first statistician and provided statistical support across the organisation. She also lectured in mathematics and statistics at Canberra University College and Australian Forestry School. When she married in 1940 she was forced to retire, which was the law for female public servants.

The award will be open again in 2020 with applications called for in November. For details on last year’s application click here.