Dear {Contact_First_Name},
Last week, 29 members of SSA and I had the privilege of attending the “Marie Kondo your writing” workshop, presented by Science & Technology of Australia’s CEO Misha Schubert. Misha has a Master’s Degree in Journalism from Columbia University. She worked for many years as a journalist and political correspondent.
The workshop title is based on the popular Netflix series “Tidying up with Marie Kondo”, where tidying expert Marie Kondo helps her clients to declutter their homes. And just like Marie Kondo teaches her clients how to get rid of useless stuff, Misha Schubert talked us through ways to declutter our writing
Misha shared helpful advice on how to deliver a polished article. In a nutshell, I came away from the workshop with the realisation that “less is more”. I learned to check my writing for words that don’t have to be there. I now look for long-winding sentences and if I see a “which”, “because” or “but”, I consider starting a new sentence instead. Misha also showed us some examples of “before and after” paragraphs. They certainly opened my eyes to what not to do!
One of the best pieces of advice Misha gave us was: “To become a better writer, become a better reader. Read to notice the writer’s technique”.
As a result of my newfound knowledge, I’m hoping to improve my own style of writing. Watch this space for better newsletter articles in the future!
Marie-Louise Rankin
SSA Executive Officer
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Notice The SSA office is closed until Monday, 22 November 2021 while the Executive Officer is on leave. For any event related enquiries, please contact SSA's event coordinator,
Jodi Phillips. |
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The Tjanpi Award for best Student paper in Environmental Statistics - deadline extended!
The SSA Environmental Statistics section proudly announces a new annual student prize for best student paper in environmental statistics. To be eligible a student must be:
- An author of a paper that has been accepted in the previous 12 months, having made a substantial contribution to the work
- A student at the end of semester 1 this year (June 30 2021)
- A current member of the SSA and the Environmental Statistics Section
The winner will receive $500 and will be asked to present in an invited session at the next annual stats conference (in 2023).
Please submit your nominations to eo@statsoc.org.au, with Tjanpi Award submission in the header, by 5 PM ADST Thursday, 2 December 2021, including:
- Full name, institution
- Paper, as one pdf file.
Letter of support from supervisor or other academic at the institution, confirming student status of applicant and describing the student's role in the paper. |
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Central Australian landscape dominated by Tjanpi, photo by Sara Winter
Tjanpi is the Pitjantjatjara word for Triodia, a spiny tussock-forming grass that dominates the vegetation across more than 20% of Australia’s land mass. It is a long-lived plant that makes deep roots and can withstand the hardiest of conditions. It can grow over decades into characteristic ring formations three metres in diameter. As a source of food and shelter, Tjanpi is fundamental to life in some of Australia’s most extreme conditions, being central to highly diverse ecosystems dominated by termites and ants, as well as reptiles, birds and small mammals. It has also been traditionally used by Indigenous people for a range of purposes, including building shelters, making an adhesive resin, basket weaving, fishing and using its seeds as a food source.
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SSA Mentoring Program The SSA is excited to invite you to participate in the 2022 mentoring program!
Open to all members of the Society, the program will connect early and mid-career statisticians with experienced mentors to provide them with career guidance and share their experiences to help them achieve their professional goals.
To find out if you are eligible or for more information, please visit the SSA Mentoring Program webpage.
To register your interest please complete this following form by Sunday 12th December: |
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Nominations Sought for 2022 COPSS Awards
Each year, the statistical profession recognises outstanding members at the Joint Statistical Meetings in an awards ceremony organised by the Committee of Presidents of Statistical Societies (COPSS). Nominations are an important part of the process, and everyone can contribute—from the newest to most senior members of our societies. We recognise excellence in our mentors, colleagues, and friends, and it is important to single out those who have made exceptional contributions to the profession. So please take a few minutes, review the various COPSS Awards, and see if you can identify worthy individuals.
Nominations should be submitted by 15 December 2021. |
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42nd International Symposium on Forecasting
The International Institute of Forecasters (IIF) will be hosting their annual conference in Oxford, England in 2022 from 10-12 July 2022.
The International Symposium on Forecasting (ISF) is the premier forecasting conference, attracting the world's leading forecasting researchers, practitioners, and students. Through a combination of keynote speaker presentations, academic sessions, workshops, and social programs, the ISF provides many excellent opportunities for networking, learning, and fun. |
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Missed any webinars or branch events?
We recently uploaded new recordings to the SSA website.
Webinars
- Uncertain Futures: What Can We Forecast and When Should We Give Up - Professor Rob J. Hyndman
- Parallel Tempering on Optimized Paths - Trevor Campbell
- Principal stratification based on latent survival classes to predict treatment outcomes for localized kidney cancer - Brian Egleston
- Introducing the SSA Mentoring Program - Karen Lamb
Branch Seminars
- Dennis Trewin prize- Ali Shojaeipour, Xian Li
- Peer-Review Seminar and Panel Discussion- Dr Myra McGuinness, Professor Kate Lee, Professor Andrew Forbes, Professor Alan Welsh
- A Unified Bayesian Model for Predicting Volleyball Games - Professor Ioannis Ntzoufras
- Belz Lecture- Professor Andrew Forbes
- September Industry Event
You can catch up on many more webinars and branch seminars on the SSA website!
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Statistics in the Capital: Knibbs Lecture with David Steel Tuesday 30th November; 5:45-7:00pm AEDT.
Save the date! SSA Canberra invites you to attend this year's Knibbs lecture, which will be presented by Prof David Steel (UoW), as he talks about something awesome in official statistics and/or sampling!
We are hoping to have the Knibbs lecture take place in hybrid format, with the physical lecture taking place at the ABS Knibbs Theatre while being streamed live on Zoom. More details about the above, as well as a potential dinner after the Knibbs lecture, will be announced closer to the date of the event. In the meantime, you can RSVP and receive the Zoom link to attend virtually at this link. |
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If you have news from the Australian statistical community to share in Stats Matters and Events, please get in touch with us! We love getting feedback too.
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Statistical Society of Australia | PO Box 213 Belconnen ACT 2616 Australia 02 6251 3647 | www.statsoc.org.au |
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