Kerrie Mengerson

Abstract

Interest is intensifying in the development and application of Bayesian approaches to estimation of real-world processes using probabilistic models. This presentation will focus on three substantive case studies in which we have been involved: protecting the Great Barrier Reef in Australia from impacts such as crown of thorns starfish and industrial dredging, reducing congestion at international airports, and predicting survival of jaguars in the Peruvian Amazon. Through these examples, we will explore current ideas about Approximate Bayesian Computation, Populations of Models, Bayesian priors and p-values, and Bayesian dynamic networks.

Biography

Kerrie Mengersen holds a Chair in Statistics at the Queensland University of Technology in Brisbane, Australia. Her long-term research interests have been primarily in Bayesian statistical modelling, computation and analysis. More recently she has become active in big data analytics. Her applied interests are in health, the environment and industry. Kerrie is an Australian Research Council (ARC) Laureate Fellow and a Deputy Director of the ARC Centre of Excellence in Mathematical and Statistical Frontiers for Big Data, Big Models and New Insights. At QUT, her Bayesian Research and Applications Group (BRAG, bragqut.wordpress.com) comprises around a dozen awesome postgraduate and postdoctoral researchers.