Author Archives: djc24

Prizes

Congratulations to Emily Dennis for winning Faculty of Sciences prize for Postgraduate Research

In 2015 the University launched a new annual award scheme to recognise excellence in research as part of its 50th anniversary  celebrations. 40 applications were received from across all three Faculties, and the Pro Vice-Chancellor for Research & Innovation, Prof Philippe De Wilde, led the panel that selected the winners. We are delighted to announce that Statistics PhD student Emily Dennis was among the award winners, receiving the Faculty of Sciences prize for Postgraduate Research.

The aim of Emily’s research is to develop new statistical methods for analysing national butterfly data and she has developed several novel statistical approaches for analysing data collected under the UK Butterfly Monitoring Scheme (UKBMS). Possibly the best insect data set in the world, it was not being put to optimal use. However, the method published by Emily in Methods in Ecology and Evolution is now being used in the reporting of UKBMS data and has received interest from Europe and North America.

Professor De Wilde said “The standard was extremely high, and reflects the diverse, exciting and vibrant research culture across the University.” Full details of all prize winners.

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Prizes

Congratulations to Gurutzeta Guillera-Arroita for winning RSPB most outstanding PhD in conservation science

The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) offers three annual awards to recognise and celebrate excellence in conservation science. One of these is for the most outstanding PhD thesis in conservation science and the School is very pleased to announce that the 2015 winner was Dr Gurutzeta Guillera-Arroita, an SMSAS PhD student who graduated in 2012.

Guru now works at the University of Melbourne in Australia, and her thesis was chosen because it has already had a tangible impact on the conservation of a threatened species – the Sumatran tiger – and will contribute to the conservation of many others in future.

Guru commented: “I am delighted to receive this award. The RSPB is widely known for the high quality of its conservation science, and obtaining recognition from such an inspiring organisation is a real honour.” She will be continuing to work hard to support successful conservation decisions.

Further details about the awards are on the RSPB website at http://www.rspb.org.uk/forprofessionals/science/news/awards.

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Books

Modelling Population Dynamics Book

Model Formulation, Fitting and Assessment using State-Space Methods

Authors: Newman, K., Buckland, S.T., Morgan, B., King, R., Borchers, D.L., Cole, D., Besbeas, P., Gimenez, O., Thomas, L.

This book gives a unifying framework for estimating the abundance of open populations: populations subject to births, deaths and movement, given imperfect measurements or samples of the populations. The focus is primarily on populations of vertebrates for which dynamics are typically modelled within the framework of an annual cycle, and for which stochastic variability in the demographic processes is usually modest. Discrete-time models are developed in which animals can be assigned to discrete states such as age class, gender, maturity,  population (within a metapopulation), or species (for multi-species models).

The book goes well beyond estimation of abundance, allowing inference on underlying population processes such as birth or recruitment, survival and movement. This requires the formulation and fitting of population dynamics models. The resulting fitted models yield both estimates of abundance and estimates of parameters characterizing the underlying processes.

Springer Book Website
Computer Code for Book
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Books

Analysis of Capture-Recapture Data

A book written by two members of SE@K has been published this month. The book was co-authored by Rachel McCrea and Byron Morgan.

To put the text into perspective: an important first step in studying the demography of wild animals is to capture them temporarily and tag them in some way so that each specimen is uniquely identifiable. Data collected at that time can be compared with later data if and when the animals are recaptured. Thus researchers can study different forms of capture-recapture data and begin to make good estimates of mortality, population size, and so on.

McCrea and Morgan’s text covers many modern developments of capture-recapture, and related models and methods, and places them into historical context; presenting both classical and Bayesian methods. A range of real data sets motivates and illustrates the material, made available via the companion website www.capturerecapture.co.uk.

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Prizes

IBC Prize Winners

Emilytalkslide ChenCoverCongratulations to Chen Yu and Emily Dennis who won prizes for Best Student Oral Papers at the International Statistical Ecology Conference in Italy in July 2014.

 

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News, Prizes

IBC honours Professor Byron Morgan

At the 27th International Biometric Conference (IBC) held this month in Florence the International Biometric Society honoured Professor Byron Morgan with Honorary Life Membership of the organisation. His citation read, in part, “For Outstanding Contributions to Biometry and Statistical Ecology and for Exemplary Service and Leadership in the International Biometric Society.”

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