Members are advised that the Executive position of Vice President will become vacant at the Society’s Central Council Annual General Meeting in 2023. The SSA Rules provide for a Nominating Committee, consisting of the current Executive and the Branch Presidents, to solicit nominations and submit a list of nominees to Central Council. Should an election be required, Central Council will then arrange a ballot of all financial members of the Society.

Details about the role of SSA Vice President can be viewed here.

Members of SSA are invited to submit nominations for the position of Vice President. Nominations must be in writing and signed by the nominator(s), and must be accompanied by a written and signed statement from the nominee accepting the nomination.  Nominations should be submitted to the SSA President or to a Branch President before 31st March, 2023. 

Doug Shaw, Secretary

In late 2019 the SSA and CSIRO/Data 61 awarded the inaugural Betty Allan Travel award to two recipients.  Little did we know at the time that travel, something most of us had taken for granted since we were born, would become next to impossible over the coming years.

In 2022 award recipient Karen Lamb was finally able to make it happen. Here is her report: 

Well, as I was soon to learn, 2020 was not a great year to receive a travel award! I had grand plans to use my SSA and CSIRO/Data 61 Betty Allan travel award in September 2020 to attend the Royal Statistical Society (RSS) conference in Bournemouth, following this with a visit to Professor Sir David Spiegelhalter at the Winton Centre for the Public Understanding of Risk in Cambridge and then onto London to meet the RSS team to discuss the Statistical Ambassador Program which trains early career statisticians in statistical communication. My vision was to bring back statistical communication knowledge from these visits to the Statistical Society of Australia. Sadly, by April 2020 it had become very clear that this plan was highly unlikely! More than two years later, I was finally able to take up my award to visit the UK in November 2022 and I certainly learned a lot.

Winton Centre for the Public Understanding of Risk

At the Winton Centre, I was able to learn about David’s transition into work as a statistical communicator. David was already an established leader in Biostatistics internationally and a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) when he took up a position as Winton Professor for the Public Understanding of Risk in the Statistical Laboratory at the University of Cambridge in 2007. This was a philanthropic funded position and was initially a solo role (the Winton Centre was not established for a number of years). In this role, David set about to increase his profile doing outreach activities (e.g., science fares, news articles, talks and media appearances). It took time to build up his reputation in communication. However, he found that once he was known as someone who could communicate risk and uncertainty well, more invitations flowed his way. Some key learnings from David:

1) Communication and media training is invaluable and essential. David personally benefitted from a day and a half of funded training through his work which put him through his paces but helped develop his confidence.

2) Peer support is key. Although he often works alone when engaging with the media, David benefitted from having others around him undertaking similar roles to bounce ideas off.

3) Beware of the draw of flashy headlines. Statisticians are often asked to offer solutions to one-off puzzles about the probability of some rare event occurring. These could help when building your media profile but are rarely rewarding.

4) Statistical communication is vital (but can be stressful!). COVID-19 has helped raise the profile of the work of biostatisticians, enabling David to communicate what we actually do. Although stressful, this was highly rewarding.

Royal Statistical Society Statistical Ambassador Program

The Statistical Ambassador Program, devised by John Pullinger, was launched in 2014 in recognition of the need for confident statistical communicators and has had three cohorts to date. The RSS received funding to support the program, offering ambassadors two days of media training. Telephone mentoring from a committee of statistical/science communicators (e.g., David Spiegelhalter) was also provided. To date, 32 early-career statistical ambassadors (2014: 12, 2016: 10, 2018: 10) have been trained in the program. Ambassadors were selected through a process in which applicants outlined their statistical interests and experiences. It is anticipated that statistical ambassadors remain in this role for a prolonged period. Ambassadors have appeared in different media outlets: BBC News television and print (National Lottery, UK coronavirus figures, reporting of numbers in the media), ITV news (students and COVID, COVID vaccination), among others. Media requests tend to be directed to the RSS Head of Media and External Relations to identify the most appropriate ambassador to assist. Some key learnings:

1) The program is based on training AND peer support which are essential to success.

2) Funding is key but difficult to obtain. The RSS is seeking funding for more programs.

3) It is important to recruit people willing to engage with the media in the longer term. Not all ambassadors have remained engaged in the program.

4) It is important to ensure support from employers. This can be difficult outside academia.

What next?

I left the UK with a rejuvenated passion for statistical communication wondering what we can do within the SSA to support media engagement. Would a statistical ambassador program be suitable for the SSA? If so, who could we get to support the ambassadors in Australia? Encouragingly, my contacts within the RSS are keen to build greater connections with the SSA to work on communication initiatives. Personally, I would like to see more communications training and support for statisticians beyond media training. Effective communication is so critical to our work! I look forward to continuing these discussions with both the RSS and SSA in future.

In addition, I am delighted that David Spiegelhalter will be one of the keynotes for the 2023 Australian Statistical Conference in December. We will also be able to learn from his statistical communication experience through a pre-conference workshop. More details will be available soon!

A/Prof Karen Lamb
Co-Head Biostatistics Methods and Implementation Support for Clinical and Health Research Hub (MISCH) 
Centre for Epidemiology and Biostatistics,  Melbourne School of Population and Global Health

Pictured (left to right): Professor Sir David Spiegelhalter and Karen Lamb, Churchill College, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, November 2022

Pictured (left to right): Brian Tarran (Head of Data Science Platform, RSS), Mags Wiley (Head of Media and External Relations, RSS), Karen Lamb, Robert Mastrodomenico (Statistical Ambassador, RSS) London, November 2022

In 2022, the National Schools Poster Competition (NSPC) received 4 times the number of 2021 submissions, with 20 new schools submitting!

Topics are too numerous and diverse to list them all, but examples include: nutrition, health, psychology, sustainability, space, diversity and inclusion, biology, science, finance, aspects of political and social interest, sports, physics, chemistry, product preferences, physiology and solar energy.

Please view this year’s winners and honourable mentions, along with feedback. There’s even a capture-recapture based project, with lollies in the wild!

Summary information about the NSPC is provided at the end of this article.

Australia’s NSPC is entering its 10^th year in 2023…and there’s significant news!

Emeritus Professor Tim Roberts AM and I, Professor Peter Howley, will be delivering a national initiative to Primary and Secondary Schools in 2023 entitled “Preparing for Industry 5.0 and beyond in light of COVID19 - facilitating the cradle-to-career life cycle” having received a Commonwealth Grant from theAustralian Government’s Department of Education’s Emerging Priorities Program for our project proposal.

The initiative will have significant engagement across the Australian education system with school administrators, educators, teachers and students nationally, as we conduct an integrated delivery of free:

·         interactive online teacher Professional Learning workshops

·         interactive online student workshops – including practical implementation and career opportunities

·         two national student competitions – an online mini-solar vehicle competition and the NSPC

which develop Statistics, Systems thinking, Sustainability and STEM (SSSS) and associated cross-functional skills that:

ü  are core to emerging workforce environments and needs

ü  support national curriculum learning areas and outcomes

ü  support general capabilities and cross-curriculum priorities

ü  positively impacts the attitudes, aspirations & abilities of educators & the future workforce

We will seek to make a step-change in attitudes, aspirations and abilities of educators and the future workforce surrounding these core SSSS and cross-functional skills.

This national initiative builds upon our successful 2017 regional and rural NSW-focussed initiative (partial results in this 2020 SERJ publication – downloadable PDF available).

Industry 5.0 places research and innovation at the service of the transition to a sustainable, human-centric and resilient industry. Research & innovation and the associated cross-functional skills required are fundamental to, and supported by SSSS skills … the points of focus of this project.

We expect to engage over 400 schools nationally in our 2023 initiative!

Please inform your family, friends, colleagues and school contacts about this opportunity, including the NSPC, and invite them to contact me via peterhowley0@gmail.com or SSSS@postercomp.info to express interest in potentially participating or for more information as we develop our online platform.

NSPC Summary     

The NSPC provides an opportunity for students from Years 3 to 12 (ages 8 to 18) to work in teams of 2 to 5 and develop, implement and creatively report upon, in poster format, an investigation on any topic of interest to them. Students conduct small-scale versions of real-world investigations in teams, developing core statistical, STEM and cross-functional skills. They create an informative e-poster presentation communicating their investigation clearly, concisely and creatively.

The competition is judged in five divisions: one for each of the Year 3-4, 5-6, 7-8, 9-10, 11-12 School Grades. Many additional resources are provided at the www.ssapostercomp.info website, including:

• 1 to 4-minute videos about the competition
• Several approximate 4-minute videos from experts speaking on careers in statistics
• Free software and simple worksheets
• A dozen or so approximate 4-minute animated videos on introductory statistics topics
•  Tips, e-textbook, a file on how the NSPC links to and supports the National Curriculum
• Annual lists of the winners and honourable mentions and their posters, along with feedback for each that is publicly available (since 2021) – to assist everyone in their future investigations.

Submissions are due annually by 10 November and we usually receive over 200 team entries.

Prizes (for both the winning team and the school of the winning team, for each Division) and honoraria for the many judges (professional statisticians) and IT and administrative support are possible thanks to support from the Australian Bureau of Statistics via the Statistical Society of Australia.

The importance of engaging students early in any endeavour, particularly statistics in this Data Age, cannot be overstated. Youth establish interests and career trajectories from an early age and connecting them with opportunities that are enjoyable, engaging, authentic and support the needed emerging workforce skills is critical.

School teachers have rarely if ever experienced statistics in practice and are unfamiliar with the diverse nature and wide reach of statistical thinking, techniques and applications. Teachers’ knowledge about the practicing statistician is at best limited, their focus has been on the many other topics and aspects of teaching. The teaching of statistics in school focusses on the theory or mechanics, rather than its practical applications, with statistics topics taught often in a manner not clearly part of a coherent whole nor authentically contextualised. The relevance of the discipline of statistics to areas of interest is lost, or at best unclear, for students; yet relevance is such a powerful motivator! Enter the NSPC!

Professor Peter Howley is the Chair of SSA's Statistical Education Section

Career Profile

Hunter Surgical Clinical Research Unit - Statistical Research Lead

Program Director - StepChange, MCB Business Partners

Hunter Medical Research Institute Affiliate

Medical College Centre, Macquarie University - Statistical Research Lead

International Statistical Institute - Elected Member

Chair - Statistical Education, Statistical Society of Australia

Vice President - Hunter Innovation and Science HUB

2018-19 Inaugural Science and Technology Australia STEM Ambassador

2019-20 Inaugural UON STEMM Ambassador

2018 Statistical Society of Australia Service Award

2017 International Statistical Institute’s Best Cooperative Project Award

2015 National OLT Citation – Contribution to Student Learning

The Statistical Society of Australia (SSA) and ASC 2023 Scientific Programme Committee are delighted to open nominations for the inaugural Horizon Lectures, to be given at ASC2023 in Wollongong, 10^th- 15^th December 2023.  

The Horizon Lectures aim to recognise emerging leaders in Australia’s statistics community and their contributions to advancing statistical practice across academia, government, and/or industry. Lectures will be awarded to mid-career statisticians working in any discipline who have made an impact within their field(s) of expertise and have demonstrated leadership in building capacity in statistical expertise within Australia.  

Up to three (3) Horizon Lectures will be awarded for presentation at ASC2023. All Lectures will be presented together as a plenary session to all conference delegates. Lectures can be on any area of statistics in line with the awardee’s expertise. Each awardee will receive up to $2,500 to cover conference and travel costs.  

Nominations involve a written statement (up to 1,000 words) summarising how the nominee meets the award selection criteria. Nominees must be a member of the SSA and be employed as a statistician in Australia. Nominations must be supported by another member of the SSA. 

Full details on eligibility, award selection criteria and submission are available in the nomination form, available in Word here, as a pdf here. Nominations must be submitted by 5 pm AEST, 28^th February 2023. Late nominations will not be accepted.  

Questions about the Horizon lectures can be sent to ASC 2023 Scientific Programming Committee at asc.ozcots2023@gmail.com.

The 23rd Annual JB Douglas Postgraduate Awards Day was held on Monday, 5 December 2022 at the UTS Aerial Function Centre and was a great success. In the afternoon, 6 PhD students presented their theses, showcasing the depth, breadth and excellence of research performed by postgraduate research students in statistics within the NSW state. The joint winners of this year’s award are Emily Neo from the University of Sydney Business School and Chris Lisle from the University of Wollongong.

Emily presented a work on partial correlation screening, which is important in dimension reduction techniques for high-dimensional data achieving uncertainty quantification in situations where it is usually difficult to have it. She presented a technique that is defined in the field of statistics but can compare with machine learning approaches. Her presentation was clear, complete and she showed a great ability in answering the many questions she received.

Chris was able to introduce the problem in a clear way, we like he told the audience the story of the project and its context. The project he presented had a clear statistical interpretation, that means his diagnostics can be easily implemented in the field. He acknowledged his work as part of a team with different expertise and this is at the heart of applied statistics.

Each winner received a prize of $500.

After the students’ presentations, Professor Marijka Batterham from the University of Wollongong delivered the NSW Annual Lecture, titled “Encouraging Statistical and Data Literacy in Nutrition and Dietetics.” Marijka started her talk by giving an overview of how dietitians are usually trained. While most dietitians are highly specialised in some areas (such as clinical, food service, public health, sport, etc.), all are required to do introductory statistics to meet competency standards. Indeed, statistical literacy plays a vital role for dietitians to evaluate the evidence, make clinical decisions, and participate in nutrition research.

In the next part of the presentation, Marijka presented numerous examples demonstrating challenges of research on human nutrition, including missing data, compliance, and agreements between measurements, as well as some possible statistical solutions to tackle these issues. These challenges open up opportunities for many novel applications of statistical methods, ranging from classical statistics to modern machine learning, to address questions regarding nutrition and dietary.

Nevertheless, in her ongoing research, Marijka demonstrated there was generally a statistics anxiety among undergraduate health science students, many of whom found statistics useful but the content “incredibly hard” or “overwhelming.” Furthermore, lack of statistical support, including access to statistical software, can be a major barrier for a dietitian’s literacy. While free software for comprehensive data manipulation, visualisation and analysis, such as R and Python, are available, they require steep learning curves and may not be suitable to clinicians, who do not use statistics regularly and only often need some basic descriptive statistics and insights to ask the right questions to team members with a background in biostatistics.  A current solution to this need is free point and click graphical user interfaces to R; nevertheless, their functionalities can still be limited or their interfaces are not so user-friendly to beginners. Marijka pointed out that computational skills still need to be improved in clinical disciplines, especially as we embrace reproducibility and more advanced computational methods.

The event concluded with the dinner and fun trivia. On behalf of the NSW Branch Council, the branch’s president Clara Grazian thanked everyone for attending and supporting the JB Douglas Awards Day as well as all the events of the branch this year.

We look forward to seeing you at our events in 2023!

Linh Nghiem

Are you an early or mid-career statistician looking for support to grow and develop your career? Or, are you a more experienced statistician looking to share your skills and experience with a new generation of statisticians? If either of these sound like you then this program may be for you!

The Statistical Society of Australia is now seeking applications from mentees and mentors, for the next program intake in 2023. We are looking for up to 20 mentor-mentee pairs to take part in the 6-month mentoring program.

Our aim

This program will connect early and mid-career statisticians to experienced mentors to provide them with career guidance and to share their experiences to help them achieve their professional goals.

Mentees

We are looking to recruit early to mid-career statisticians to take part in the mentoring program. To be eligible to participate, you must be either a student or within the first ten years of a career in statistics, a member of the SSA, and be willing to commit to participating in the program over a 6-month period.

Mentors

We are looking to recruit mentors who have at least five years’ experience working as a statistician. Note that mentors will be paired with mentees with less experience working in statistics (i.e., those with less than five years’ experience will not be paired with mentees with more than five years). To be eligible to participate, you must be a member of the SSA and be willing to commit to participating in the program over a 6-month period. Prior mentorship experience would be beneficial but is not a requirement for participation.

Program details

The SSA Mentoring Committee, a sub-committee of the Continuous Professional Development committee, will match mentors to mentees and contact the mentee to seek approval to introduce them to the proposed mentor. Each mentor will only be assigned one mentee. Mentees are responsible for arranging the initial meeting and establishing ongoing meetings with their mentor. Ideally, mentors and mentees should aim to meet at least monthly for one hour during the program, with a minimum of four meetings over six months. There is no requirement that mentors and mentees live in the same city; meetings do not have to be face-to-face and may be held via phone or Zoom as necessary. A member of the Mentoring Committee will be in touch throughout the program to learn how things are progressing and to help resolve any issues that arise. There is no expectation that the relationship will continue beyond the 6-month program. However, we would be delighted if mentor-mentee pairs continue to keep in touch!

In addition to the paired mentoring, mentees and mentors will be given the opportunity to participate in a peer mentoring group to share experiences and build greater connections within the SSA community.

Further details about the program will be provided before the program commences.

Interested?

To register your interest in participating in the mentoring program, please complete the following form by Sunday 11th December. Successful applicants will be notified by the 20th January (Mentees) and 30th January (Mentors), with training scheduled for the end of February. The program will run for 6 months from March to August 2023.

If you have any questions about the mentoring program, please email the SSA Mentoring Committee.