The Australian Capital Territory Branch of the Statistical Society will be holding its first meeting in 2026 on Thursday 26th February 5:45 PM AEDT in person and online via Zoom. For those attending in person, there will be the opportunity to meet for dinner afterwards in Canberra City.
Venue: CBE Lecture Theatre 1, ANU College of Business & Economics, Building 26C, The Australian National University (ANU Building 26C) map link
Online by Zoom: https://anu.zoom.us/j/85454558549?pwd=EHnLdo3ya1AFtG4idib1DEsGnBzbjY.1
Topic: Group, Test, Model: Statistical Strategies for Rare‑Outcome Surveillance Using Pooled Data
Group testing, also known as pooled testing, provides an efficient framework for detecting low‑prevalence infections by combining individual specimens into groups/pools for testing. This approach has become increasingly important across human, livestock and wildlife disease surveillance, where budgets are tight and early detection is critical. In this talk, I introduce the foundations of group testing, outline its practical advantages and limitations, and highlight the breadth application domains. I then focus on my recent work applying pooled testing to molecular xenomonitoring, where pathogen DNA is detected in vectors rather than hosts. I discuss how statistical principles can guide survey design—balancing pool size, number of tests and sampling effort—and show how regression modelling can be applied to group-tested data. Extensions to mixed‑effects models support spatial prediction, mapping and inference in hierarchical surveillance systems..
Presenter: Dr Angus McLure
Dr Angus McLure is mathematical modeller of infectious diseases. His current research includes modelling the transmission and elimination of lymphatic filariasis; the design and analysis of molecular xenomonitoring surveys (catching disease vectors such as mosquitos to detect the presence of a disease); and source attribution modelling of foodborne disease. Angus has worked on projects across a wide range of diseases and pathogens including, lymphatic filariasis, C. difficile, Dengue, Campylobacter, Salmonella, and many other foodborne diseases. Angus McLure developed and maintains an R package, PoolTestR, for the analysis of molecular xenomonitoring data and other applications where data are tested in pools: https://github.com/AngusMcLure/PoolTestR
Dinner: After the talk, there will be a dinner at 7.30pm at Kinn Thai Restaurant, 148 Bunda St, Canberra.
If you are interested in attending the dinner, please RSVP by 5pm Wednesday 25 February by entering your details into the SSA ACT Branch dinner attendance sheet or contacting Warren at wjmstats@outlook.com or 0407 916 868. Please regard this as a firm commitment, not just an intention. For withdrawals after the deadline, please remove your name from the sheet and phone or text Warren (0407 916 868).
NOTE: SSA ACT branch are offering discounts to SSA early career and student members who attend dinner! For this meeting, dinners will be a fixed charge of $15 for student members and $25 for early career members.
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