The Victorian and Tasmanian branch of the Statistical Society of Australia is hosting a mentoring event for early career and student statisticians in July. The event will run like a 'networking speed dating' where small groups of mentees will interact with one mentor at a time to learn about their careers and ask any questions they have about pursuing a career in statistics.
Key Takeaways:
By attending this mentoring event, early career and student statisticians will gain valuable insights into the diverse career pathways available in the field of statistics. Through focused, small-group conversations with experienced mentors, participants will have the opportunity to ask practical questions, receive tailored advice, and build meaningful professional connections. Attendees will leave with a clearer understanding of how to navigate their own career journey and actionable guidance they can apply as they take their next steps in the statistical profession.
Mentor Biographies
Sue Lee
With expertise in biostatistics and epidemiology, Dr Sue J Lee has worked in the field of infectious diseases for nearly 20 years, with experience in both developed and developing countries. She works on many large-scale, multi-national, multi-site studies and across a range of study designs. She is currently involved with local, regional and international projects on hospital and community acquired infections and antimicrobial resistance, malaria in pregnancy, refugee and migrant health, HIV and COVID-19. These projects aim to measure various aspects of health and healthcare, including prevalence, incidence, mortality risk, excess length-of-stay, and diagnostic accuracy.
Rebecca Harding
Rebecca is a biostatistician within the Infection and Global Health Division at WEHI. She provides statistical support to large randomised controlled trials of iron interventions in rural Bangladesh and Malawi. Rebecca moved to Melbourne in 2019 to complete her Masters of Biostatistics after completing her PhD in 2018 as a recipient of a Paediatric Freemasons Research Fellowship – University of Otago, NZ. She is an Accredited Graduate Statistician by the Statistical Society of Australia.
Damjan Vukcevic
Damjan is an Associate Professor and the Director of Engagement at the Department of Econometrics & Business Statistics at Monash University. He completed his DPhil at the University of Oxford, which included contributing to the landmark multi-disease genome-wide association study by the Wellcome Trust Case Control Consortium (Nature, 2007). Since then he has worked both in academia and industry, and his research has spanned many different areas, including statistical genomics, respiratory health, life insurance, astrophysics, categorical ratings and election integrity.
Atousa Ghahramani
Atousa Ghahramani is a PhD candidate at Victoria University, where her research examines the role of social media in shaping health-related behaviours through advanced methods such as network analysis, hashtag analysis, sentiment analysis, and credibility assessment. Her work, published in leading journals including BMC Public Health, bridges public health and data science to address real-world health communication challenges across platforms like Twitter and YouTube.
With a strong foundation in marketing strategy and digital media, Atousa brings over a decade of international industry experience to her academic pursuits. As Vice President of Media and Communication at the Statistical Society of Australia, she leads national initiatives to expand the Society’s digital presence and member engagement. Passionate about evidence-based mentoring, she is dedicated to supporting early career statisticians and students in building confidence, practical skills, and meaningful academic and professional pathways
Patricia Menendez
I am a Senior Lecturer in Statistics (Data Science). My training is in mathematics and statistics, and I received my PhD from the Mathematics Department at ETH Zurich in Switzerland. Since completing my PhD, I have held academic positions at Wageningen University (The Netherlands), the Public University of Navarre (Spain), the University of New South Wales, the University of Queensland, and Monash University (Australia). In addition to my academic roles, I have also worked outside academia as a statistician for the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research, as well as for the Australian Institute of Marine Science. My research focuses on the study of time series with complex time dependences, with my current work addressing multivariate time series problems. My expertise lies in developing and applying statistical methodology and computational methods motivated by questions in climate change, environmental science, marine science, criminology, and health inequality.
Melissa Middleton
Melissa Middleton is an early-career Biostatistician working at the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute and University of Melbourne. She recently completed a PhD in biostatistical methodology focusing approaches for handling missing data in observational studies. Since completing her PhD, she has supported the development of an adaptive platform trial focused on improving the long-term outcomes for children born prematurely, whilst also supporting observational studies in the same area, such as the Victorian Brain Infant Study and Victorian Infant Collaborative Study. Her methodology interests include missing data, innovative trial design and ordinal outcomes.
Alun Pope
Alun is the principal of Analytical Insight Pty Ltd and an adjunct researcher at Monash University. After a PhD in Pure Mathematics, Alun's career has followed two paths: as a teaching and research academic, and as a statistical consultant in industry and university environments. He has worked for the Department of Defence and at Newcastle, NSW, Sydney and Monash universities. At Newcastle he became the Head of the Statistics Department in the 1990s. He was Head of Research at a financial modelling company, and also held positions at St George Insurance and APRA. At the University of Sydney, Alun set up and ran the Statistical Consulting unit 2015-2017. Alun and his staff advised on PhD theses and research projects in a variety of disciplines. He has published papers on a range of pure and applied topics, as well as being the author of many consulting reports. Alun is an Accredited Statistician and President of the Victoria and Tasmania Branch of the Statistical Society of Australia. He now divides his time between Melbourne and Sydney.
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Cancellation Policy:
Occasionally courses have to be cancelled due to a lack of subscription. Early registration ensures that this will not happen.
Cancellations received prior to two weeks before the event will be refunded, minus the Stripe processing fee (1.75% + $0.30 per transaction) and an SSA administration fee of $20.
From then onward no part of the registration fee will be refunded. However, registrations are transferable within the same organisation. Please advise any changes to events@statsoc.org.au.
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