Dear {Contact_First_Name},
Earlier this week I had the privilege of attending the Victorian Branch’s mentoring evening as a mentor: thank you to the Vic Branch for organising that event. I was one of a number of mentors: we spanned academia, industry and government, and many different career stages. Mentees, who also came from many different areas and career stages, were able to chat to different mentors, spending around 15 minutes with each. The mentees asked me so many insightful questions about career paths, dealing with the pressures of being the statistician on a team, and work-life balance.
As well as being asked questions, I also asked questions of the mentees. The Society, jointly with AMSI (the Australian Mathematical Sciences Institute) is currently conducting a review of data science in Australian universities. This means that I’ve been thinking a lot about data science and the SSA in recent times, if there is a distinction between data science and statistics, and if so, what the difference between the two is. I asked the people I chatted with what their thoughts were on “data science” versus “statistics”. I got several interesting answers – including “there isn’t a difference!”, “it depends on the type of data you analyse and the techniques you use”, and “data science = statistics + computing”. I am curious to know what our members think of “data science” versus “statistics” – and if there are any members who would be interested in forming a Data Science Section. Please get in touch.
Jessica Kasza
SSA President
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Winners of the first Rousseeuw Prize for Statistics announced
The King Baudouin Foundation has announced the winners of the first Rousseeuw Prize for Statistics. This biennial prize, worth 1 million USD, aims to reward excellence in statistical research which has a significant impact. The selected topic is Causal Inference in Medicine and Public Health. Half the prize amount will go to James Robins of Harvard University and half will be shared by Miguel Hernán (Harvard University), Thomas Richardson (University of Washington), Andrea Rotnitzky (Universidad Torcuato di Tella, Argentina) and Eric Tchetgen Tchetgen (University of Pennsylvania).
The international jury appointed by the King Baudouin Foundation selected the winners from the nominations received after a widely advertised call earlier this year. The jury consisted of its chair, David Hand (Imperial College), Lutgarde Buydens (Radboud University Nijmegen), Probal Chaudhuri (Indian Statistical Institute), Dianne Cook (Monash University), Roger Koenker (University of Illinois), Yanyuan Ma (Penn State), David Scott (Rice University), David Steinberg (Tel Aviv University), Jane-Ling Wang (UC Davis), and James Zidek (University of British Columbia). The prize will be awarded in a ceremony taking place at KU Leuven, Belgium on Wednesday October 12, 2022. Find out more here. |
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Position statement on access to data held by the private sector for purposes of official statistics
The seventieth plenary session of the Conference of European Statisticians (CES) took place on this week in Geneva, marking 30 years since the Fundamental Principles of Official Statistics were first developed and adopted at the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE).
The event closed with the adoption of a position statement on access to data held by the private sector for purposes of official statistics. Chief Statisticians from across and beyond the UNECE publicly affirmed their commitment to working closely with the private sector to facilitate the use of the best available data sources for statistical efficiency, without prejudicing the privacy, confidentiality, reliability and accuracy that are the hallmarks of official statistics. |
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Issue Q2 2022 of the newsletter published by the Biostatistics & Bioinformatics Section is out now! |
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Publishing in ANZJS? You may be eligible for free open access!
From 1 January 2022, authors affiliated with institutions in Australia and New Zealand that are participating in Wiley’s Council of Australian University Librarians (CAUL) agreement may publish in Wiley’s subscription journals that offer open access, with no transactional Article Publication Charges (APC). This means that you may be eligible to publish open access articles in the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Statistics (ANZJS) – the journal jointly published by the SSA and the New Zealand Statistics Association. |
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Seeking new voices for ‘The Random Sample’
Calling all science communication and podcast enthusiasts! The Random Sample is seeking new voices to be regular co-hosts on the podcast and we would love to have some passionate SSA members involved. The Random Sample aims to showcase the exciting work in mathematics and statistics being undertaken in Australia in an accessible manner. If you’re keen to put your communication skills to the test and think you can commit to co-hosting an episode once every couple of months, please get in touch! For more information or to apply, contact Karen Lamb by Friday 24th June. |
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Attention Vic members! Workshop/conference funding support available!
SSA Vic are proud to announce that we will once again be offering financial support to our members for the attendance of statistical workshops, conferences, and short courses; both national and international, in 2022.
Each member is eligible for up to $200 of total funding to cover the registration and travel expenses associated with the aforementioned activities. |
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Science and Technology Australia (STA): Calling SSA members to join the Policy Committee or Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Committee
Are you someone who is passionate about policy? Or excited, driven, and intrigued by equity, diversity and inclusion? If so, then you may be interested in applying to join STA's Policy or Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Committees. Find out more here, and let our president, Jess Kasza know if you're keen on applying to join one of these committees. This is a great opportunity for you to help STA achieve its mission, bringing STEM expertise to public policymaking, and championing STEM sector diversity and inclusion. |
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Statistical Consulting Network June Meet-Up- 24 Jun 2022, 12:30 PM – 1:30 PM AEST, held online (Zoom)
Come along with your thinking cap, maybe a problem, and some lunch!
The Statistical Consulting Network invites you to their monthly meet-up, a virtual lunchtime meeting where statisticians help each other out with problems that they aren’t sure how to deal with. This virtual meeting is held on Zoom at lunchtime on the last Friday of each month, We will start each meet-up in the virtual common room for announcements, or occasionally a special topic discussion, then go to break-out rooms in smaller groups to discuss problems that attendees have brought along with them.
For more information and the Zoom link, click here. |
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Save the date: ASC and OZCOTS 2023
10-15 December 2023, University of Wollongong, NSW |
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Canberra Branch Meeting - Current state and prospects of R-packages for the design of experiments
With Emi Tanaka
29 June 2022, 5:45 PM – 7:00 PM (AEST) in person and online
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The Biostatistics and Bioinformatics Section warmly invites you to the following webinar: Cross-Platform Omics Prediction Procedure: a game changer for implementing precision medicine 29 Jun 2022, 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM AEST
presented by Prof Jean Yang, University of Sydney. |
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Current positions advertised in SSA's Career Centre |
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Would you like to see your job advertised here? Our newsletter has an opening rate of 60%, which means that over 500 statisticians or student statisticians will see your ad. Place an ad in SSA's Career Centre, and it will be automatically listed in this newsletter. |
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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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