Schedule for 2011 Annual Scientific Meeting (London)

2011 Annual Scientific Meeting & AGM (London)

Annual Scientific Meeting & AGM

3^rd December 2011

BPS Offices, 30 Tabernacle Street, London, EC2A 4UE

Attendance free

Coffee from 10.30am, Meeting begins at 11am (AGM at 3.30pm)

Keynote Speaker:

Prof Zoltan Dienes: Using Bayes to make the most of null results.

Registration

To register for this free event, please email name, institution, contact details to the Secretary of the Maths, Stats & Computing Section:

Dr Collette Corry cv.corry_at_ulster.ac.uk

Call for papers

The closing date for submissions is Wednesday 26^th November 2011

Presentations on both theoretical and substantive applications are welcome in the area of Mathematics, Statistics or Computing in Psychology.  We welcome submissions from postgraduate students.  Abstracts should be submitted (no more than 200 words) with your name, institution and contact details to:  Dr Collette Corry, cv.corry_at_ulster.ac.uk

2011 Ranald Macdonald Postgraduate Research Award

The Mathematical, Statistical and Computing Psychology Section is pleased to invite considerations for the 2011 Ranald Macdonald Postgraduate Research Award. Deadline for applications 30th March 2012

This will be awarded to the best UK Postgraduate thesis/dissertation/project (MSc, MRes, MPhil, Professional Doctorate, DPhil or PhD) using mathematics or statistics in a novel way to investigate an aspect of Psychology. The work and qualification upon which the award is assessed must have been awarded between 1st August 2010 and 31st December 2011.

The award consists of £150 and expenses up to £200 to attend the section's Annual Scientific Meeting in the following year (2012 for the 2011 award). As a condition of accepting the award, the winner will be expected to present on their winning work at that meeting (scheduled for December 2012) and to join the section if they are not already a member.

Details about eligibility and the (simple) application process can be found below or by contacting the Section Secretary Dr Collette Corry.

cv.corry _at_ ulster.ac.uk

Please note the deadline for submissions will be 30th March 2012 at 5pm.

How to apply:

Please send the following to the section secretary Collette Corry via email to:

cv.corry_at_ulster.ac.uk

1. Your full contact details including Name, Institution, Degree Title and Date the qualification was awarded, Address, Email, Telephone number and the Name (s) of Supervisors

2. The extended abstract from your thesis, which outlines the findings of your work

3. A supporting statement from one of your supervisory team outlining the importance and contribution of your thesis and suitability for the award (no more than 300 words) and listing any peer-reviewed publications associated with the work.

Procedure: Your application will be considered by a panel of Mathematical, Statistical and Computing Section Committee members, and the panel’s decision will be final. One or more submissions will be short-listed and their authors may be invited to submit the complete thesis to the panel for final consideration via PDF. The panel reserves the right not to short-list any candidates if the panel does not deem the quality of submissions to be sufficiently high. From time to time the panel may also seek the views of expert reviewers on the quality of a submission prior to short-listing or to making an award. The panel may, in exceptional circumstances, make a split award between two equally deserving candidates.

Criteria for making the award: Emphasis will be placed on the following criteria:

- use of novel mathematics or statistics

- reference to substantive issues in psychology or related disciplines

- clarity of exposition of the mathematical or statistical concepts

- potential or actual contribution to the field, via peer-reviewed publication

British Journal of Mathematical and Statistical Psychology archives online

The BJMSP archives going back to the first issue (Volume 1 Part 1 in 1947) are now online for subscribers (including BPS members). It began life as the The British Journal of Psychology (Statistical Section), but became known as the British Journal of Statistical Psychology. Although it changed to the British Journal of Mathematical and Statistical Psychology in 1964 the focus was on mathematical contributions to psychology in its broadest sense (including statistics) rather than narrowly on statistics, though factor analysis dominated in the early years. This was probably partly because of the founding editors (Burt and Thomson) and partly because of the importance of factor analysis at the time.


The first editorial by Burt and Thomson is free to all readers here.

The Jon Rasbash prize for Quantitative Social Science

A new award - The Jon Rasbash prize for Quantitative Social Science - has been established to commemorate the contributions to quantitative social science of Jon Rasbash, who was Professor of Computational Statistics and Director of the Centre for Multilevel Modelling at the University of Bristol. Jon was principally known for his development of multilevel methodology and its software implementation and for his research on studying social relationships within families.

The £500 prize recognizes early career achievement in the development and/ or application of advanced quantitative methods in any social science discipline. Applicants should be UK residents and in the first 10 years of their research career (including periods of postgraduate study).

The prize will be awarded on the basis of a research paper published in a

peer-reviewed journal in 2010 or 2011. The applicant should be the sole or lead author of the paper. Submissions by 1 December 2011.

Further details: http://www.bristol.ac.uk/cmm/research/rasbash-prize.html

Job opportunity Fixed term (1 year) Senior Biostatistician on Growing up project (New Zealand)

For your information:

Senior Biostatistician (click on title for job description)

Fixed term until June 2012, with possible extension

Growing Up in New Zealand: A longitudinal research study of kiwi children and their families

Growing Up in New Zealand is an exciting and ground breaking longitudinal study that is following approximately 7000 children from before they were born until they are adults, in the context of their families. It aims to understand the developmental environment, life experiences and aspirations of these children and families and will provide evidence to help build effective policy, programmes and initiatives to improve outcomes for all of New Zealand’s children. The families involved in the study reflect the cultural diversity of New Zealand, our evolving society, environment and identity.

Further details about the study can be seen on our website http://www.growingup.co.nz

We are seeking an enthusiastic and highly experienced Senior Biostatistician to lead our biostatistics team and work with our multi-disciplinary research team. You will have expertise in the epidemiological and lifecourse principles of longitudinal research design and data analysis. You will be able to contribute to ensuring the robust design, management, analysis and interpretation of our large complex data sets.

You will possess a PhD or higher degree in Statistics, Biostatistics or relevant disciplines and have expertise working with one or more statistical software packages including SAS.

Some of the key aspects of this role are to develop and execute analysis plans, support the research team to ensure data collection enables robust analysis, to lead and manage the biostatistics team including peer review and quality check of their work, to undertake analysis and interpretation of data and to support the preparation of reports and scientific papers.

Growing Up in New Zealand is led by the University of Auckland within UniServices, the largest research and development company in Australasia and a wholly owned company of The University of Auckland.

The position is a full-time position for a fixed term ending on 30 June 2012 in the first instance, with possibility for extension beyond this.

Please email or phone Florence Falconer for further information: f.falconer@auckland.ac.nz +64 (9) 373 7599 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting +64 (9) 373 7599 end_of_the_skype_highlighting ext. 84451.

If you wish to apply please email your CV and a cover letter to Florence at f.falconer@auckland.ac.nz

Special Issue: Advances in Statistical Methods for Clinical and Experimental Psychopathology Data

Readers of the blog may be interested that The Journal of Experimental Psychopathology (Volume 2, Issue 2) has a special issue on Advances in Statistical Methods for Clinical and Experimental Psychopathology Data.

It is edited by Andy Field and Eric Woody:

·         Tracing the Interpersonal Web of Psychopathology: Dyadic Data Analysis Methods for Clinical Researchers Pamela Sadler, Nicole Ethier, Erik Woody ·         How to Conduct and Statistically Analyze Case-Based Time Series Studies, One Patient at a Time Michael R Nash, Jeffery J Borckardt, Amineh Abbas, Erin GrayD ·         Performing Taxometric Analysis to Distinguish Categorical and Dimensional Variables John Ruscio, Ayelet Meron Ruscio, Lauren M Carney ·         Best Practices for Using Median Splits, Artificial Categorization, and their Continuous Alternatives Jamie DeCoster, Marcello Gallucci, Anne-Marie R Iselin ·         An SEM Perspective on Evaluating Mediation: What Every Clinical Researcher Needs to Know Erik Woody ·         Using Bootstrap Estimation and the Plug-In Principle for Clinical Psychology Data Daniel B Wright, Kamala London, Andy P Field ·         A Primer on Using Multilevel Models in Clinical and Experimental Psychopathology Research Andy P Field, Daniel B Wright ·         A Primer on Meta-Analysis in Clinical Psychology Scott A Baldwin, William R Shadish