We are pleased to announce that the 2024 NZSA Award recipients are Lisa Thomasen (Campbell Award), Tilman Davies (Littlejohn Award) and David Baird (Jean Thompson Award).
| Campbell Award: Lisa Thomasen (Fonterra) | Citation from Jie Kang and Matt Parry: Lisa has been, and continues to be, a powerful advocate for students, early-career, and professional statisticians, ensuring their voices are heard, that they are supported, and that their contributions are recognized both within our Association and beyond. From 2016 to 2021, Lisa served as the student and early-career representative on the NZSA Committee, demonstrating remarkable dedication and engagement to this role. Among her many contributions, Lisa organized highly successful networking events, founded a network of regional representatives, and built stronger connections with early-career statisticians in Australia. Lisa’s good works and exemplary service have provided the next generation of statisticians with opportunities for professional development, engagement, and leadership. Over recent years, recognising the need for structured support and guidance for student and early-career statisticians, Lisa developed, and continues to lead, the NZSA’s highly successful mentoring programme. This programme has become the cornerstone of the NZSA’s efforts to support the professional development of early-career statisticians, with participants consistently praising its effectiveness and value. Additionally, Lisa pioneered the “Lean In Circles” initiative, another innovative programme designed to support and foster peer-to-peer mentorship within the NZSA community. These circles provide a platform for members to exchange experiences, offer peer support, and expand both personal and professional networks. Like the previous programme, it has been incredibly successful, receiving high praise from participants for its practical benefits and impact. The success of the Mentoring programme and the Lean In Circles underscores Lisa's remarkable ability to cultivate environments that promote collaboration, community building, and the overall well-being of statisticians at all stages of their careers. Lisa’s unwavering advocacy for early-career statisticians, along with the mentoring and community-building initiatives she has developed and led, make her a truly deserving recipient of the Campbell Award. |  |
| Littlejohn Award: Tilman Davies (University of Otago) | Citation from Martin Hazelton: Dr Davies receives the Littlejohn Award in recognition of his excellent corpus of research published over the period 2020-2024. This work is primarily on spatial statistics, and is exemplified by five nominated articles.
Dr Davies' methodological work is typically implemented in publicly available R packages. Through this software, his methods are being adopted across the world by researchers in numerous different disciplines. |  |
| Jean Thompson Award: David Baird (VSN NZ Ltd) | Citation from Vanessa Cave: David Baird exemplifies the spirit of the Jean Thompson Award through his remarkable contributions to applied statistics and his role as a mentor, leader and innovator within the statistical community. For over 4 decades, David has applied his statistical and computing expertise to address critical challenges in agriculture, horticulture, biosecurity, entomology, ecology, plant breeding, and finance. David’s work has been instrumental in solving real-world problems faced by New Zealand industry, government agencies, and Crown Research Institutes. For example, one of David's many important contributions was his work with the New Zealand Earthquake Commission (EQC) following the Christchurch Earthquakes to estimate property damage and address insurance-related issues. In addition to his consultancy, David has made significant contributions to the statistical software programme Genstat. As a principal developer, he created the first Windows version of Genstat, introducing a user-friendly interface that made statistical analysis accessible to both statisticians and non-experts. David is also an exceptional mentor and coach. He has supported the careers of many statisticians, including myself, and many non-statisticians, offering guidance, advice, and sharing his vast knowledge. Additionally, David has demonstrated a strong commitment to the statistical community, both in Australasia and internationally. He actively contributes to the New Zealand Statistical Association and the International Biometric Society, organizing conferences, conducting workshops and serving on committees. David’s effectiveness, leadership and commitment to advancing statistical thinking and good statistical practice in New Zealand make him a highly deserving recipient of the Jean Thompson Award. |  |