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(PhD Brown University, USA)Matthew Parry (2022)

Associate Professor
Course co‑ordinator for BAppSc in Data Science

Office: Science III, room 236
Tel +64 3 479 7780
Email matthew.parry@otago.ac.nz

About

My PhD was in physics but I moved into statistics courtesy of an EPSRC (UK) Statistics Mobility Fellowship. I have been a member of the Department of Mathematics and Statistics since 2011.

I am currently a principal investigator at Te Pūnaha Matatini Centre for Research Excellence. I am deputy leader of NZ Science Group, which is part of the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) Consortium. I am also a past President of the NZ Statistical Association (2020–2022).

Teaching responsibilities

My teaching responsibilities include:

  • STAT 312 Modelling High Dimensional Data
  • STAT 372 Stochastic Modelling
  • STAT 405 Probability and Random Processes
  • INFO 420 Statistical Techniques for Data Science

Research interests

My research expertise is mathematical and statistical modelling. My research is currently focused on applications of scoring rules in statistics, modelling epidemics in plants and human populations, analysis of solar storms and geomagnetic events, statistical analysis of gravitational waves, modelling of methylation and epigenetic modification, and the development of new algorithms for statistical inference. These activities are strongly influenced by my background in physics and computational methods.

I am actively looking for Honours and postgraduate students to work on projects in these areas. I value mathematical and computational ability as much as I do statistical background.

Publications

Hoessly, L., & Parry, M. (2026). How to evaluate probabilistic prediction models: Key metrics. Journal of Clinical Epidemiology, 194, 112247. doi: 10.1016/j.jclinepi.2026.112247 Journal - Research Other

Anglemyer, A., Srinivas, A., McNeill, A., Gilkison Allen, C., Cooper, H., Morgan, J., … Parry, M., & Walls, T. (2025). Large reductions in invasive pneumococcal disease and related morbidities among children in New Zealand after change from PCV10 to PCV13. Journal of Infectious Diseases. Advance online publication. doi: 10.1093/infdis/jiaf587 Journal - Research Article

Wang, T., Fletcher, D., Parry, M., Rodger, C. J., Smith, A. W., & Petersen, T. (2025). Better forecasting of extreme geomagnetic storms using non-stationary statistical models. Space Weather, 23, e2025SW004404. doi: 10.1029/2025SW004404 Journal - Research Article

Shahzadi, A., Wang, T., Parry, M., & Bebbington, M. (2025). Modelling time-inhomogeneous incomplete records of point processes using variants of hidden Markov models. Advances in Data Analysis & Classification. Advance online publication. doi: 10.1007/s11634-025-00632-x Journal - Research Article

Cox, C., Hatfield, T., Parry, M., & Fritz, Z. (2025). To what extent should doctors communicate diagnostic uncertainty with their patients? An empirical ethics vignette study. Journal of Medical Ethics. Advance online publication. doi: 10.1136/jme-2024-109932 Journal - Research Article

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