Professor Ian Gordon
Director of the Statistical Consulting Centre
Consulting
I’m the Director of the Statistical Consulting Centre, with over 40 years of experience in applied statistical work, and a particular interest in communicating statistical ideas effectively in all I do. I am particularly interested in broad problem-solving from a statistical perspective. I am also very interested in the use of statistical methods to promote health and well-being in society, and to promote justice.
I have written over 350 consulting reports for projects of all sizes, and for clients from business, industry and government. I have acted as an expert witness in many court cases in a variety of jurisdictions. My tertiary training is in mathematical statistics.
I am an Accredited Statistician (AStat) with the Statistical Society of Australia. I am a past President of the Statistical Society of Australia (2022 to 2024). I have acted as an expert witness in proceedings on a large variety of matters and in several jurisdictions.
More information on my experience as an expert witness (PDF 228.6 KB)
Examples of expert witness work
- I was engaged by Arnold Bloch Leibler to assist them with an application by young African men against Victoria Police, involving allegations of racial discrimination and racial profiling. The case was settled after the proceedings commenced. See here for a relevant Age editorial.
- In 2014 I appeared in the Federal Court to give evidence regarding estimates of the number of breaches of the Credit Act, in a Proceeding brought by ASIC against The Cash Store, a short-term lender. The judgment imposed a penalty of $19M against the defendant; see paragraphs 9 and 10 for the reliance placed on my evidence.
- On 21 November 2019, the Federal Court handed down a judgment in a long-running and large class action over the use of transvaginal mesh implants. Shine Lawyers acted on behalf of 1,350 women against Johnson & Johnson, and Ethicon. I was engaged by Shine Lawyers as an expert witness, appeared in court and was cross-examined. My written and oral evidence was cited extensively in the judge’s 1500-page judgement. Justice Anna Katzmann ruled in favour of the women and against the companies who sold the mesh products.
Research
I am a Professor of Statistics in the School of Mathematics and Statistics. I have been a Chief Investigator on nationally competitive grants (ARC Discovery, ARC Linkage and NHRMC), and I have supervised or co-supervised five PhD students to completion.
My refereed publications have a total of over 4,500 citations and my current h-index is 36 (this means that 36 of my publications have 36 or more citations).
My methodological research has been mainly in sample size and meta-analysis; my collaborative research has been in many fields, including cardiac surgery, cancer, cardiovascular research, dentistry, geomatics and social and occupational epidemiology.
I also work on issues in statistical education; see publication on the right.
Most cited publications
Brockwell SE, Gordon IR. A comparison of statistical methods for meta-analysis. Statistics in Medicine, 2001: 20:825 – 840.
This paper analysed two common methods for meta-analysis and identified deficiencies in the use of one of these standard methods. It shaped future research in the methodology of meta-analysis.
Day L, Fildes B, Gordon I, Fitzharris M, Flamer H, Lord S. Randomised factorial trial of falls prevention among older people living in their own homes. British Medical Journal, 2002: 325: 128 – 131.
I played key roles in the design and analysis of this randomised trial in the community, looking at potential interventions for preventing falls. The results have influenced policy for falls prevention.
Recent publication
Finch S, Gordon IR. Teaching of confidence intervals in context. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Statistics, 2025.
Teaching and resources
I have taught courses in statistics from first year to Masters level, and delivered many training courses in statistical methods for participants from diverse backgrounds.
I have collaborated with colleagues in the Statistical Consulting Centre to develop free resources to help with understanding statistics and data analytics.
-
Each year I co-teach intensive short courses open to anyone. These include a popular offering: Statistics for Research Workers using R and RMarkdown.
I present Statistics for Basic Physician Training (FRACP) which is now offered as flexible online training to meet the statistical needs of physician trainees, and the topics covered in the FRACP examination.
You can find out more about Statistical Consulting Centre courses here.
The Statistical Consulting Centre can also provide tailored short courses. I have developed and presented many of these. Here is an example.
-
I recently delivered some training to a manufacturing company. This is a long-established area of statistical application, including statistical quality control and the design of experiments. Working with the staff who are researching their processes was a refreshing reminder of the power of statistics to offer sound and efficient insights into underlying mechanisms and patterns. Many statistical methodologies are directly applicable.
-
Finch S, Gordon I. Bare bones or rich feast? Taking care with context in a data rich world Teaching Statistics. 2023 Jan;45(1):4-13. This article was awarded the C. Oswald Prize for 2023 for the best article in Teaching Statistics.
-
I lecture:
- The practice of statistics and data science (MAST90027), in which mainstream Masters statistics students learn about the real application of statistics in practice. This subject is directly informed by my own experience in the SCC.
Sue Finch and I teach:
- Statistics for research workers (MAST90007) (introductory statistical methods for postgraduates)
Sue and I developed and co-ordinate two subject in the Masters of Applied Data Analytics:
In 2024, I taught:
- Quantitative methods( ARTS90046) in the Faculty of Arts.
-
I collaborated on the development of two innovative courses in statistical literacy at the University of Melbourne.
- Critical thinking with data (retired 2022) was a University of Melbourne breadth subject available to all first years. It teaches students to become critical users of data-based evidence.
- Thinking scientifically is a very popular online breadth subject for second year science students, which includes a substantial component about “thinking with data”.
I collaborate with Sue Finch on RealStat - an online suite of real case studies in statistics.
Contact
irg@unimelb.edu.au
(03) 8344 7993
Find an Expert