SSA Biostatistics & Bioinformatics Section Webinar: Process, Inference, and Toads

The Biostatistics & Bioinformatics section of the Statistical Society of Australia invites members to a a presentation titled "Process, Inference, and Toads" delivered by Professor Ben Phillips, School of Molecular and Life Science at Curtin University. This is a repeat of an in-person seminar given to the WA Branch on 10 March 2026.

Date: Thursday 11 June 2026

Time: 12:00 pm (AWST)

Format: Online via Zoom. Details provided upon registration

Abstract: Process, Inference, and Toads

This talk will take a short stroll through some of the fascinating processes that play out during biological invasions. After that, we will step through several vignettes in which inference from process-based models has been useful in drawing valuable insight from messy ecological data. The talk will feature a host of characters, from poison arrow frogs, to dusty wallabies, tumours, toads, bees, and a bloke named Fisher.

Presenter Bio: Professor Ben Phillips, Curtin University

Ben is a Professor at Curtin University’s School of Molecular and Life Sciences. He is a population biologist with a background in ecology and evolution, and is particularly interested in how spatial processes influence population and evolutionary dynamics. Ben started his professional life as a field biologist, but has slowly morphed into a modeler. He develops models describing population and evolutionary dynamics, and increasingly applies these to real problems in agriculture, health, and environment.

Ben moved to Curtin in 2023 to take up the WA Premier’s Science Fellowship. Prior to that, he worked at The University of Melbourne for nine years where he was promoted to Professor in 2021. He has also worked at James Cook University, The Australian Wildlife Conservancy, and The University of Sydney in various roles prior to this. Ben has held a Future Fellowship, a QEII Fellowship, and an Australian Postdoctoral Fellowship.