Committee 2022 - 2023

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Rafael de Andrade Moral – Chair

My name is Rafael, I am a Lecturer in Statistics at Maynooth University. I hold a BSc in Biology and a PhD in Statistics from University of São Paulo, Brazil. I really enjoy teaching and doing research related to the development and application of statistical modelling techniques to Biology and Agriculture, more specifically Ecology and Entomology. I am also interested in the computational implementation of statistical models, especially under the form of R code. Besides the work in the academia, I enjoy playing guitar and writing music, as well as performing magic tricks. Last, but not least, I love German Shepherd dogs! My personal webpage.

Shirin Moghaddam – Vice-Chair

I obtained my PhD in Statistics from National University of Ireland, Galway after I had finished my Bachelor and Master degree in Statistics at the University of Tehran, Iran. Following my PhD, I joined the prostate cancer research group in UCD Conway Institute as a postdoctoral research fellow and worked on accurate grading and staging of prostate cancer. I am currently Lecturer in Statistics & Data Science in University of Limerick. My research interests include Survival analysis, Bayesian approach and Machine learning, in particular, their application in cancer research.

Amir Jalali – Secretary

My name is Amir and I am a lecturer in Biostatistics in the School of Medicine at the University of Limerick. I am interested in statistical modelling, clinical decision-making, and transnational statistics. My research focuses on the application of statistical modelling and machine learning in cancer diagnostics and progression, particularly for prostate and breast cancers. I am also passionate about developing tools to facilitate the communication of statistical results to their target audience.

Davood Roshan – Website Manager

I am Davood Roshan, a young statistician and lecturer of Statistical Science at University of Galway. My primary research interest is in the longitudinal analysis of clinical biomarkers. In particular, I am interested in developing individualised and dynamic reference ranges for clinical biomarkers that are recorded longitudinally over time. My research domain includes but not limited to medicine, sport, engineering, finance and etc. I also have special interest in translational statistics, data visualisations and data science with a focus on developing predictive tools. See my academic webpage.

Silvia D’Angelo – Outreach Officer

Hi! My name is Silvia and I am a lecturer in the School of Computer Science and Statistics, Trinity College Dublin. My research involves developing novel statistical methodology for various types of multidimensional data. I quite enjoy working on data-related problems and over the years I have had experience with many different types of data, such as social networks, metabolomic or genomic data. Outside of Statistics, I am a hiking and tag rugby enthusiast and enjoy every sort of outdoor activity. See my personal webpage.

Fatima-Zahra Jaouimaa – Ordinary Member

Hi, I am Fatima Jaouimaa and I’m a PhD student in Statistics at the University of Limerick. I graduated with a BSc in Economics and Mathematical Sciences from the same university. My research area is survival analysis and in particular, I’m looking at multi-parameter regression in this setting.

James Ng – Ordinary Member

James Ng is Assistant Professor in Statistics and Data Science at Trinity College Dublin. He was previously lecturer in Statistics at University of Wollongong, Australia. He obtained his PhD from University College Dublin. His research involves developing statistical models and inference techniques that reveal structure in data with complex dependency, including social network data and spatio-temporal data. This work includes developing mixture modelling, latent variable modelling and meaure trasport methodology to uncover structure and describe dependencies in complex data. His research is motivated by the fact that complex data such as network data are increasingly prevalent in many areas of applications. The emergence of such data sets requires developing effective and practical statistical tools. In addition to statistical methodological research, his research interests also include applications of statistics and machine learning to finance, health science and epidemiology.

Jonathan Henderson – Ordinary Member

I am Jonathan Henderson, and I am a PhD student in statistics at Queen’s University Belfast. I graduated in 2020 with an MSci in Mathematics and Statistics & Operational Research. My PhD is based in spatial statistics in particular, using point pattern analysis to examine the loss of retinal ganglion cells in glaucoma.

Gabriel Rodriques Palma – Co-opted until May 2023

I graduated with first-class honours BSc in Biological Sciences from the University of São Paulo. Since starting my undergraduate degree, I have participated in several statistics, mathematical modelling, and machine learning projects. Thanks to these opportunities, I love being involved in multidisciplinary projects focusing on ecological and entomological research. I am a PhD researcher in Statistical Ecology at the Hamilton Institute of Maynooth University, funded by Science Foundation Ireland’s Centre for Research Training in Foundations of Data Science programme. My PhD project is “Statistical Modelling and machine learning applied to automating animal monitoring systems”.

Rabia Naqvi – Co-opted until May 2023

Educated at TCD and UCD and now lecturing in statistics & actuarial science in UCC School of Mathematical Sciences; interests include mortality modelling, contingencies and risk modelling based on experience working in actuarial and financial services.

Past Associations include: 2K Games, BlackRock, Legal & General International, Willis Towers Watson, CSO, The Pensions Authority

Kate Finucane – Co-opted until May 2023

I am Kate Finucane, a PhD researcher in the School of Mathematics and Statistics at University College Dublin. My research focuses on missing data imputation techniques using Bayesian methods, with applications to metabolomics. I hold a bachelor’s degree in Physics and Astrophysics from Trinity College Dublin and a master’s degree in Data and Computational Science from University College Dublin. I am also very passionate about scientific communication - I believe the public should be able to learn about the science they are funding! I am currently a producer of the Pint of Science Ireland podcast and have been involved in other podcasts, productions, and events in the past.

Lisa McFetridge – Ordinary Member

Lisa is a Lecturer in Statistics in the Mathematical Sciences Research Centre at Queen’s University Belfast. She completed her PhD in 2014, which developed robust joint models to analyse changing biomarkers and the risk of death for haemodialysis patients. Alongside furthering this work, Lisa’s current research interests focus on the advancement of mixed effects models, analysis of emotions using machine learning techniques, innovative survival analysis for medical research and discrete choice modelling of consumer demand. Lisa is the Education Officer of the Irish Statistical Association, Treasurer of the International Biometric Society British and Irish Region and is a member of the RSS Conferences & Events Programme Board. Her online profile can be found webpage

Category: Committee