Best Australian Data Science Education Institute Podcasts (2024)

1
Coping with Climate Anxiety - with Dr Alexandra Knight 39:56

11d ago39:56

39:56

Have you heard of, or are you experiencing, eco-grief or climate anxiety? For many STEM researchers, including those in the mathematical and data sciences, this is becoming a very real thing as they explore and tackle problems and questions about the environment and climate. But just how serious of a problem is this for the STEM community? A group …

1
Dr Melissa Humphries on statistics, social media, and many many things!

12d ago

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"Every decision that we make, whether we're thinking about climate change, poverty, you know happiness, agriculture... how do we feed everyone, how do we clothe them, all of that is underpinned by data and mathematics.By Dr Linda McIver, Australian Data Science Education Institute

1
Scientific Graphic Design for Communicating Research - with Dr Jess Jopf 49:00

27d ago49:00

49:00

People love stories. That simple fact all too often gets lost by scientists when it comes to communicating research. In this episode, we chat to someone who helps researchers tell their stories. Not with words. But visually, using graphic design. Dr Jess Hopf decided to combine her two passions, science and graphic design, into a business where she…

1
The Mathematics of Bushfires - with Professor Jason Sharples 43:01

1M ago43:01

43:01

It’s only been a few short years since we witnessed the power of bushfires here in Australia. The summer of 2019 and 2020 brought us Australia’s most catastrophic bushfire season ever. The 2019-20 bushfires destroyed more than 3,000 homes, killed more than 30 people, and torched tens of millions of hectares of land and forest. With the effects of c…

1
Understanding Maths Struggles - with Dr Jacob Paul 55:03

2M ago55:03

55:03

Why do some people struggle with maths? In this episode, we chat with Dr Jacob Paul from The University of Melbourne’s School of Psychological Sciences, where he leads the Maths at Human Scale Lab. The focus of his research is to understand maths learning disorders, including something called dyscalculia. Jacob tells us what it means for children a…

1
Building Blocks of the Universe - with Professor Alessandro Sfondrini 39:07

2M ago39:07

39:07

This episode of The Random Sample gives you a glimpse into some of the mathematics and physics that is used to understand the building blocks of the universe. A research program at the MATRIX mathematical research institute earlier this year explored the deep connections between mathematics, quantum field theory, and string theory. One of the organ…

1
Using maths to explore the music of Taylor Swift - with Dr Nathan Garland 37:54

3M ago37:54

37:54

We admit it - even The Random Sample can't resist the hype around the world's biggest music star - Taylor Swift. Almost on a dare from his wife - and to make a point with his students - Griffith University's Dr Nathan Garland decided to open up his mathematical toolkit and explore the music of Taylor Swift. In this episode, Nathan tells us what he …

1
Andrew Leigh on Data & Politics

3M ago

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"The rise of populism has been substantial across the advanced world, indeed across developing countries as well. So those of us who believe in data need to be strong proponents of the publication of those data even when it produces results that make us uncomfortable.By Dr Linda McIver, Australian Data Science Education Institute

1
Michael Brand, on the Science of Data Science

4M ago

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"We do not teach people that making mistakes is not just right, but it's the only way of learning. It's the only way of becoming better."Honestly, I want to turn this whole episode into pull quotes! Go listen!By Dr Linda McIver, Australian Data Science Education Institute

1
Grant Ennis

7M ago

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"So like while we would never believe that if we saw a stone rolling down a mountain, that if we all just stared at it and willed it back up the hill, it would do that, we do tend to believe that if we all individually do our part for the environment or ask people to just individually act that because people want that to be so and want that to work…

1
Fiona Tweedie on Data Governance

7M ago

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Fiona Tweedie: data governance is not a topic that gets a lot of love. people yeah switch off when they hear it, but it really is the makes a huge amount of difference to what you're able to do with data (and not just avoiding big regulator fines)By Dr Linda McIver, Australian Data Science Education Institute

1
Why Host a Podcast?! 51:25

7M ago51:25

51:25

In this episode, The Random Sample switches things up a bit. The people who usually ask the questions on this podcast, our hosts, are actually our guests.We explore why these researchers wanted to also become podcasters and what they’ve learnt along the way by hosting this podcast. Our hosts turned guests for this episode are: Rose Crocker is an ap…

1
The Maths of Wi-Fi with Professor David Skellern 50:49

8M ago50:49

50:49

It’s hard to imagine a time before Wi-Fi – or what we’d do without it. Especially, if you’re under the age of 25. But thanks to the work of some brilliant Australian scientists, wireless internet is a part of our everyday lives. Our guest for this episode is Professor David Skellern, one of the Australian scientists who won the race in the late 199…

1
Mark Gray on Physics, Supercomputing, Robodebt, and the future of medicine

8M ago

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Mark Gray on technology. "people have developed a kind of implicit trust in the way that technology works. And I think partly it's because they don't actually understand how it works. And so, they just choose to trust it. I mean, I've got a lot of experience in programming. ...I would not trust a computer-driven car to not hurt me."…

1
Emerging Leaders in Statistics 53:16

8M ago53:16

53:16

This episode of The Random Sample introduces you to three brilliant statisticians! The three have been selected to present the inaugural Horizon Lectures at the upcoming Australian Statistical Conference next month. The Statistical Society of Australia established the Horizon Lecture awards for this year’s conference to recognise emerging leaders i…

1
Superstars of STEM 50:24

9M ago50:24

50:24

There is still a lot of work to do before Australian girls and women have an equal opportunity to learn, work and engage in STEM. So says the Australian Government’s Department of Industry, Science and Resources. The Department’s 2023 STEM Equity Monitor shows that: Women make up 37% of enrolments in university STEM courses. Only 15% of STEM-qualif…

1
Kate Carruthers on Data Governance and the people side of data

9M ago

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"Behind every business problem is a human being with some kind of need. And if we understand that, we can solve it and increasingly now every business is a data driven business, but you can't let data be the only thing you need to, we need to focus in on the human problems we're trying to solve. And that's probably one of the things that is making …

1
What you need to know about Referendum Polling with Professor Simon Jackman 40:59

10M ago40:59

40:59

On Saturday, October 14th, Australians head to the polls to decide the Voice to Parliament Referendum. In this episode, we’re not looking at the referendum, but rather the polling around it. Plus, what makes referendum polling different to polling in a regular election. Our guest is Professor Simon Jackman from the University of Sydney. Professor J…

1
Communicating Statistics & Probability with Professor Jeffrey Rosenthal 46:44

10M ago46:44

46:44

Have you ever seen something on the news or in your social media feed and think, what are the odds of that happening? University of Toronto Professor Jeffrey Rosenthal is the author of the book, “Struck by Lightning – the Curious World of Probabilities”. In it, he explores how we should look at the randomness all around us and in the world, and why…

1
Larene Le Gassick on Data and Accessibility

10M ago

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A truly thought provoking conversation about data and accessibility with an amazing Software Engineer and Accessibility Expert & Advocate, Larene Le Gassick. "The most popular statistic that is shared about disability is that, you know, if you don't consider accessibility in the web or in mobile apps, you are excluding at least 20% of folks who mig…

1
Cracking the Code on the Spread of Mis-and-Disinformation on Social Media 44:54

11M ago44:54

44:54

For many of us, we rely on social media to get a lot of the information we’re interested in. But how does all that information move across these different platforms? It’s a question that researchers in the data and mathematical sciences at The University of Adelaide have been studying for years. Included in that research is the study of how misinfo…

1
Can Water Compute? With Professor Eva Miranda 44:29

11M ago44:29

44:29

Here’s something weird to think about. Can fluids think? No, we’re not talking about a liquid metal shape-shifting creature like what we saw in Terminator 2. We’re asking, can fluid systems make computations? In this episode, we chat with Professor Eva Miranda, head of the Laboratory of Geometry and Dynamical Systems at the Polytechnic University o…

1
Industry PhDs 45:49

12M ago45:49

45:49

Sometimes interesting research starts with a question faced by industry. That question may lead to other questions – and maybe even shine light on a broader research problem not specific to that industry. Collaboration between academia and industry allows researchers to identify and explore these new and interesting problems. One way that’s being d…

1
Greg Jericho on communicating with data

12M ago

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"I've gone from just not reading the media release, to not even caring what their numbers are and actually finding my own numbers. Which is always a fun thing, because you find things that you haven't looked at in the past and think 'oh, this is something new and cool.'"By Dr Linda McIver, Australian Data Science Education Institute

1
On the Road at the ISI World Statistics Congress 48:18

12M ago48:18

48:18

This is a special edition of The Random Sample! We’re on the road at the World Statistics Congress taking place from 15-20 July in Ottawa, Canada. The Congress is put on by International Statistical Institute (ISI) and is the largest congress worldwide for statisticians and data scientists. In this podcast, we hear from Stephen Penneck, ISI Preside…

1
Open-sourcing Data Science Education with Professor Mine Çetinkaya-Rundel 51:28

1y ago51:28

51:28

Our guest is Mine Çetinkaya-Rundel, a Professor in the Department of Statistical Science at Duke University in the United States. Mine’s work is so much more than just educating students about statistics and data science. She’s a big proponent of what she calls ‘open education’, the open source sharing of how stats and data science are taught, and …

1
Covid Data – Why aren’t we collecting it anymore?

1y ago

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RD:"Why aren't we collecting the data? Because they don't want to admit failure. They don't want to make it easy for me to tell you what the cost to GDP of this heroic approach to covid has been."By Dr Linda McIver, Australian Data Science Education Institute

1
Talking Maths & Conservation with Professor Hugh Possingham 49:58

1y ago49:58

49:58

For three decades, University of Queensland Professor Hugh Possingham has combined his two passions – mathematics and nature – into a career dedicated to making an impact with conservation efforts around the world. Hugh recently completed a two-year term as Queensland’s Chief Scientist. He served as Chief Scientist of the Nature Conservancy, is the…

1
Jas Chambers on Oceans, Environment, and Inclusivity

1y ago

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"I remember my first day at university, I was one of those overly friendly people who introduced myself to everyone in a lecture theatre of a thousand and never saw those people again. I remember sitting there in that first term, one of the lecturers did say 'just be aware. we are another species, we're an animal, but the data would suggest that we…

1
Law & Stats: What's a Statistician Doing in Court 44:31

1y ago44:31

44:31

Ever watch a TV courtroom drama where they question an expert witness? Chances are, you’ve never seen an actor portray an expert witness who is a statistician. But statisticians can have a big impact inside real courtrooms. Our guest is Professor Ian Gordon, Director of the Statistical Consulting Centre at The University of Melbourne. Among the con…

1
Antony Green on Election Data Wrangling

1y ago

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Antony Green is well known as the ABC's Election Data Specialist, and he generously shared his time and expertise in a wide ranging conversation about the statistics of elections, how stats are misused, and what he wishes everyone knew about data. Turns out there's a vast amount of preparation that goes into those fascinating election night broadca…

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Australian Data Science Education Institute Podcasts

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