STATS MATTERS & EVENTS

12 September 2024                                               

Dear {Contact_First_Name},                                    

Did you miss the last issue? The expressions of interest to join the Significance Editorial Board is still open. If you have the passion to contribute to the profession and keen to make an impact, this is your opportunity! 

A big shout out to the VIC Branch for sharing a snapshot of their recent social event with us. It is great to see members come together for some fun and  grow their networks.

All our Branches across the country work tirelessly to organise member events - in person and online. These events are carefully designed to provide and support the professional development needs of members and opportunity to expand your networks within the profession. Take a peak at our Events calendar on our website and/or keep an eye out for the weekly Stats Matters for upcoming events. 

The Early Bird ECSSC has been extended another week with Expressions of Interest now open for Scholarships. If you are a student and need financial support to attend our upcoming conference, apply for our scholarship.

Vanaja Thomas

General Manager                                                                

Join the Editorial Board |closing 26 Sep

Significance magazine has been a major initiative to bring statistics to a broad audience.  It has featured articles from contributors around the world, including from Australia.  

The magazine started in 2004 as a partnership between the Royal Statistical Society (RSS) and the American Statistical Association (ASA).  In 2021, the Statistical Society of Australia joined them as a third partner.  This has benefited all of our members, who now enjoy free online access to the magazine.

Our partnership also comes with representation: we can appoint two of our members to join the Significance Editorial Board.  Members of that board help shape and steer the content of Significance: they develop article ideas, write articles of their own, identify potential contributors, and review submissions prior to publication.

One of our current representatives on the board, Damjan Vukcevic, will be stepping down from this role and we are seeking a replacement.

If you are interested in finding out more about this role, and have a passion for making statistics accessible and engaging to all, please get in touch with us at contact@statsoc.org.au by 26 September 2024.

News

Artificial intelligence improves lung cancer diagnosis

Event Spotlight

SSA VIC Branch Bowling Event

The SSA VIC Branch recently headed out for a fun evening of bowling and dinner. In true statistician fashion, bowling scores were tracked meticulously, with lots of strikes (although very high variation in performance!). After bowling, the group headed out for a dinner at the local Belgian Beer Café, filling the evening with lots of laughs and interesting chats about the areas of statistics we all work in (also very high variation!). Thank you to the organisers for another fun social evening and opportunity to network with other statisticians in VIC.

Minitab Webinar

The recent webinar hosted by our new sponsorship partner, Minitab, was a great success. Attendees gained valuable insights into the statistical foundations of machine learning and its practical applications through real-world case studies. The session highlighted how statistical techniques are pivotal in predictive analytics, with demonstrations showing how to predict solar energy output and prevent maintenance in industrial machinery. The seamless integration of statistical methodologies within predictive analytics was a key takeaway, reinforcing the importance of data-driven decision-making. Overall, it was an engaging and informative event, solidifying Minitab’s role as a valuable partner.

Partner with SSA

Interested to partner with us from a simple event sponsorship, conferences to long-term collaboration, please reach out to Jodi Phillips at events@statsoc.org.au .

SSA Upcoming Events

SSA Early Career & Student Statistician Conference 

18 - 21 November 2024 | Perth | Hobart | Christchurch

Early Bird Extended until 20 September - Register Now!

Don't miss your chance to secure your spot at a reduced rate. Whether you're a student, early-career statistician, or established professional, this event is an excellent opportunity to connect, gain mentorship, network, and share innovative ideas in the field of statistics.

Conference Highlights

We are especially dedicated to supporting students and early career statisticians by fostering a supportive environment where they can connect with mentors, share ideas, and receive guidance on their professional development. This is your chance to build valuable connections and gain insights that will help shape your future in statistics.

Expression of Interest (EOI) - ECSSC Scholarships

Are you interested in attending the Early Career & Student Statistician Conference but need financial support?

We're offering scholarships to offset the early bird registration fee. If you meet the following criteria, we encourage you to submit an EOI:

• You are a student.
• You do not have an organisation covering your registration fees.
• A presentation is not required for eligibility.
• Registered interest in attending the conference (with a preference for in-person attendance, but online is available).

To apply, provide a short description of how attending the conference will benefit you. Recipients will also be asked to write a blurb for the SSA newsletter.

Once you have submitted your EOI, please register for the conference and hold off on paying the invoice until your application is reviewed.

We look forward to your participation!

SSA VIC & TAS Branch Event - Are AFL players peaking in performance at a younger age? Presented by Dr Shane A. Richards

17 Sep 2024 | 6:00 PM – 7:00 PM (AEST) | CSIRO Hobart or Melbourne Hub RMIT or Online via teams

With the AFL finals underway, it’s an opportune moment to apply statistical methods to evaluate player performance and challenge our intuitions. Recently, very young players like Harry Sheezel and Nick Daicos have consistently performed exceptionally well despite their limited match experience. But is this trend becoming the new norm? In this talk, Dr Shane will present a statistical analysis using match-day data to examine whether age-dependent match performance has evolved in recent years and assess the value of match experience. These insights are important for effective list management. Additionally, this analysis will objectively identify the best AFL players in recent years.

SSA QLD Branch Meeting - Almost all log-scale output is readily interpretable-Mark Chatfield

18 Sep 2024 | 5:00 PM – 6:00 PM (AEST) | 223 Teaching Suite, 308 Queens St, Brisbane/Online

As statisticians, we frequently come across log-scale output when modelling binary, count, time-to-event and skewed continuous data. While log-scale regression coefficients, SDs, SEs, bias and RMSE can be exponentiated and interpreted, this is often not the only way. Building on the work of others, Mark will explain how almost all loge-scale output is readily interpretable, without exponentiating. As well as seeing meaning in log-scale output, such knowledge provides more tools in the statistician’s toolbox. He will show this for the analysis of log-transformed data, the Cox model, random-effects meta-analysis of risk ratios, and the performance of odds ratio estimators.

SSA NSW Branch Event - 2024 NSW Early Career and Student Statisticians Event

19 Sep 2024 | 6:00 PM – 8:00 PM (AEST) | The Bevery, the University of Sydney

The New South Wales branch of the Statistical Society of Australia warmly invites all undergraduate, postgraduate and early career statisticians and data scientists to attend our annual event for Early Career and Student Statisticians on Thursday 19th September 2024 at 6 pm. The event will take place at The Bevery, the University of Sydney (entrance is through the Courtyard Cafe or the Holme Building, there will be guides on the day).

This year we have the pleasure of hosting a handful of inspiring early-career speakers and mid-career speakers, working in various industries. The speakers have been invited to share what they’ve learned, what they’ve achieved, what they’ve enjoyed and what surprised them, as well as, perhaps, what they don’t like, what they haven’t learned, and so on. We also have a number of senior industry speakers who have been invited to provide their sage advice, insights and general guidance to those interested in developing a fruitful career in the industry.

Each speaker will give a 5-minute talk, followed by a networking session. Catering and drinks will be provided at the event. There will be plenty of opportunities for attendees to approach the speakers and each other freely.

SSA ACT Branch Meeting - Forecasting demand for Australian passports presented by Edward Kang

24 Sep 2024 | 5:45 PM – 7:00 PM (AEST) | In-person and online via Zoom

Prediction of human behaviour in the ‘real world’ is often challenging, as there is a plethora of factors that influence people and some of them occur completely randomly. This challenge is exacerbated when the same factor in the same environment can have different degrees of impacts on different individuals. However, this challenge becomes more manageable when you discover the underlying driver in their behaviour which you can convert to quantitative predictor variables. At the Australian Passport Office, we have analysed data collected over two decades to identify the right attributes to forecast passport demand, and we have used a traditional machine learning technique, random forest, to produce forecast models that were proven to show high accuracy even during and after the COVID-19.

ECSSN and NZSA webinar: Analysing haphazard Surveys with mild-ish Assumptions with Gordana Popovic

24 Sep 2024 | 3:00 PM – 4:00 PM (AEST) | Online 

While statisticians generally recommend collecting data via probability sampling, applied researchers studying humans frequently use haphazard and other non-probability samples to conduct surveys, and statistical consultants are regularly asked to help analyse such data. Principled analysis of non-probability samples relies on having reference data from probability samples or censuses, to adjust for non-response bias by say weighting or covariate adjustment. What can be done without auxiliary information?

It is well known that odds ratios are invariant under certain types of selection bias, for example outcome dependent sampling, which is why we use them in case control studies. We extend these results to selection bias on both the outcome and predictor, by way of some assumptions about how these biases are related.

In a collaboration on racial bias in police searches from a haphazard Facebook survey, where no auxiliary data was available, we used these assumptions to estimate odds ratios. We discuss how the assumptions were communicated with researchers so that their plausibility could be assessed by domain experts.

Statistical Consulting Network Monthly Meet-Up

27 Sep 2024 | 12:30 PM – 1:30 PM (AEST) | Online

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, 12:30-1:30 PM (AEST). We start each meet-up with announcements, or occasionally a special topic discussion, then discuss problems that attendees have brought along with them.

We also have a Slack workspace where members of the consulting network can communicate between meetings, or post problems or relevant materials they would like to discuss during a meeting.

Zoom link

Password: 660145

Other News & Events

Bayes Comp 2025 Call for Satellite Workshops and Invited Sessions

Bayes Comp is a biennial meeting to discuss new research in Bayesian computation. The upcoming iteration, Bayes Comp 2025 will be held from 16-20th June, 2025 in Singapore. Submissions for satellite workshops and invited sessions are now open at https://bayescomp2025.sg/.

Get your proposals in before October 31st!

Behind the Expiration Date: Determining Product Shelf Life with Minitab

Join Minitab for a webinar where Cheryl Pammer, Senior Advisory Statistician, will delve into Stability Studies and their crucial role in the pharmaceutical and food industry. From life-saving medications to your favourite snacks, discover how these studies help ensure the safety and quality of the products we rely on every day.  

Women in STEM Careers and Entrepreneurship Masterclass

Unlock your potential at the upcoming Women in STEM Careers and Entrepreneurship Masterclass, hosted by the Australian Mathematical Sciences Institute and Western Sydney University. This exclusive event will take place from 21 - 23 October at the Parramatta City Campus, Western Sydney University.

Designed for women STEM researchers, this masterclass offers a unique opportunity to delve into Australia’s research commercialisation and innovation ecosystem. Gain insights directly from industry and university experts in research innovation, and hear success stories from researchers who have transitioned into leading roles in startups or R&D teams.

Who should attend?

If you are a STEM research student or an early to mid-career researcher, this masterclass is tailored for you. We especially encourage those who have participated in an APR Internship, funded by APR’s WISE program, to take advantage of available sponsorships covering accommodation and travel expenses.

Event Details

• Time and Date: 9am - 5pm AEDT, 21 - 23 October 2024.
• Location: Level 9, Paramatta City Campus, Western Sydney University.
• Cost: $130 GA, Free for APR. Intern WiSE subsidy recipients.

Join us at the forefront of STEM innovation and entrepreneurship.

We look forward to welcoming you to Sydney this October!

Abstract Submissions & Registrations are now open for the 2024 ADSN conference

The ADSN Conference is heading to Western Australia this year.  It will be held at Curtin University in Perth and is being hosted by the Curtin Institute for Data Science.

• When:  Mon-Weds, 2-4 December
• Where: Curtin University, Bentley Campus
• Abstract deadline: 13 September

This year’s conference will feature an additional third day which will be industry-focussed. Also, there will be an opportunity to tour the Pawsey Supercomputing Research Centre on that day.

The International Environmetrics Society (TIES) Conference 2024

2 – 5 Dec 2024 | Adelaide

The International Environmetrics Society (TIES) is a non-profit organization aimed to foster the development and use of statistical and other quantitative methods in the environmental sciences, environmental engineering and environmental monitoring and protection. To this end, the Society promotes the participation of statisticians, mathematicians, scientists and engineers in the solution of environmental problems and emphasizes the need for collaboration and for clear communication between individuals from different disciplines and between researchers and practitioners.

All contributions related to environmetrics are welcome from across academia, research institutes, government, business and industry.

Key Dates:

For questions contact: John Boland john.boland@unisa.edu.au

SSA Career Centre

Employers can advertise job openings for statisticians and data analysts, while job seekers can post their own resume for potential employers to view – anonymously.

Members can register with the Career Centre, setting job alerts to be notified if a job meeting their search criteria is advertised. There's also the option of having one’s resume reviewed at no cost before uploading it, where it can be seen by potential employers.

Once registered with the SSA Career Centre as an employer, the site will allow users to post and manage job openings, search and manage prospective job candidates, and create a company profile. The fees for ads start at $130.

The SSA team would love to hear from you!

If you have any feedback or news from the Australian statistical community to share in Stats Matters and Events, get in touch with us!