EVENT: STATISTICS SEMINAR

Abstract:

Statistics and information systems provide a basic foundation in international aid work, as staff struggle to understand the extent and the cause of the challenges facing developing nations, as those delivering intervention programs strive to evaluate the success of their programs, and as communities explain their needs to funding bodies and government agencies.

This seminar is intended not as a heavy, academic seminar, but more of a casual, person-to-person introduction to some of the activities that the speaker is involved with in order to help build statistical capacity in developing nations.

The seminar will start with exploring the work of one early pioneer who used statistics for the purposes of international aid work. Following this initial illustration, the speaker will then briefly review the events and activities of a number of organizations working in the field of building statistical capacity. These include Statistics Without Borders, the Statistical Society of Australia, and the Australian Development Agency for Statistics and Information Systems.

More about the speaker:

Mark is a statistician and computer engineer with over 20 years experience working in Australia, Canada, and Switzerland. He currently serves in volunteer positions with a number of societies. These include the Statistical Society of Australia (as Co-Chair of the Biostatistics Section and Chair of the Section for International Engagement), the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (as Secretary for the Biomedical Engineering Section in Queensland), the American Statistical Association (as Chair of the Friends of Australasia), and the Pan-Asian Clinical Research Association (as Chair of the Statistics and Information Systems Asia-Pacific Network). In July 2011 he founded the Australian Development Agency for Statistics and Information Systems, an NGO dedicated to providing training and consultancy services for developing nations.