Dr Nick Tierney

Qualifications

Doctor of Philosophy for thesis: Statistical Approaches to Revealing Structure in Complex Health Data

Bachelor of Psychological Science (Hons), University of Queensland, 2012

Research Project

Understanding and improving Occupational Health Surveillance. This project is sponsored by the Industry Doctoral Training Centre and my industry sponsor, Hunter Industrial Medicine

Bio

I finished my honours year in 2012 with a passion for research that would have startled myself, (were I to meet myself) when I started.  Unsure on specific areas that I wanted to focus on, but thoroughly interested in Public Health and Statistics, I found an opportunity at QUT for a research assistant in Statistics.  Shortly after I finished my RA work, was applied and was accepted for accepted as a PhD position at QUT.

My research involves creating statistical models describing occupational health.  I work with Professor Kerrie Mengersen, who provides me with statistical guidance, Dr. Fiona Harden, who informs me of the practical and clinical significance of my models, and Dr. Maurice Harden, an Occupational Physician who supplied the data and initial interest in this project, some 10 years ago.

I enjoy explaining the joys of statistics, especially to those who might despise the topic (I was once one of those people!).   It is my hope that I can make the secret labyrinth of statistics an easily accessible (or escapable) place, by providing various explanations of the complex (and not so complex) statistical concepts I come across.  Outside of stats I enjoy rock climbing, running, reading, riding places, playing guitar, and traveling.

You can see an updated list of publications at my website.

Areas of Interest

• Mixed Models
• Mixture Models
• Decision Tree Models (CART and BRT)
• Occupational Health

Scholarship

• Australian Postgraduate Award
• IDTC Top-Up