SSAI Annual Report. April 2012 to March 2013

Transcription

1 SSAI Annual Report April 2012 to March 2013 The Society was founded in 1962 as a national umbrella" organisation to support and further the work of the state statistical societies. The overall objective of the Society is to further the study and application and good practice of statistical theory and methods in all branches of learning and enterprise. The Society is incorporated in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT). The constitution was revised in accordance with the Associations Incorporation Act 1991 (ACT) on 5 July In order to hold Annual General Meeting of the SSAI and the annual meeting of Central Council in association with Australian Statistical Conferences or other mid-year conferences, the financial year for the Society is from 1 April until 31 March. Branches may choose, through their own constitutions, to retain a different financial year. 1. From the President SSAI has ended the 2012/2013 year in a strong position, with a sound membership base, a consistent financial record, high profile among its members and the mathematical sciences community, and a commendable program of activities. It also has a clear plan for the future through the completion of the revised Strategic Plan. This achievement is due to the hard work of many hands, including members who have been active at Branch and National level, within Sections, for our journal ANZJS, on other committees and in more general roles. In the past year, we have promoted our profession very effectively through conferences and workshops. In particular, we successfully celebrated 50 Years of the Society, with the highlight being a very great conference. The Young Statisticians Conference held in early 2013 was also very successful. The collaborative agreement between SSAI and CSIRO has been activated through a series of activities designed in particular to support Sections and Young Statisticians. The member get a member campaign has been rolled out and has also been incorporated as part of the Operational Plan. SSAI has been actively engaged in the development of the Decadal Plan for Mathematical Sciences. This document will be an important roadmap for mathematical sciences and it is important that the Statistics profession and our Society are well represented. The SSAI website has been upgraded! The Strategic Plan and corresponding Operational Plan have been completed and the finalisation of the Financial Plan was rolled into the Strategic and Operational Plans. It will be progressed over the coming year. The agreement between SSAI and our New Zealand counterpart society about our joint journal, ANZJS, has been finalised. The Journal is an important and integral part of the Society and its profile, and plays a key role in promoting our profession. Increased engagement with other societies was one of our ambitions for this year. We made contact with other like-minded societies about IYS activities and this has been rolled into the Operational Plan as a broader engagement activity. As another linkage activity, we 1

2 will also be holding our conference next year with IMS. The Society has developed closer links with AMSI to increase the profile of the Society and the profession at a national level. Our webinar series has continued throughout the year. We have had a wonderful programme of national and international statisticians from a wide range of fields, talking about big picture problems of relevance to our members. The big picture question and associated blog have been continued via the SSA website. The aim is to engage members in online discussion and debate about issues that affect our profession, our country and our community. This has enjoyed variable success, but will be continued using the new website facilities. A new prize, comprising a travel award for SSAI student members, was instituted and awarded in April This will be continued in the coming year. 2. Membership of the Society At 31 December 2012 the Society had 524 ordinary members (of which were 28 Members at Large), 144 student members (of which were 2 Members at Large), 42 retired members, 11 transitional members, making a total of 720. There are also 16 Honorary Life Members. Equivalent figures (including Honorary Life Members) since 1994 are 966, 956, 971, 898, 927, 874, 789, 733, 764, 761, 743, 764, 770, 695, 620, 711, 704, 697. The overall membership numbers remain stable, but there has been a steady decline in full memberships and increase in student memberships. For the SSAI has planned initiatives that will hopefully capture the interest of the younger members and help to convert them into full members down the track. SSAIs Young Statistician group is active and vibrant, and gives SSAI a solid base to work with. 3. AGM and Central Council The Annual General Meeting of the Society was held on 10 July 2012 in Adelaide. Central Council meetings were held on 3 May 2012, 13 December 2012 and 15 May 2013 by teleconference and on 8 July 2012 at the Adelaide Convention Centre. The Central Council for comprised: President Vice-President Editor Treasurer Accreditation Committee Chair Branch Presidents Representative Young Statisticians Representative Section Chairs Representative K. Mengersen J. Henstridge Alan Welsh D.E. Shaw S.R.T. Horn A. Pope A. Branford (Co-opted) Susanna Cramb (Co-opted) M. Haynes (Co-opted) Branch Delegates Branch B. Gross, R. Lindsay New South Wales Branch S. Sisson, A. Hung Victorian Branch M.Phillips, S. Clarke Queensland Branch A.Barnett, H. Thompson South Australian Branch R. Woodman, P. Sutcliffe, West Australian Branch B. Turlach, R. Admiraal Much of the Society s business is conducted by the SSAI Executive Committee on a monthly basis by telephone hook-up. Members of the SSAI Executive Committee for were: 2

3 President Vice-President Editor Treasurer Branch Presidents Representative Young Statisticians Representative Section Chairs Representative K. Mengersen J. Henstridge Alan Welsh D.E. Shaw S.R.T. Horn A.J. Branford (co-opted) Susanna Cramb (Co-opted) M. Haynes (Co-opted) The Executive Officer, Marie-Louise Rankin, attended SSAI Executive Committee meetings as an observer. 4. Association with other bodies The Society is an affiliated organisation of the International Statistical Institute, with the President as the Society's ex officio member. The Society is a constituent member of the Australian Mathematical Sciences Council, and a member of the Science and Technology Australia (STA). The President represented the Society on the Council. The Society was represented on the National Committee for Mathematical Sciences of the Australian Academy of Science by its President, Kerrie Mengersen. The Society continues to be represented on the Australian Committee for Heads of Mathematical Sciences. The Society is a corporate member of the New Zealand Statistical Association. 5. Finances (to be provided by Treasurer)- delivered separately 6. Accreditation The accreditation process continues to run smoothly thanks to the efforts of the Accreditation Committee and the SSAI Office. The Committee meets approximately every six weeks, generally via teleconference, and spends a considerable time examining each of the applications and referees' reports to ensure that a high standard for accreditation is established. There has been an increase in complicated applications making the committee s task difficult at times. There are plans to increase frequency of the meetings to monthly to help deal with a backlog of outstanding issues. The Accreditation Committee has edited the accreditation regulations to make them easier to understand and awaits approval from Council. The Committee is concerned by the fact that its membership ought to be changed, and is actively addressing the issue at the moment. The Committee has received several applications for accreditation of programs by Universities. The following courses are accredited: (Post)Graduate Diploma of Biostatistics and Master of Biostatistics Biostatistics Collaboration of Australia (BCA) (The program of the courses is identical across the universities, the specific titles across the universities may differ according to the history of the establishment of the program) Statistics Major within the Bachelor of Science Program (MATHT13970) at UNSW 3

4 (since 15 October 2009) Statistics Major with the Advanced Mathematics Program (MATHT13986) at UNSW (since 15 October 2009) Statistics Degree Program at La Trobe University (since 21 June 2005) Statistics Major in the Bachelor of Science and Bachelor of Mathematics at University of Newcastle (since 16 June 2011) At 30 July 2013 there were 90 financial members with current AStat status and 25 members with GStat status. Of all the members listed in the database (including expired memberships or expired AStat or GStat status), 135 have had AStat Accreditation and 64 have had GStat Accreditation. Alun Pope and Nick Fisher have represented SSAI in telephone conferences with the American Statistical Association, the Royal Statistical Society, the Statistical Society of Canada, and the International Statistical Institute in relation to international cooperation over accreditation. We would like to take this opportunity to thank all members of the Accreditation Committee for their efforts. 7. Conferences, Workshops and Symposia The extraordinarily successful Young Statisticians Conference 2013, titled Celebrating Significance, was held on 7 and 8 in Melbourne and attended by 112 delegates. The CPD Committee has been working hard this year to develop a plan for holding professional development programs and to run workshop and short courses throughout the year. Branches conducted a number of workshops during the year, with support from the central office being provided for collection of registration fees and payment of accounts. These workshops are well received by members and non-members of SSAI. Branch Workshop Date Number of attendees Disclosure Risk of 27 April Linked and Longitudinal Data NSW Meta-Analysis 1-2 May SA Linked Data July SA Statistical Meta October 8 Analysis: Methods and Applications Analysis of Longitudinal Data 16 October

5 QLD Semiparametric 5 November Regression Workshop QLD Bayes on the Beach 6-8 November Modern Regression 7-8 November and Classification Using R VIC R Workshop 6 February VIC Advanced R Workshop 6 February Named Lectures The Knibbs Lecture was given by David Griffiths (27/11/12). The Belz Lecture was given by Chris Wild (23/10/12). The H.O. Lancaster Lecture was given by Alan Welsh (26/03/2013). The E.A. Cornish Lecture given Professor Peter Diggle (16/11/2011). 9. Sections Sections and Chairs for were: Bayesian Methods Section Survey and Management Statistics Section Environmental Statistics Statistical Education Section Statistics and the Social Sciences Biostatistics Section for International Engagement Scott Sisson Stephen Horn David Clifford Michael Martin & Peter Howley Michele Haynes Lyle Gurrin Mark Griffin The Young Statisticians Network was chaired by Susanna Cramb until 30 July Her successor is Chaturi Bhaskaran. Other Sectional and Branch activities have been detailed in the Society's Newsletter. For the Society, K. Mengersen D.E. Shaw President July