We are pleased to announce the winner of the 2020 Mardia interdisciplinary workshop prize is Dr Olaniyi Mathew Olayiwola (pictured).
Founded by RSS fellow Kanti Mardia, the Mardia Prize was created to fund cutting-edge interdisciplinary workshops bringing together statisticians with researchers from other scientific communities. Funding of £6,000–£8,000 is made available over two years to support these workshops.
The winning proposal came from Dr Olaniyi Mathew Olayiwola (pictured) of the Department of Statistics, College of Physical Sciences, Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, Ogun State, Nigeria. Dr Olayiwola is also chair of the RSS Nigeria local group, fellow of Nigeria Statistical Association, a member of the International Association of Survey Statisticians and member and member of the International Association of Official Statistics.
Dr Olayiwola plans to hold a research collaboration and networking workshop on ‘The impacts of Covid-19 on economies, food systems and poverty’ in Abeokuta, Ogun State in Nigeria.
Currently, Dr Olayiwola is working on the integration of Bayesian model and adaptive cluster sampling in contact tracing to curb the spread of Covid-19. The workshop will bring together statisticians, medical personnel, farmers and food scientists and one of its key aims is to inform policy makers of Covid-19 impacts on the economy, food systems and poverty, with appropriate recommendations to address the problems. Around 100 participants are anticipated.