Event Archive
ICCSSA seminars
27 October 2022
Speaker 1: Mr Nico Katzke (Satrix)
Title: Perspectives on Optimal Hierarchical Portfolio Selection.
Speaker 2: Nada Abdelatif (MRC)
Title: Complexity in Biostatistics
Speaker 3: Prof. Bruce Basset (UCT)
Title: Statistical Challenges for the SKA
ICCSSA Seminar: Fraud detection using Multi-level Machine Learning Models
Date: 15 August 2022
Time: 16:30 – 17:30
Topic: Fraud detection using Multi-level Machine Learning Models
Speaker: Dr Wilbert Chagwiza (Standard Bank)
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ICCSSA Seminar: Text Based Economic Indicators – Tools, Techniques and Infrastructure
Date: 7 June 2022
Time: 15:00 – 16:00
Topic: A media derived sentiment indicator for South Africa
Speaker: Dr Hanjo Odendaal (71point4)
ICCSSA Seminar: Statistical and technical considerations around the local census
Date: 17 May 2022
Time: 15:00 – 16:00
Topic: Census 2022 – A Digital Census
Speaker: Luqmaan Omar (Stats SA)
ICCSSA Virtual Seminar and Annual General Assembly
15 September 2021
Modelling the vaccine rollout
29 April 2021
Speaker 1: Dr Ali Asgary (York University)
Title: Mass Vaccination Options: simulation experiences of drive-thru and walk-in mass vaccination clinics.
Speaker 2: Prof Bruce Mellado (iThemba LABS and University of the Witwatersrand)
Title: Modelling the vaccination roll out
World Statistics Day
The United Nations Statistical Commission, declared the 20th October as World Statistics Day. World Statistics Day was first celebrated on 20 October 2010 and is celebrated every five years thereafter. ICCSSA hosts a breakfast seminar series each year in October to celebrate and showcase Statistics. On Friday 18 October 2019 ICCSSA hosted, together with Stats SA, a Geostatistics seminar morning. The aim was to bring together expertise in spatial statistics, GIS and mining geostatistics for a morning of shared knowledge and discussion of future paths and collaborations. Speakers from Esri (ArcGIS software), SAS and GASA (Geostatistical Association of South Africa) present on various aspects in this direction.
ICCSSA, Western Cape Chapter of SASA and the DST-NRF Centre of Excellence in Mathematics and Statistical Sciences (CoE-MaSS) joint seminar, 22 February 2019
The seminar was hosted jointly by the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) and University of the Western Cape (UWC). Prof. Ben Herbst delivered his talk live at UWC and thereafter Benjamin Rosman delivered his talk live at Wits. The video and presentation of Dr Rosman’s talk is available below:
CSIR Open Day – Better Data, Better Lives, 19 October 2018
The CSIR celebrated World Statistics Day under the theme: Better Data, Better Lives: The role and relevance of statistics for long-term planning.
SASA Gauteng chapter meeting, 6 September 2018
The SASA Gauteng chapter hosted a seminar on Natural Language Processing and Machine Learning Approaches for Parsing Pathology Reports that were presented by Gciniwe Dlamini, IBM Research – Africa.This was the first event of the Gauteng Chapter of the SASA in 2018, conducted jointly with ICCSSA, DST-NRF, CoE-MaSS and ORSSA. The meeting was attended by about 12 delegates and was a very lively event with the attending delegates very enthusiastically engaging with the speaker and amongst themselves to discuss many emerging technical questions and application. The event also provided a wonderful opportunity to network with delegates from a variety of institutions. After the talk, there was light finger food sponsored by SASA and also the option to tour the IBM facility. We thank the speaker for her very insightful presentation and thank IBM for proving the venue and welcoming the delegates formally to the event at the start of the talk.
Data Science – Part I
The Data Science Part I had two presentations. The first was by Brian Stacey (Resolve) on Data is all around us.
The second presentation was by Andrew Stephens (Resolve) on Practical Analytics in Supply Chains.
ICCSSA re-launch (seminar series and annual General Assembly)
1 June 2018
The Institute of Certificated and Chartered Statisticians of South Africa (ICCSSA) had the re-launch of ICCSSA on 1 June 2018 because of their major changes and repositioning.
Machine Learning series – Part II
The Machine Learning Series Part 2 had two presentations. The first was by Christo Strydom – MyBucks. He presented on fraud detection in an online environment. This talk revolved around a journey of one company in their attempt to assess the extent of fraud and identifying fraud in real time. The talk showed case studies of identity theft and illustrated the use of Neo4J as a graphing database and document store to achieve detection goals. Clickstream analytics were used in an illustration with the aim of arriving at a (fraud) model to score applicants on the likelihood of being fraudulent. Classification schemes of client behaviour and logic were discussed and early attempts at a deep learning of the problem were shown.
The second presentation was by Robert Berman (CSIR) on Hyperformance: predicting high-speed performance of a B-Double. This talk gave an overview of a data driven approach to develop a prediction model for the high-speed dynamic performance of common heavy goods vehicle (HGV). Robert gave an overview of the current performance-based standards (PBS) approach to HGV design and regulation, followed by how machine learning could assist and inform this process. The talk further covered the data collection, post-processing, and model fitting. Robert discussed the use of Bayesian optimisation for hyperparameter optimisation and how this data science approach to HGV design benefits both industry and regulators.
Machine Learning series – Part I
Two further seminars, Machine Learning series – Part I and Part II were held together with the Operations Research Society of South Africa (ORSSA) on 11 May 2017 and 1 August 2017 respectively at Resolve solutions Partners, Samrand.
On 11 May, Marc Gagiano presented a talk on Churn prediction. He gave a brief introduction of data science in the context of business highlighting how machine learning fits in. There was a brief discussion of the differences between machine learning and regression. A case study for a telecommunication company was presented where machine learning was used to generate more revenue. The main application was churn prediction using neural networks and confusion matrices were used to measure the performance in order to quantify the additional revenue generated. The algorithm and variations thereof were explained along with details on the implementation thereof.
A second presentation on 11 May was given by Christiaan Hattingh (GetBucks) on Real time credit decision as a machine learning classification problem. This case study was on granting micro-credit. Christiaan discussed how credit risk decisions can be viewed as a machine learning classification problem, with a brief, non-technical description of machine learning algorithms and approaches for this purpose. The real-time implementation and challenges were discussed, as well as how machine learning allows quantitative adjustment of risk appetite, with a calculated expectation of returns.
ICCSSA breakfast seminar – 28 October 2016
A breakfast seminar was held on 28 October 2016 at SAS institute, jointly hosted by ICCSSA, ORSSA and SAS. The first talk was given by Dr Vincent Micalli, currently the CEO of Stats4Buz (Pty) Ltd, on “A long walk from facts and figures to predictions in the electrical energy industry”.
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The second talk was given by Dr Zaid Kimmie, currently responsible for Planning and Strategy at CSIR, on “Elections forecasts: the CSIR and the 2016 Local Government Elections”. The seminar was sponsored by SAS Institute.
ICCSSA breakfast seminar – High RE Scenario – 2 September 2016
On 2 September 2016 ICCSSA held a joint breakfast seminar with ORSSA, UNISA and SASA. The first talk was given by Dr Tobias Bischof-Niemz, Centre Manager for Energy at CSIR, on “New high-fidelity wind and solar PV data for South Africa enable renewables-based planning”
The second talk was given by Dr Caston Sigauke, senior lecturer at the Statistics Department at the University of Venda on “Short term hourly load forecasting during the peak period using quantile regression with an application to the unit commitment problem”. The seminar was sponsored by ICCSSA and ORSSA and the venue was sponsored by UNISA. The mix between industry and academia created a lively and vibrant discussion.
ICCSSA second breakfast seminar – 4 December 2015
ICCSSA launched its second breakfast seminar on 4 December 2015 in partnership with the Centre of Excellence for Mathematical and Statistical Sciences (CoE-MaSS) at Wits University, Operations Research Society of South Africa (ORSSA), South African Statistical Association (SASA) and the University of Pretoria (UP). The guest speaker was Prof Alfred Stein from the Netherlands. He spoke on “Spatial statistical aspects of big data: new challenges for research”.
ICCSSA first breakfast seminar – 24 July 2015
On 24 July 2015 ICCSSA held its first breakfast seminar. The first talk was given by Professor Paul Fatti on “Big Data, Data Science and Analytics – The End of Statistics”. It was well received and initiated a very lively discussion.
The second talk was given by Mr Ben Mphahlele the Chairperson of the South African Statistics Council on the “Need for Change”. The event was sponsored by SAS and SACNASP. The ICCSSA Board decided that over the next few years the ICCSSA convention would be replaced by regular ICCSSA seminars.
First ICCSSA convention held in Milnerton Cape Town, 28 – 30 March 2012
The first ICCSSA conference was held at the Lagoon Beach Hotel in Milnerton, Cape Town from 28 – 30 March 2012. It was attended by 50 delegates from a variety of fields of specialisation…
Admin Officer: Ms Liesl Morey | Email: admin@iccssa.org.za | Tel: 078 195 4471
