About me

  • Senior Lecturer, Department of Econometrics and Business Statistics, Monash University
  • Research in infectious diseases modelling, statistics, and statistical software
  • Self-appointed Chief Vibes Officer of my department
  • Was born deaf, had hearing restored at 7 months old
  • Haven’t stopped talking since

FAQs

Why are you in a business school?

We are the largest group of applied statisticians at Monash! And also the Business School has lots of money so they look after me well

FAQs

Wow disease modelling - must’ve been a busy 2020 and 2021

Yes, although it benefitted me in the long term. But I think I’m still recovering

FAQs

What is a Chief Vibes Officer?

ANZIAM and AustMS

  • Australia is a big country, but has a fairly small research population
  • Many people here have been coming for a long time
  • A lot of us know each other reasonably well

You may feel like everyone knows someone or everyone.

99.9% are open to knowing more people!

A bit about us

The elevator pitch

Personally, I find a plan of how to start a conversation means one less stress point

We will develop an “Elevator Pitch” of you and your research!

The elevator pitch

Activity

Create your elevator pitch.

  • Your name & institution
  • Current position
  • Very brief research topic
  • Something about the topic

Second 5 minutes:

Practice it with the person next to you

Networking at a conference

Some tips to help make a conference less intimidating:

  • Make a buddy I can be your buddy
  • Maximise the meal breaks
  • Use your elevator pitch
  • Ask questions

Asking questions

Most people love talking about themselves.

We can practice asking questions!

Finding a buddy

People bond through shared experiences1

Activity

In pairs, you will talk to each other for 2 minutes

Try to learn:

  • Name
  • Research topic
  • A common thing, i.e. hobby, food, hatred of University admin

Wrap-up

Takeaways:

  • We don’t all know everyone, but it is good to know someone
  • Have your elevator pitch ready
  • Tag along with a buddy
  • Ask open-ended questions, let them do the talking

Challenge

At dinner tonight, sit next to someone new.

You can put your buddy(ies) one seat away, or diagonally across.