Dear {Contact_First_Name},.
For many of us, this is a busy time of the year, and today I will keep my newsletter contribution short and sweet. In fact, I will not say much at all on this occasion, but hand over to you with a question. As 2022 draws to a close this is also a suitable time to take a moment and think about a fresh start for the newsletter. If we were to change things around next year, what would you like to see?
Our newsletter currently goes out every Thursday afternoon. Is that too often? Do you feel like SSA is spamming you with event information? What about the content of the newsletter? What are you missing? What would you like to see more of? And most importantly: Do you consider yourself a bit of a writer? Could you offer some expertise that you want to share with your fellow members? Is there any way you could contribute on a regular or semi-regular basis?
All suggestions are welcome – please email them to eo@statsoc.org.au.
Please keep in mind that the newsletter is currently very much a one-man-show – or rather a one-woman-show, though I get help from our Event Coordinator, who provides me with event updates. And then there are our branches and sections, of course, who sometimes email me write-ups about branch or section events.
I look forward to hearing your thoughts – thank you in advance.
Marie-Louise Rankin
Executive Officer
Read newsletter in your browser |
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SA Branch of the Statistical Society September 2022 meeting
Bad Statistics in Medical Research
For the SA Branch September 2022 meeting, Prof Adrian Barnett (QUT) gave a presentation over zoom from Queensland; his talk a damning exposition on Bad Statistics in Medical Research. Using the wrong statistical methods can completely invalidate a study's results, potentially wasting years of hard work and misdirecting future research and policy. In this talk, Adrian discussed the problem of bad statistics in medical research, with some suggestions for improving the problem by encouraging the use of simple study designs, and a new idea for automated statistical reviews to improve research quality. |
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The SSA Mentoring Committee is looking for members!
Would you like to become a committee member for the SSA Mentoring Program?
The SSA mentoring committee has begun planning the third year of its successful mentoring program. The program provides an opportunity for emerging statisticians to develop personal and professional skills, as well as providing connections between statisticians from across the nation.
This wonderful initiative is developed and managed by the SSA Mentoring Committee (pictured below). We are a team of statisticians eager to increase the support available to our community for success in the workplace. The committee is dedicated to delivering a program that meets the needs of its diverse range of mentees. To do this, the committee is seeking expertise, experience and perspectives to ensure diverse representation of the statistics community. Do you have the fresh new voice we’re looking for? Please get in touch!
To express your interest in joining the SSA Mentoring Committee, or for more information, please email us via ssa.mentoring@gmail.com with a couple of paragraphs about yourself and why you are keen to get involved. |
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Got a position to fill? Let us help you find qualified applicants!
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SSA's career centre will help ensure your recruitment advertising efforts attract the hard-to-reach candidates you seek. Here's how:
- Posting jobs to a niche site like SSA's career centre exposes them to highly qualified niche professionals instead of the unqualified masses.
- Upgrading your job listings to ensure they appear high on search results drives significantly more views, clicks, and applications.
- Supplementing job postings with banner ads can help build your brand as a desirable employer and attract the best candidates.
To learn more about the job posting and banner advertising options, email the managers of SSA's Career Centre. Members of SSA receive a $20 discount on any ad. Contact the SSA office for the discount code.
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Step up as an STA STEM Ambassador - Last Chance!
Want to serve Australia’s scientific community and deepen your knowledge of how science can engage effectively with policymakers? Science & Technology Australia’s prestigious STEM Ambassadors program is accepting applications until 9am AEDT, Monday, & November 2022. |
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The 2022 Tjanpi Award for Best Student Paper in Environmental Statistics
Nominations are now being accepted for the 2022 Tjanpi Award, the annual student prize for best student paper in environmental statistics, sponsored by the SSA Environmental Statistics Section. 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 as of June 30 2022 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 on environmental statistics at the next annual stats conference (in Wollongong, 2023). Application deadline: 8 December 2022. |
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SSA NSW Branch: November Event - Andrew White - How the ARDC helps researchers maximise impact
9 Nov 2022, 6:30 PM – 7:30 PM (AEDT), via Zoom
Andrew White from Australian Research Data Commons (ARDC) will speak on how the ARDC helps researchers maximise impact. The ARDC works with the research community to build leading-edge digital research infrastructure to provide Australian researchers with competitive advantage through data. In this talk, Andrew will provide an overview of the ARDC and the services on offer to researchers and how this accelerates your research and maximises the impact. He will also delve into a case study of a group which has utilised and applied ARDC services within their own domain. You will need to register in advance to obtain the Zoom link. |
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Canberra Branch Workshop:Time series analysis and forecasting using R
9 Nov 2022, 9:00 AM (AEDT) – 10 Nov 2022, 5:00 PM (AEDT)
Room 5.02, Marie Reay Teaching Building, The Australian National University
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The SSA Canberra Branch warmly invites you to an in-person workshop on Time series analysis and forecasting using R, taught by Professor Rob J Hyndman (Monash University) and Associate Professor Bahman Rostami-Tabar (Cardiff University, UK). It is becoming increasingly common for organizations to collect huge amounts of data over time, and existing time series analysis tools are not always suitable to handle the scale, frequency and structure of the data collected. In this workshop, we will look at some packages and methods that have been developed to handle the analysis of large collections of time series.
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SSA and NZSA ECSS Miniconference 2022 - Conference Program out now! Have a look here.
15 -17 Nov 2022, online + In-person (Perth)
Not long now until SSA's “Miniconference” jointly hosted by the Early Career and Student Statisticians Network (ECSSN) of the SSA, the Student and Early Career Statisticians Network (SECS) of the New Zealand Statistical Association (NZSA), and the WA Branch. This event is a “hybrid” event that includes two days of online-only presentations followed by one day of in-person presentations in WA. The latter shall also be streamed online. |
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Check out the conference website here
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We'd like to thank the sponsors of the ECSSN Mini-Conference 2022:
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ECSSN Mini-conference 2022 conference workshop
“Risky Statistical Business: Asking questions upfront to bypass risks of statistical advising”,
15 November 2022, 8:10 AM AWST
with Samantha Low-Choy.
For statisticians of any level of experience, statistical advising can be immensely satisfying, yet also, at times, present a minefield of risky possibilities. The business, politics and interpersonal relations can be subject to many pressures, unknowns, and diversity of problems. To complicate matters, those who are relatively new to advising (albeit with experience in teaching or research) may be unprepared for these challenges.
Sign up for this workshop and hear from Sama Low-Choy how asking the right questions will help advisors give the appropiate advice .
For those attending the conference, the workshop is included in their registration fee, others can register here. Find out more about this event and the presenter here. |
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SSA WA: Careers Panel, Networking & Sundowner
17 Nov 2022, 2:00 PM – 6:30 PM (AWST) , 139 St Georges Terrace, Perth
The SSA WA Branch Meeting in November follows on from the Day 3 program of the Early Career and Student Statisticians Miniconference (ECSSMini2022).
Members, visitors, and ECSSMini2022 delegates are invited to continue networking and discussing their statistical careers after the online portion of the conference has finished.
While all the activities are optional and you may choose to join at a time most convenient for you, we are very keen to have mid- and established career statisticians joining us for the "speed networking" session.
For more information click here. |
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Enacting sovereign rights of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in official statistics and other data - Dr Kalinda Griffiths
15 Nov 2022, 6:00 PM – 7:30 PM, In person, venue TBA or online via Zoom
Join the SSA Vic branch in-person or online to hear from Dr Kalinda Griffiths in her talk "Enacting sovereign rights of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in official statistics and other data".
The realisation for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in Australia to be counted in official statistics occurred in 1967. The identification of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in national data highlights a range of historical and contemporary issues that require our attention. This includes how Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have been defined and by whom, as well as how identification is operationalised in official data collections.
This talk discusses priority issues in identifying Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in the national data in Australia’s colonial context and some ways forward in enacting the sovereign rights of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and communities to support nation building.
To register, click here. |
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The Necessary SQL - An Introduction to SQL with Daniel Fryer
21 Nov 2022, 9:00 AM (AEDT) – 22 Nov 2022, 5:00 PM (AEDT), Online via Zoom
This course is a gentle, fast paced introduction to SQL. Their objective is to build a strong foundation and intuition for SQL programming, with an emphasis on retrieving and transforming data in a robust and testable manner. The course is suitable for beginners with no prior programming experience, but includes plenty of additional material for experienced programmers that are new to SQL.
For more information and to register click here. |
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SSA NSW Branch workshop: A crash course on using machine learning methods effectively in practice
22 Nov 2022, 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM (AEDT) @ 12 Second Way 430 Active Learning Space, Room 430, 12 Second Way, Macquarie University
The SSA NSW branch and School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences, Macquarie University are offering this in-person workshop presented by Prof. Benoit Liquet-Weiland and Dr Sarat Moka.
Deep learning can be viewed as a sub-discipline of machine learning and hence this first workshop provides an overview of key machine learning concepts and paradigms. The participant is introduced to supervised learning, unsupervised learning, and the general concept of iterative based optimization for learning. This course also presents a simple non-linear auto-encoder architecture. Aspects of model tuning are also discussed including feature engineering and hyper-parameter choice. The workshop includes machine learning demonstrations using R and Python software. This first workshop will equip attendees for the follow up workshop on “Mathematical Engineering of Deep Learning”.
Please click here for more information and to register. |
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NSW Branch: 2022 Annual Dinner
5 Dec 2022, 7:00 PM (AEDT), Aerial Function Centre, UTS
The afternoon begins with the 23rd annual J.B. Douglas Awards, followed by the Annual Lecture by Professor Marijka Batterham starting around 6pm, and then dinner from about 7pm.
The 23rd J. B. Douglas Awards
Each year the J. B. Douglas award showcases NSW postgraduate students' research work. As usual, we will have several talks by research students nearing completion at NSW institutions. Nominees are still being finalised, we will send a separate announcement closer to the day.
2022 Annual Lecture
This year, we are very happy to have Professor Marijka Batterham, Director of the National Institute for Applied Statistics Research Australia and the Statistical Consulting Centre give the Annual Lecture. Details of the talk will be made available closer to the date.
2022 Annual Dinner
To register, please follow the link here. A discount is given to early career and student members. |
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Save the date: ASC and OZCOTS 2023
10-15 December 2023, University of Wollongong, NSW |
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Upcoming Events across the ADSN
These can all be found on ADSN events page:
Vocabulary Symposium 2022 | 14-15 November, Canberra & Virtual
The symposium will bring together users, creators, and publishers of vocabularies across domains and sectors in Australia to share experiences and identify requirements for FAIR vocabularies underpinning cross-domain data. More information / Register
AustMS 2022 | 6-9 December, UNSW Sydney
Registration is open for the 66th Annual Meeting of the Australian Mathematical Society.
More information / Register
AMSI Summer School 2023 | 9 Jan – 3 Feb, The University of Melbourne
Calling all honours, post-graduate students and ECRs: attend Summer School in Melbourne and get a different view of your mathematical world. Connect with peers, researchers and potential future employers while developing your mathematical skills. You can even take a subject for credit! Spend the first two weeks attending classes and activities on-campus at The University of Melbourne before heading home for the final two weeks to complete the program online (virtual participation for all four weeks also available). REGISTER
Summer School Events include: · AMSI Summer School Careers Day | Monday, 16 January
ARDC Digital Research Skills Summit | 9-10 February, Sydney The annual skills summit provides a vibrant forum for eResearch skills communities to network, exchange information, share new initiatives and tackle complex, national scale skills challenges. We invite eResearch infrastructure providers, trainers, training program managers, researchers who train and other interested parties to join the summit, shaping the development of a national data and digital research skills strategy together. More information / Register |
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The 2022 Statistical Science Lecture will be given by Professor Michael I Jordan, UC Berkeley, on Thursday 17 November at 11am AEDT. The Statistical Science Lecture (SSL) began in 2018 and is an annual event made possible by a philanthropic donation to the School of Mathematics and Applied Statistics, University of Wollongong.
The annual Statistical Science Lecture showcases the interdisciplinarity and key role a statistical scientist plays in extracting scientific knowledge from data in the presence of uncertainty. Professor Jordan, who was named the "most influential computer scientist" worldwide in an article in Science, will present the lecture titled, “On Learning-Aware Mechanism Design.” |
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16 Nov 2022 – 18 Nov 2022, La Trobe University City Campus (Level 2, 360 Collins Street, Melbourne, Australia)
Deterministic modellers and statisticians have a lot to be gained by working as a team in which both types of approaches are used. The combination of statistics and classical dynamics has long been a fertile field, tracing back to statistical mechanics from the end of the 19th century and stochastic differential equations from the 1920s. The need to combine the two modelling approaches has never been greater and neither has the opportunity for affordable high-performance computation. During the COVID-19 pandemic, agreement has been found between agent-based models and differential compartment equations in modelling infection numbers. Each approach gives confidence to the other, and this suggests scope for new hybrid models.
This event will precede the biennial Forum Mathematics for Industry FMfI2022 to be held at the same location 21-24 November 2022. For more information about the Forum click here.
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IAPA National Conference "Advancing Analytics" 2022 16 -17 November 2022, Melbourne (16th) & virtually anywhere (17th)
Be part of the community exploring how data-driven insights can advance business, society and the economy on 16 & 17 November.
We're bringing together over twenty experts from UK, US, Finland, Austria and Australia including Victorian Government, Starbucks, The Brookings Institution, The Alan Turing Institute, OP Financial Group, MOSTLY AI, Choice, Lily AI, catch, UC Berkley, MaxMine and go1 to discuss key analytics issues and questions like:
- can artificial intelligence deliver a less biased outcome for employment?
- could synthetic data be the ethical answer for machine learning modelling?
- what might be the real-world impact of the AI audit laws recently passed in New York?
- how can we restore consumer trust in data use?
- can gamification and analytics preserve humanity's scarce resources?
- what are the hard truths of the CDO role?
- is there really such a thing as "open" AI?
- will analytics drive innovation in retail?
- is it time for all organisations to have a data balance sheet to sit alongside the financial balance sheet?
Join IAPA in-person and virtually on 16 and 17 November to explore insights that drive clarity, innovation, understanding and momentum.
Insights that advance your world. Insights driven by analytics.
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ADSN Inaugural Conference
21-22 November 2022, Brisbane
The Australian Data Science Network is pleased to announce its inaugural conference. The QUT Centre for Data Science will be the host organisation for the first conference to be held at QUT in Brisbane over two days on Monday and Tuesday, 21-22 November.
We are pleased to announce that the conference will now include a poster presentation session on both days.
If you would like to submit an extended abstract for the digital proceedings and/or present a poster, please use this form to provide your abstract: https://forms.gle/5GM7tPH8w5M1Cjt46
We will accept posters of A1 or A0 size. |
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A crash course on using machine learning methods effectively in practice
22 Nov 2022, 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM (AEDT) @ 12 Second Way 430 Active Learning Space, Room 430, 12 Second Way, Macquarie University
Deep learning can be viewed as a sub-discipline of machine learning and hence this first workshop provides an overview of key machine learning concepts and paradigms. The participant is introduced to supervised learning, unsupervised learning, and the general concept of iterative based optimization for learning. This course also presents a simple non-linear auto-encoder architecture. Aspects of model tuning are also discussed including feature engineering and hyper-parameter choice. The workshop includes machine learning demonstrations using R and Python software. This first workshop will equip attendees for the follow up workshop on “Mathematical Engineering of Deep Learning”.
Please click here for more information and to register. |
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AMSI BioInfoSummer 2022
21-24 November, The University of Melbourne
Join other students, ECRs and professionals in Melbourne (or online) to explore the latest research and developments in bioinformatics at this four-day conference. Travel grants are available to assist interstate students attend in Melbourne. |
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Indigenizing University Mathematics Conference returns for a second year!
The Second international "Indigenizing University Mathematics" conference will be held in the week starting 28th November 2022, mainly online but also with a limited face-to-face attendance option in Newcastle, Australia. You are invited to register via the Eventbrite link at https://www.ium2022.org .
Indigenization is something that is being asked of us more and more by our universities, as well as being something that increasingly many individuals care about and are interested in. However, it is not always obvious how to proceed in our disciplines and spaces. Thus, the purposes of the conference are to collectively give us an opportunity to think and learn about what it may mean to Indigenize our practices and curricula in university mathematics and statistics; and to give us a chance to build and extend the relationships, partnerships, and shared understandings necessary for this work.
In addition to the online option for registration, there will be a small face-to-face hub in Newcastle, Australia from which many of the Australian-based presenters will present. The Newcastle venue has limited capacity: in addition to the presenters, we will have room for about 30 registrants. In Newcastle, the timing is such that the presentations run from 9am-1pm each day with lunches provided afterwards and plenty of opportunity to mingle. For those in Australia, we encourage face-to-face registration from across the country, including from Heads of Discipline. |
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ACSPRI Summer Program
Take advantage of the early-bird discount and enrol in one of ACSPRI's Summer Program Courses before 7 December 2022.
If you are a full-time student, the discount is particularly significant.
Courses cover both qualitative and quantitative methodologies, ranging from introductory to advanced.
If you have any questions about any of the courses or ACSPRI membership, please contact us on 03 8376 6496 or you can email ACSPRI at info@acspri.org.au. |
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The 2022 ANZRSAI Conference: Australia and New Zealand Regional Science Association International 45th Annual Conference, 2022
1 -2 Dec 2022, The Convention Centre at Charles Sturt University Wagga Wagga, Australia
The conference will be a hybrid event. Registered participants may either attend in person at Wagga Wagga or join the conference on-line.
The theme of the conference is DATA SCIENCE IN REGIONAL POLICY: HOUSING AND WORKFORCE DYNAMIC.
To get more information and to register click here. |
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Time Series and Forecasting Symposium
1-2 December 2022, 9am – 5pm
The University of Sydney CBD Campus, Level 17, 133 Castlereagh Street, Sydney
Keynote speakers:
Prof Gael Martin (Monash University) and Prof Rodney Strachan (University of Queensland)
All registrations include symposium material, refreshments, lunches and symposium dinner
Registration Fees: A$250 ($300 after 15 November) for academic and industry participants and A$125 ($150 after 15 November) for full-time students.
Please register at the symposium webpage here on or before 15 November to enjoy the early bird rate.
Abstract Submission:
To submit an abstract (up to 250 words) for oral or poster presentation, please send it to tsf.symposium@sydney.edu.au on or before 31 October.
Best student paper competition:
TSF2022 will have a special session in the afternoon of 2 December for student oral presentations and a Best Student Paper award will be given. Up to six abstracts submitted by students will be selected by a panel to present in this session. If you want your paper to be considered for presentation in this session, please indicate in your email. |
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Current positions in SSA's Career Centre |
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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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