New Zealand Statistical Association Newsletter 66
September 2007
Reports
NZSA2007 -Carl Scarrott
John Deely Conference- Mik Black
NZSA2007 & John Deely Conference- Student View (Matthew Schofield)
PANZ2007- Sarah VoonComing Events
NZSA 2008 - July, 2008
Palmy Statisticians Meeting- October, 2007
Course in Practical Bayesian Data Analysis
Workshop - Applied Bayesian Statistics
The
NZSA conference was held at the University of Canterbury on 4 July, followed
by the Conference in Honour of John Deely over 5-6 July. John (pictured
right) gave a lively and welcoming talk, in his entertaining style, outlining
milestones in his long history with Canterbury (over 28 years) and fond
stories of many of the folks that have influenced his career. The wealth
of contributed papers for the conference led to a full day of 39 talks
running across 3 streams. The conference had 100 attendees at main sessions,
with 20 educators for the Statistics Education afternoon session.
The smooth running of conference was down to the sterling work by the local organising committee Carl Scarrott, Dominic Lee, Marco Reale, Jennifer Brown, Ian Westbrooke, Richard Penny, Rebecca Bangma, Easaw Chacko and Mik Black. The organisers wish to thank our sponsors for their generous contributions which added to the success of the conference: Hoare Research Software, Hearne Scientific Software (suppliers of Systat by Cranes Software) and SAS. Statistics New Zealand provided major contributions, in particular from the Official Statistics Research part of the Official Statistics System and Official Statistics Research and Data Archive Centre
%20and%20Matthew%20Schofield%20(right).jpg)
We
thank Ray Hoare of HRS for sponsoring the student prizes. The two first-equal
winners this year, out of 13 student presenters, were Matthew Schofield,
University of Otago, who gave a talk on climate reconstruction and Jason
Bentley, University of Canterbury, who spoke on Bayesian analysis of linear
regression models using exact Markov chain Monte Carlo. They received $500
each from HRS.
Jason Bentley (left) and Matthew Schofield after receiving $500.
Whilst many of us were enjoying the alcoholic delights the Staff Club has to offer, or the equally invigorating discussion at the AGM, Jim Young passed on his enthusiasm for statistics and some words of wisdom for the next generation at the Young Statisticians' event sponsored by SNZ, attended by over twenty of the freshest additions to the statistics fold.
Carl Scarrott
Conference in Honour of John Deely: Report
The Conference in Honour of Professor John Deely was held at the University of Canterbury on July 5-6, 2007, and attracted more than 60 national and international attendees. The conference was preceded by the annual NZSA conference on July 4, where John had the honour of giving the plenary address - an emotional, enlightening and entertaining event, which set the tone for three wonderful days. After the hustle and bustle of the concurrent sessions of the NZSA meeting, the Deely meeting retired to the calm of the basement, where attendees were treated to a series of talks that blended statistics with sermonizing, anecdotes with asymptotics, and Bayes with everything. On the surface, the speakers were a somewhat diverse bunch, but as the meeting progressed it became obvious that they were united by their deep admiration for the man they had come to honour.
Frank
Lad opened the conference, Jim Berger (pictured right) provided the keynote,
Ron Christensen and Wes Johnson were a dynamic Bayesian duo, Steve Samuels
spoke of matters Secretarial, Jessica Utts unraveled the secrets of John's
teaching success. For two fun-filled days John's colleagues and former
students presented on a broad range of statistical topics, all the while
leaving no doubt in the minds of their audience just how much John's friendship
and guidance had meant to them over the years. The conference ended with
a feast - bread, soup, animals on spits - courtesy of Frank and Belle,
all in the comfort of their own home. The night was a celebration, the
perfect end to a wonderful week. John's family and friends relaxed as
the wine, tears and speeches flowed. John spent the entire evening wearing
a broad smile - he was as "happy as Larry". Or perhaps he was
just enjoying showing us his new teeth.
Mik Black
NZSA2007: A Student's Perspective
In my opinion the highlight of the NZSA2007 conference was the plenary by Professor Deely on the opening morning. In a very humble manner Prof. Deely looked back over his career and in particular, looked at the events that led to him coming out to NZ. As a student just starting out, it was very encouraging to me to see how he progressed throughout his career. One thing that stood out to me was the friendship and respect he has from his collaborators and students. This reminded me that I must put effort into cultivating friendships with those I work with.
Another highlight of the conferences was the roundtable discussion. Prof.
Deely opened the discussion by proclaiming:
"I hate p-values!"
What followed was a discussion on the reasons why people choose Bayesian or frequentist inference. I found it very profitable gaining a wider understanding as to why people choose either approach. It has given me much food for thought.
Matthew Schofield.
The PANZ biennial conference was held on 3-4 July at Te Papa, Wellington.
There were over 150 attendees who represented a range of people working with population statistics across central and local government, academia and the private sector. The programme highlighted a range of demographic topics reflecting the theme of the conference “Looking into the Future: People, Diversity and Social Outcomes”. Sessions covered aspects of internal and international migration, aging, fertility and childlessness, labour force issues, population estimation, ethnicity and ethnic diversity, and subnational population trends.
Three international keynote speakers addressed the conference. Professor Miles Corak (School of Public and International Affairs, University of Ottawa) spoke on inter-generational earnings mobility among the children of Canadian migrants. Dr Gerald Haberkorn (Head Demography/Population Statistics and Demography Programme, Secretariat of the Pacific Community) spoke on demographic trends and issues in the Pacific. Associate Professor Natalie Jackson (School of Sociology and Social Work, University of Tasmania) spoke on attitudes to retirement among Australia’s baby boomers.
Sarah Voon
NZSA2008
University of Waikato
Early July
You are warmly invited to attend the 59th Annual Conference of the New
Zealand Statistical Association.
Venue: University of Waikato, Hamilton.
Details to appear on the NZSA website.
One Day Meeting
of
Palmy-STATISTICIANS
Presented by
Crop & Food Research
&
Institute of Information Sciences and Technology
Massey University, Palmerston North.
Venue: Bernard Chambers A
Date: 26 Oct. 2007 (Friday)
Time: 9 am - 5 pm
Keynote speaker: Ian Westbrooke, Department of Conservation, Christchurch
Lunch and Refreshments will be provided on the day.
The purpose of this forum is to bring statisticians in and around Massey University together for a day at our Institute for the presentation of their current research work and group discussion on issues relevant to applications.
Coordinators:
Ganes (s.ganesalingam@massey.ac.nz)
Alasdair (a.d.noble@massey.ac.nz)
* Please feel free to pass this invitation to anyone else in the local
area who might be interested.
Course - Practical Bayesian Data Analysis
In December you have the opportunity to attend an Australasian version
of the popular Practical
Bayesian Data Analysis course that has been run by the Statistical
Services Centre (University of Reading, UK) for the past few years. This
course is aimed at statisticians, people involved in data analysis, and
those who use Bayesian methods as implemented in packages such as those
for QTL analysis. The course trainers are experienced teachers, and the
emphasis in the course is on a practical explanation of Bayesian ideas,
rather than more theoretical aspects of Bayesian methods. Participants
will learn how to use the WinBUGS software for Bayesian analysis. The
course will also use the R package. No previous knowledge of either package
is assumed, and both packages are free. The course will be run over 3
days, starting mid-morning on the first day and finishing mid-day on the
third day, to allow for travel. The course fee is NZ$850, and covers course
notes, a CD with example data-sets, lunches and morning/ afternoon teas.
The course will be run twice:
1) Crop & Food Research in Lincoln (outside Christchurch) on Wed 12th
Dec - Fri 14th Dec
2) AgResearch in Palmerston North on Mon 17th Dec- Wed 19th Dec.
For more details and an application form, see: http://www.crop.cri.nz/home/conferences/bayesian-data-analysis
or contact Ruth Butler (ButlerR@crop.cri.nz).
Workshop
- Applied Bayesian Statistics
with a focus on diagnostic tests in the absence of gold standard
December 10th - 14th, 2007, Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand
A hands-on workshop introducing current state of the art methods of evaluating diagnostic assays when gold standards are not available. The workshop addresses human and veterinary epidemiologists, researchers, staff in industries, and statisticians who want to update their knowledge in OIE approved basic and advanced statistical procedures modelling discrete and continuous diagnostic test outcomes.
The main presenters are leaders in the field Prof. Wes Johnson and Prof.
Ian Gardner, both University of California, and Dr. Geoff Jones and Dr.
Alasdair Noble from Massey University. They are supported by EpiCentre
staff.
For details see our
web page.
This event is linked to: WAVLD pre-symposium workshop “Assay Validation
From Theory to Praxis” 11-14 November 2007