Background

I graduated with a PhD in Statistics from Trinity College Dublin in 2007. My thesis "Statistical models for rank data" is available here. During my doctoral studies I spent five months as a Visiting Scholar in the Department of Statistics and Centre for Statistics and the Social Sciences in the University of Washington Seattle, USA. 

I joined UCD in September 2006 as an Assistant Lecturer in Statistics, and then as an Assistant Professor in Statistics in 2008. I was promoted to Associate Professor of Statistics in 2017 and to Full Professor in 2020. 

I am an Associate Editor for the Annals of Applied Statistics. I am an elected member of the Board of Directors of the International Society for Bayesian Analysis (2023-2025). I was awarded Chartered Statistician (CStat) status by the Royal Statistical Society and was an elected member of Council of the Royal Statistical Society 2017-2020.

Research interests

My research interests broadly include latent variable models, mixture models, rank data models, computational statistics and Bayesian statistics. My research to date has developed specialised statistical methods which have been applied in a wide range of fields, varying from social science, to genetics, to metabolomics to orthopaedics. 

Much of my work is computationally intensive and involves working with big data sets. The development of statistical approaches to dealing with such dimensionality issues is of interest. Some of my current research projects involve the development of model-based clustering and classification methods for high-dimensional data of mixed type. 

I have a particular interest in the development of apposite statistical models for different data types and settings. I enjoy working in collaborative projects in which a real, applied problem gives rise to the need for a novel, specialised statistical method.

I teach a range of statistics modules at undergraduate and graduate level, and also currently teach modules online. For more details on the modules I'm teaching this trimester please see my UCD Research profile.

Education and Employment

• 2020 Full Professor, School of Mathematics and Statistics, University College Dublin, Ireland.

• 2017 Associate Professor, School of Mathematics and Statistics, University College Dublin, Ireland.

• 2008 Assistant Professor, School of Mathematics and Statistics, University College Dublin, Ireland. 

Maternity leaves:  July 2012 - June 2013, October 2014 - September 2015, January 2017-December 2017.

• 2006 Assistant Lecturer, School of Mathematics and Statistics, University College Dublin, Ireland.

• 2007 PhD in Statistics, School of Computer Science and Statistics, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland.

• 2005 Visiting Scholar, Department of Statistics & Centre for Statistics and the Social Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, USA. (May-Oct)

• 2003 B. A. (Mod) Mathematics, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland. First Class Honours.