Grant success

CSSM staff have been successful in grant applications in 2007.  

Ray Chambers and David Steel with Australian Bureau of Statistics, Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Centre for Epidemiology and Research, Public Health Intelligence, have been awarded a grant for a project entitled "New methods for small group analysis from sample surveys" Total ARC funding $601,000;

Professor David Steel has been successful in obtaining over $900,000 in funding from the DEST Collaboration &Structural Reform Fund. The project "Applied Statistics Education and Research Collaboration" will form a new Centre involving the statistics hubs at four Australian universities, Wollongong, Newcastle, New England and Western Sydney and will involve joint development and delivery of subjects and courses, and many other joint activities.

David has also been successful in obtaining a NHMRC Development Grant with a team consisting of Ms Yasmine Probst, Prof Linda Tapsell, A/Prof Lori Lockyer, Dr Marijka Batterham and Prof Barry Harper, for their project " The DietAdvice website a newinnovation for dietitians in clinical practice". This grant will provide $138,338 in funding for the one year project.

Dr Robert Clark, Prof Ray Chambers and Mr P Sutcliffe have been awarded a three year ARC Linkage grant with ABS for a project entitled 'Handling Missing Data in Complex Household Surveys'.

This project will substantially improve the cost-efficiency and reliability of Australian household survey data, by creating new approaches for handling missing data that deal with the realities of typical household surveys. The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) has an extensive program of household surveys that is a key source of information on the social and economic conditions of the population. They provide statistics and data on a large range of social and economic topics, such as health, education, the labour force, income and expenditure. Analysis of household survey data by a variety of organisations underpins policy development and evaluation and the expenditure of billions of dollars.

Matt Wand made a Fellow of IMS

Matthew Wand, Research Professor in Statistics at UoW has been named Fellow of the Institute of Mathematical Statistics (IMS). An induction ceremony will take place July 30, 2007 at the Joint Statistics Meetings/IMS Annual Meeting in Salt Lake City, Utah, USA. Professor Wand received the award for fundamental contributions to the theory, computation, and applications of nonparametric and semiparametric statistical methods. Each Fellow nominee is assessed by a committee of his/her peers for the award. In 2007, after reviewing 48 nominations, 23 were selected for Fellowship.

Created in 1933, the Institute of Mathematical Statistics is a member organization which fosters the development and dissemination of the theory and applications of statistics and probability. The IMS has 4500 active members throughout the world. Approximately 5% of the current IMS membership has earned the status of fellowship. [May 07]

STATISTICAL COLLABORATION ESTABLISHED WITH NEW ZEALAND MINISTRY OF HEALTH (Oct 2006)

The University of Wollongong has entered a statistical collaboration agreement with New Zealand's Ministry of Health confirming the Centre for Statistical and Survey Methodology (CSSM) as one of UOW's key areas of research strengths. Professor David Steel Associate Dean (Research) with the Faculty of Informatics and Director of the CSSM said that over the past year the Centre and the Public Health Intelligence Unit in the New Zealand Ministry of Health have established an effective working relationship.

A contract signed at the University between the CSSM and Public Health Intelligence involves funding of up to $NZ225,000 over two years.

Professor Steel said the working relationship to date has involved the presentation of courses, joint conference papers and extensive sample design work by the CSSM Deputy Director, Dr Robert Clark, for the NZ Health Survey, which has recently gone into the field.

The partnership will involve a range of collaborative activities including:

Providing assistance to Public Health Intelligence (PHI) in the area of statistical expertise

Assisting PHI to develop capabilility in the design and analysis of health surveys and the analysis of health data

Ad hoc analysis and research services for PHI

A scholarship program to support selected Masters and PhD students studying in relevant areas

A joint program of research projects

A training program in statistical analysis and health survey design and analysis

PARTNERSHIP WITH THE UNIVERSITY OF MANCHESTER CENTRE FOR CENSUS AND SURVEY RESEARCH (April 2006)

The CSSM is pursuing active links with the Centre for Census and Survey Research (CCSR) at the University of Manchester. Dr Mark Tranmer of the Social Statistics Research Group within CCSR is currently visiting UOW for the eighth time. Professor David Steel and Dr Robert Clark are developing a Joint Programme in Survey Methodology funded by a 2005/2006 UOW International Links grant. This project will include development of joint training courses and research into combining census and survey data. For example, Mark, David, Robert and Damian Collins presented a two-day course on multilevel models on April 4-5. The course was attended by UOW researchers and external clients from the Australian Bureau of Statistics and the NSW Department of Health. Robert will be presenting a course in Manchester in July on Collection and Analysis of Household Survey data. David and Robert will both visit Manchester in 2006 to progress joint research with Mark and other CCSR researchers.

METHODOLOGY DEVELOPMENT PARTNERSHIP MEETING (March 2006)

Four senior managers from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) visited Wollongong for two days of planning meetings for the Methodology Development Partnership (MDP) between the CSSM and the ABS. The MDP is a partnership was signed by the Australian Statistician Dennis Trewin and Vice Chancellor Sutton in 2005 (click here for details). As part of the agreement, the ABS funds the salary costs of a research professor position. Professor Ray Chambers was recruited to this position and commenced in March 2006 (click here for details). The meetings in March 2006 covered a range of joint UOW/ABS interests, including research programmes, training courses and emerging issues in Australian statistics.

PARTNERSHIP WITH NEW ZEALAND MINISTRY OF HEALTH (February 2006)

The CSSM is entering into a partnership with the New Zealand Ministry of Health (MOH) to maintain the capacity and flexibility of NZ's health statistics system. The partnership will initially include significant funding for the UOW over the next two years. The CSSM will work together with the Public Health Intelligence (PHI) unit of the MOH, to assist them in their leadership role in NZ health statistics. UOW was the sole organisation chosen from a public competitive selection process for this partnership, reflecting CSSM's standing in survey methodology and statistics. We recently worked with MOH to develop a robust, innovative sample design for the 2006/2007 NZ Health Survey. This survey will be the major source of national public health statistics in NZ for a three year period and is a significant part of NZ's statistical infrastructure. The head of PHI, Dr Barry Borman, visited UOW in March and will visit again for a signing ceremony in the next few months.

Other News

For other statistics news from the School of Mathematics and Applied Statistics News Page. Highlights include:

Recent publication of "Nonparametrics for Sensory Science: A More Informative Approach" by A/Prof John Rayner and research on lottos by A/Prof Ken Russell and Prof David Griffiths.

One Day Multilevel Modelling course taught by Dr Mark Tramner from University of Manchester.

Lotto Research interview with A/Prof Ken Russell