Professor
Professor David Warton
- PhD in Ecological Statistics (Macquarie, 2003)
- MA in Mathematical Statistics (Sydney, 1999)
- BSc (Hons) majoring in Ecology and Pure Mathematics (Sydney, 1997)
- Graduate Certificate in University Learning and Teaching (UNSW, 2004)
Science
School of Mathematics & Statistics
I am an ecological statistician who advances methodology for data analysis in ecology, to improve the ability of ecologists to answer important research questions. I lead the Eco-Stats group, based in the School of Mathematics and Statistics and affiliated with the Evolution & Ecology Research Centre, which has attracted over $4M in ARC research funding. My cross-disciplinary research involves evaluating the methods for data analysis currently used in ecology, and where necessary, developing new methodologies to assist ecologists answer key research questions. I am also the founding director of Stats Central, the UNSW statistical consulting and collaboration unit.
Phone
+61 2 9385 7031
E-mail
Location
School of Mathematics and Statistics
University of New South Wales
Sydney NSW 2052
The Red Centre
Room 2052
- Publications
- Media
- Grants
- Awards
- Research Activities
- Engagement
- Teaching and Supervision
- 2021-23 ARC Discovery Project ($410,000) Warton DI & Stoklosa J "Innovative statistical methods for analysing high-dimensional counts"
- 2019-23 NHMRC grant ($933,605) Herbert R, Novak I, Rae C, Warton DI, Bolsterlee B, Morgan C, "Muscle growth and muscle contracture in cerebral palsy"
- 2018-2020 ARC Discovery Project ($371,923) Warton DI, "New insights from point event data in ecology"
- 2015-2018 ARC Linkage Project ($556,256) Keith D, Phinn S, Elith RJ, Warton DI, Connolly D, "Advancing vegetation classification and mapping to meet conservation needs"
- 2015-2017 ARC Discovery Grant ($259,500) Warton DI, "Advances in biodiversity modelling - analysis of high-dimensional counts"
- 2012-2016 ARC Future Fellowship ($624,856) Warton DI, "Predicting the ecological impacts of climate change: advancing tools for the analysis of high-dimensional data in ecology"
- 2012-2014 ARC Discovery Project ($300,000) Warton DI "New approaches to predictive modelling of high-dimensional count data to study climate impacts on ecological communities"
- 2010-2013 ARC Linkage Grant ($401,000) Ramp D, Warton DI, Jenkins KM, Ashcroft MB, Gollan JR, Driver P "Innovative approaches to identifying regional responses of biodiversity to climate change"
- 2009-2011 ARC Discovery Project ($282,000) Warton DI "Advances in statistical methods for analysing high dimensional count data"
- 2009-2011 ARC Discovery Project ($300,000) Warton DI, Andrew NR & Gibb H "Predicting the effect of climate change on community structure and function: an assessment using temperate grassland invertebrates"
- 2008 UNSW Goldstar Award ($30,000) Warton DI "Advances in statistical methods for analysing community abundance data in the environmental sciences"
- 2007-2009 ARC Linkage Project ($450,000) Kingsford RT, Laffan SW, Warton DI, Merson JA, Bradstock RA, Mulley R, Auld TD & Chapple RS "Managing Ecosystem Change in the Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage Area"
- 2007 UNSW Goldstar Award ($40,000)Warton DI "Advances in statistical methods for analysing community abundance data in the environmental sciences"
2019- Highly Cited Researcher (Web of Science group)
2020 Fellow of the Royal Society of New South Wales
2014 Christopher Heyde Medal (for contributions to statistics and probability theory), Australian Academy of Sciences
2014 Young Investigator Award, American Statistical Association (Section on Statistics and the Environment)
2009 NSW/ACT Young Tall Poppy Award for research achievement and science communication
2005 Learning and Teaching Award, UNSW Faculty of Science
- Evaluate methods for study design and analysis currently used in ecology
- Where necessary, develop new methodologies to assist ecologists answer key research questions (sometimes new types of questions that have never been answered before)
My cross-disciplinary research is primarily of a statistical nature but it involves collaborating with ecologists as well as statisticians and researchers from related disciplines, nationally and internationally. Although my research is grounded in ecological questions, it ranges from applied to quite theoretical, with methodological contributions to multivariate analysis (for applications in allometry), high-dimensional data analysis (for applications in community ecology), model selection and point process modelling (for species distribution modelling). But I would be willing to try my hand at pretty much any challenging methodological problem arising in ecology!
Director of Stats Central
Deputy Director of Postgraduate Studies (Coursework), School of Mathematics and Statistics
Associate Editor, Journal of Agricultural, Biological and Environmental Statistics
Associate Editor, Annals of Applied Statistics
My Research Supervision
Robert Nguyen (2017-), Sports analytics in Australian leagues
Maeve McGillyCuddy (2018-), Model-based mixed model inference for multivariate abundances
Michelle Lim (2018-), Equivalence testing of multivariate abundances for restoration studies
Ben Maslen (2021-), Using machine learning to classifying fish from videos
Sam Mason (2021-), Spatio-temporal species distribution modelling
For more details see Eco-Stats - People.
My Teaching
MATH5935 - Statistical Consultancy.
MATH2089 - Numerical Methods and Statistics
DATA3001 - Data Science and Decisions in Practice