Are you interested in a career in statistics or data science? Join us at the Clyde Hotel for an evening of networking with  statisticians and data professionals. Mentees will have the opportunity to chat with each of our mentors in small groups, so come prepared with some questions for our mentors. Places will be limited so book early to secure your spot! Finger food will be provided, so registration will close the Thursday before the event (13 June) so we can finalise catering numbers.

Mentors

Kristy Butler is a Lead Data Scientist at the Country Fire Authority,  the volunteer fire service in Victoria. After graduating with engineering and geography degrees from the University of Queensland, Kristy spent five years working as a consultant transport planner and data analyst, developing analysis workflows to solve logistics and transport problems for governments and private companies.  She now works to generate insights about Victoria's bushfire suppression activities, through a combination of field work and data science techniques. Kristy is passionate about bridging the gap between research, data science and operations in the bushfire space.

Mabel Chen is a Senior Policy Officer and Data Analyst at the Victorian Department of Education currently responsible for modelling future supply and demand of kindergarten as part of the Best Start Best Life reforms. She completed her Bachelor of Science (Mathematics) at RMIT University and Graduate Certificate of Education at The University of Melbourne. The majority of her career has been in maths education where she now still freelances part-time, but she has worked across a variety of different areas including but not limited to, business consulting, law and conveyancing, public policy, IT support, professional musician, illustrator, hospitality, and general administrative services. Mabel's pathway from school to work (and study along the way) has been anything but linear, and she has many stories of how her mathematical skills and experiences have helped her along the way.

Yang Chen is a Senior Data Scientist leading Data Science Services at Vicmap, Department of Transport and Planning (DTP). She holds a Master’s and PhD in Geo-spatial Data Sciences, specialising in geo-AI, computer vision, and statistical modelling. At DTP, Yang develops data science capabilities for the Land Information and Spatial Services branch, building cloud-native data infrastructure for in-house MLOps. She oversees model development, ensuring data product quality, scalability, and reproducibility. She provides data-driven insights and promotes in-house ML capabilities. Additionally, she leverages Earth Observation and geospatial analytics to operationalise Geo-AI at scale. Yang builds stakeholder connections for ML projects and arranges data science workshops and community practices. Prior to her role at DTP, Yang worked at Data61 CSIRO (2017-2021) as a research scientist, developing scalable AI solutions for natural hazards, coastal protection, forest management, and crop yield forecasting across Australia.

Stelios Georgiou is an Associate Professor and has made significant contributions to the field. With over 100 research papers authored, numerous presentations at international conferences, and active participation in several research projects, his expertise spans Statistical Experimental Designs, Biostatistics, Data Analysis, Combinatorial Designs, Coding Theory, and Cryptography. For over 25 years, he has applied statistical methods across diverse domains, playing a significant role in crafting numerous theoretical and practical tools for designing experiments, analysing data, and facilitating informed decision-making. Stelios currently serves as the communication officer and a council member of the Statistical Society of Australia (SSA) and he is also a member of several other professional societies, including AMSI, ASA, AMS, ICA, CMSA, and ISBIS.

Lyle C. Gurrin is Professor of Biostatistics at the University of Melbourne. He has worked as a statistician for 30 years, mostly in health and medical research, but has also spent time at the ABS in Canberra and as a financial risk manager for NAB and BHP. Lyle worked for five years at King Edward Memorial Hospital for Women in Perth (his home town) in the late 1990’s researching the developmental origins of health and disease (DoHaD). Since then, he has spent many years as an investigator on population cohort studies in immunology and genetic epidemiology targeting common chronic conditions in both child and adult life. Recently, Lyle has been working with colleagues at the Monash Medical Centre and university hospitals in the Netherlands and United Kingdom to develop statistical methods that can be used to detect data fabrication and fraud in peer-reviewed publications of randomized clinical trials. Lyle teaches statistics to students in the Master of Biostatistics both on campus in Melbourne and online through the Biostatistics Collaboration of Australia

Rebecca Harding is a Clinical Trial Statistician whose work revolves around the discipline of biostatistics that underpins the use of statistical methods in the collection, preparation and analysis of data for clinical studies.  Her primary area of interest is in the improvement of maternal and child health outcomes, where she is involved in a program of large randomised controlled trials in rural Bangladesh and Malawi to assess new solutions for  anaemia control with the goal of improving pregnancy outcomes, maternal wellbeing, infection risk and child  growth and development. Rebecca is an early career biostatistician at The Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research (WEHI), joining WEHI in June 2020 following a move to Melbourne in 2019 to complete her Masters of Biostatistics. She completed her PhD in 2018 as a recipient of a Paediatric Freemasons Research Fellowship – University of Otago, NZ, where she studied the effects of sleep disordered breathing in children on academic performance.

Xiaochi Liu is the Senior Spatial Data Analyst at Environment Protection Authority (EPA) Victoria. Last year, he completed a PhD in environmental sciences at Macquarie University, where his research applies novel data science techniques to untangle the causal nexus between trace metal contamination and human health. His current work produces spatial and spatio-temporal data analysis that supports EPA’s regulatory activities, develops evidence-based intervention strategies for mitigating environmental exposure, and prevents harm to Victorian communities and the environment from pollution and waste. His day-to-day working language is R.

Laleh Tafakori is a Senior Lecturer in statistics at the School of Mathematics at RMIT University. Before joining RMIT University, she worked as a Postdoctoral Research Associate in the School of Mathematics and Statistics at the University of Melbourne. Additionally, she was an Associate Investigator in the ARC Centre of Excellence for Mathematical and Statistical Frontiers. Her main research field is extreme value analysis, applying to climate and environmental processes, energy markets, and financial markets. Extreme value theory involves the construction of statistical models that describe the extreme levels of real-world processes. It helps us make informed decisions about natural disaster risks such as extreme floods, large insurance losses, day-to-day market risk, and large wildfires.