The Victorian and Tasmanian Branch of the Statistical Society of Australia (SSA Vic & Tas) represents statisticians in Victoria and Tasmania, as well as professionals from other fields with an interest in statistics.
We host events in a variety of formats to engage different segments of our community, including students, early-career professionals, and experienced practitioners. Some of the regular events we run include:
- National Seminar Series talk
- Tasmanian-hosted seminar
- Early Career and Student Statisticians (ECSS) mentoring night, a speed networking event where attendees speak to mentors in small groups to find out about their careers as statisticians or data professionals
- ECSS Social
- Joint events with related groups in Victoria and Tasmania
- Workshops
- The Annual General Meeting takes place in March, followed by a seminar.
- The Belz Lecture, which is our premier event, is held at the end of each year. Established in 1969 during Clem Pratt’s presidency, it is now the highlight of our branch calendar. For more information and a list of previous Belz Lecturers, please visit the main Belz Lecture page.
Events are announced on the society's Events calendar.
Join our friendly Slack community—open to everyone interested in statistics, wherever you're based. All are welcome, whether you're a statistician, data scientist, analyst, statistical programmer, or simply curious about the field. For more information, please email vic.branch@statsoc.org.au
Current SSA Vic & Tas Council
The current council comprises:
- Elena Tartaglia (President)
- Alun Pope (Vice President)
- Rick Tankard (Treasurer)
- Anna Wilkinson (Deputy Treasurer)
- Tong Chen (ECSS Representative)
- Shane Richards (Tasmanian Representative)
- Ninh Tran (Membership Officer)
- Susan Wei (Deputy Membership Officer)
- Shuwen Hu (Secretary)
- Ryan Covey (Deputy Secretary)
- Victorino Marquez (Communications Officer)
- Hien Nguyen (Deputy Communications Officer)
- Sara Goliath (Industry Representative)
The list of past councillors can be found here.
Sponsorship of Statistical Events and Support for Victorian and Tasmanian Early Career and Student Statisticians
The Branch Council supports statistical events and the professional development of early career and student statisticians (ECSS) in Victoria and Tasmania.
Recent examples of financial support include:
- 2025 — Awarded six scholarships to student and early-career branch members attending ASC2025 in Perth: five Travel Top-Up awards of $1,000 and one Recognition of Impact award of $2,500.
- 2024 — Provided $750 in total to support five members attending statistics-related conferences or workshops.
Branch activities have also included mentoring, networking and the ECSS Showcase. For more information, email vic.branch@statsoc.org.au.
Earlier examples of financial assistance include:
- October 2019 — Travel expenses for six student members attending the Young Statisticians Conference in Canberra.
- August 2018 — Support for the Joint International Society for Clinical Biostatistics and Australian Statistical Conference in Melbourne.
- August 2018 — Refreshments for the Early Career Event at that conference.
Workshops
The Branch Council organises workshops on topics of interest to local statisticians. Find upcoming opportunities in the SSA Events calendar and on the professional development page.
Past Branch workshops include:
- August 2023 — Machine Learning with Python, presented online by Patrick Robotham on 5–6 August
- February 2023 — The Necessary SQL
- July 2022 — Machine learning with Python
- November 2021 — An introduction to SQL (18–19 November)
- November 2021 — Machine learning with Python
- July 2021 — Introduction to Julia for Statistics and Data Science
- November 2020 — Data Visualisation with R
- July 2020 — Machine learning with Python
- July 2020 — Introduction to Julia for Statistics and Data Science
- July 2020 — Data Visualisation with R
Branch Documents
Contact Details
To contact us, please email vic.branch@statsoc.org.au.
@StatSocAus
