Our people

Director

Centre for Environmental Informatics, NIASRA
University of Wollongong, Australia

Distinguished Professor
School of Mathematics and Applied Statistics
University of Wollongong, Australia

Adjunct Professor
Department of Statistics, University of Missouri, USA

Affiliate
Jet Propulsion Laboratory (NASA), USA

RESEARCH PUBLICATIONS AVAILABLE FOR DOWNLOAD

Research Interests

Data science; spatio-temporal statistics; hierarchical Bayesian modelling and computation; environmental informatics; remote sensing.

Books

Full publication list

Associate Professor

Deputy Director
Centre for Environmental Informatics, NIASRA
School of Mathematics and Applied Statistics
University of Wollongong, Australia

Research Interests

My research interests lie in spatio-temporal modelling and the tools that enable it. I have applied methods I developed to modelling conflict, to assessing the Antarctic contribution to sea-level rise, and to quantifying the sources and sinks of carbon dioxide on a global scale from satellite data. In 2018, I took up a Discovery Early Career Research Award (DECRA) from the Australian Research Council (ARC), to investigate deep learning methods in spatio-temporal statistics, which is my current research focus.

I actively contribute software to the open-source community, and have written a number of reproducible packages intended solely to reproduce the results in published papers as well as some intended for use by the general scientific community (see EFDR and FRK for examples).

Books

Selected Publications

FULL PUBLICATION LIST

TIBRA Foundation Chair of Mathematical Sciences and Professor

NIASRA and School of Mathematics and Applied Statistics
University of Wollongong, Australia

Background

I did my PhD at the University of Melbourne and then moved to the University of Cambridge. I was initially a postdoctoral research associate and then became a member of faculty in 2007. Before moving to UOW in January 2023, I was a Professor of Engineering Statistics and the Head of the Signal Processing and Communications Group in Department of Engineering at the University of Cambridge. I was also a Fellow and Director of Studies of Churchill College, and a Faculty Fellow of the Alan Turing Institute in the UK.

Research Interests

Bayesian statistics; Probabilistic Machine Learning; Computational statistics; Sequential Monte Carlo; Markov chain Monte Carlo; Reinforcement learning; Mathematical statistics; Time-series analysis.

Postgraduate positions

I am looking for motivated students interested in doing a PhD in the areas of computational statistics and its applications. If you have a strong mathematical background (especially in probability and statistics) and are interested in my areas of research (see above), feel free to email me.

Current PhD Students (Cambridge)

Jiaqi Guo (Oct. 2021--.)

Chon Wai Ho (Oct. 2021--.)

Ruiyang Jin (Oct. 2020--.)

Publications

Full publication list available at Google Scholar

Lecturer

Centre for Environmental Informatics, NIASRA
School of Mathematics and Applied Statistics
University of Wollongong, Australia

Research Interests

My research programme is focused on Bayesian computational methods for inverse problems and intractable likelihoods. I have developed accelerated algorithms for Bayesian synthetic likelihood (BSL), approximate Bayesian computation (ABC) and pseudo-marginal methods using surrogate models. A recent preprint is available at arXiv. I have implemented these algorithms in my R package bayesImageS, available on CRAN. I give a brief introduction to my research in this YouTube video, where I demonstrate image segmentation for satellite remote sensing and cone-beam computed tomography (CT).

I am a Chief Investigator in the ARC Research Hub for Transforming Energy Infrastructure Through Digital Engineering (TIDE) and the Docent in Computational Statistics at Lappeenranta University of Technology (LUT), Finland. In previous work, I have developed model-based approaches for source separation and quantification of spectroscopy. My sequential Monte Carlo (SMC) algorithm is available in the R package serrsBayes. I give a brief demo of the R package in this YouTube video. I have applied these methods to surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) and coherent anti-Stokes Raman spectroscopy (CARS). In a recent preprint (available on arXiv), I have developed a method for peak detection using a point process model.

Selected publications

Full publication list

Lecturer

Centre for Environmental Informatics, NIASRA
School of Mathematics and Applied Statistics,
University of Wollongong, Australia

Research Interests

I have a general and broad interest in Bayesian computations, from both a methodological and an applied perspective. From a methodological perspective, I am interested in posterior simulation methods, such as Markov chain Monte Carlo, Sequential Monte Carlo, particle Markov chain Monte Carlo, Variational approximations, and Approximate Bayesian computation methods. From an applied perspective, I use Bayesian computational methods to solve real-world problems in many areas, such as economic inequality and poverty measurement, health, cognitive psychology, finance, economics, and environmental studies.

Selected Publications 

FULL PUBLICATION LIST

Senior Research Fellow

Centre for Environmental Informatics, NIASRA
School of Mathematics and Applied Statistics
University of Wollongong, Australia

Research Interests

I am interested in large scale spatio-temporal problems in environmental statistics. My previous research has involved developing hierarchical Bayesian mixture models for the analysis of Australian daily rainfall at the continental scale, investigating methods for modelling multiple nonstationary time series in the spectral domain, and developing methods for spatio-temporal flux inversion for trace gases. My current research focuses on spatio-temporal problems in offshore engineering.

Selected Publications

Research Fellow

Centre for Environmental Informatics, NIASRA
School of Mathematics and Applied Statistics
University of Wollongong, Australia

Research Interests

I have a broad interest in parametric and nonparametric methods for complex and dependent data, from a Bayesian perspective. I draw motivation from applications in ecology, environmental science, health, and economics. I am also interested in methods for high-dimensional data and scalable algorithms for large data sets.

My current research at the Centre for Environmental Informatics involves developing new statistical models for better understanding
of the Antarctic environment, as well as data fusion and statistical downscaling for regional climate variables with uncertainty quantification. For example, we study Antarctica’s biodiversity in response to changes in climate processes, using the fused and/or downscaled climate variables. The research is part of Securing Antarctica's Environmental Future (SAEF), a Special Research Initiative funded by the Australian Research Council.

Another line of my current research is focused on the development of a framework for direct spatial and spatiao-temporal modelling of non-Gaussian data. The framework is built around directed acyclic graphs that factorize the probability of a random vector into a product of conditional probabilities. We model these conditional probabilities using a structured mixture of local transition kernels. This provides a general strategy for direct, probabilitic modeling of general non-Gaussian data with efficient computation. If you are interested in the area and would like to discuss collaboration opportunities, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Selected Publications

Honorary Research Fellow

School of Statistics and Data Science, Nankai University, China and 
Centre for Environmental Informatics, NIASRA
School of Mathematics and Applied Statistics
University of Wollongong, Australia

Research Interests

Bayesian hierarchical modelling; Statistical methodology for modelling large spatial/spatio-temporal datasets; spatial errors-in-variables model; spatial functional data analysis; point process; and environmental statistics.

Past and current projects include: spatio-temporal modelling of Eastern United States, spatio-temporal dynamic modelling of Arctic sea-ice-extent data, and Bayesian clustering of people’s mobility behaviors in Houston. 

Selected Publications

Honorary Research Fellow

School of Computer Science and Statistics, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland and 
Centre for Environmental Informatics, NIASRA
School of Mathematics and Applied Statistics
University of Wollongong, Australia

Research Interests

I am an Assistant Professor in Statistics and Data Science at Trinity College Dublin. Previously I was a Lecturer in Statistics at University of Wollongong. My research involves developing statistical models and inference techniques that reveal structure in data with complex dependency. This work includes developing mixture modelling and latent variable modelling to uncover clusters and describe dependencies in complex data, including relational/network data and data generated from counting processes. My research is motivated by the fact that complex data such as network data are increasingly prevalent in many areas of applications, including social sciences, finance and biology. The emergence of such data sets requires developing effective and practical statistical tools.

In addition to statistical methodological research, I have research interests in the applications of statistics and machine learning to finance, health science, and epidemiology. 

Selected Publications

Full publication list

Honorary Research Fellow 

Faculty of Science, The University of Sydney
NIASRA, School of Mathematics and Applied Statistics
University of Wollongong, Australia 

Responsibilities

I am working as senior Linux administrator in the Faculty of Science at The University of Sydney. I provide a range of IT and technical support services for Faculty staff and HDRs.  My role is multifaceted: I support a range of infrastructure, multiple operating systems, and the complex application needs of research computing. A fundamental part of my role is the provision of management, maintenance, and technical support for the high performance computing (HPC) infrastructure.

At UOW, I am collabarating with statistical researchers to scale up from desktop computing to computing with 'Big Data.' I am on impactful research projects that make extensive use of NIASRA’s cutting-edge HPC cluster. Projects include carbon-dioxide flux inversion using satellite remote sensing data, spatio-temporal mapping of benthic sediments, and climate-model downscaling in Antarctica. 

My interests are machine learning, networking, computer system/software design and development, and data processing and analysis.

Selected Publications

IT Technical Officer

(Software engineering; computer system/software design)
NIASRA, School of Mathematics and Applied Statistics
University of Wollongong, Australia 

Responsibilities

I am IT Technical Officer for the National Institute for Applied Statistics Research Australia (NIASRA). I provide a range of IT technical support and research-computing services for NIASRA and the School of Mathematics and Applied Statistics. More specifically, I support a range of computing-infrastructure requirements, multiple operating systems, NIASRA webpage upgrades, and the software needs of a complex statistical-computing environment. A fundamental part of my role is the provision of management, maintenance, and technical support for the high performance computing (HPC) infrastructure within NIASRA.

My interests are in software engineering (previously employed as Analyst Programmer for Information Management & Technology Services at UOW), computer system/software design and development, machine learning, and data processing and analysis.

Administrative Assistant

Centre for Environmental Informatics, NIASRA
School of Mathematics and Applied Statistics
University of Wollongong, Australia

Responsibilities

I am responsible for key aspects of the day-to-day running of the National Institute for Applied Statistics Research Australia (NIASRA) and, in particular, of the Centre for Environmental Informatics. I perform a wide range of administrative functions to support the research carried out by NIASRA staff and students, and their collaborators. My responsibilities include making travel arrangements for members of NIASRA and their visitors; the administration of contracts, grants, and fellowships; and financial record-keeping. In addition, I liase with administrative departments from the wider UOW community, and I am a welcoming presence for visitors to NIASRA. I also manage aspects of our presence on the web, including the upkeep of the NIASRA Working Paper Series.