From Meat Pies to Spaghetti Bolognese: Bayesian Learning in a Big Data World

"Big Data" has become a household word and is a fundamental part of our businesses, governments and communities. However, the real question is, 'now that we have the data, what do we do with it?' A follow-on question is, 'what do we do when we know what we want to do, but can't do it?' In this presentation, I will focus on Bayesian learning approaches that we have employed to address these questions, in the context of substantial challenges in health, environment and industry. These include developing an Australian Cancer Atlas, monitoring the Great Barrier Reef and personalised decision support. I will touch on the underpinning statistical approaches in these projects and will also describe some associated opportunities for new areas of research, practice and training. It's an exciting future!