2026 Data Science and Statistics Lecture

You are invited to the 2026 Statistical Science Lecture By School of Mathematics and Physics (SMAP), University of Wollongong, Build 6.210 Lecture Title: From Data to Decisions: You Can Count on Uncertainty, by Professor Mattias Villani DSS Lecturer: Mattias Villani Professor of Statistics at Stockholm University In his talk he will discuss decisions are almost always made with incomplete knowledge: we only partly understand how the world works, and the future is uncertain. Decision-making under uncertainty is an integral part of policy making, and it is becoming ever more important as autonomous agents have to act in real time based on data. The point predictions that machine learning models typically produce are not enough as input for decision-making: we need to quantify the uncertainty. In this talk I describe how uncertainty can be quantified using Bayesian learning in probability models, and how the output of such models can be used to make optimal decisions. Examples from economics, robotics, text analysis and transportation illustrate how this approach delivers uncertainty in a form that is directly usable for decisions. After talk, and questions, light refresments will be served, please Register for catering purposes, and allergies, thank you.