Professor Adrian Barnett
Affiliation: QUT (Queensland University of Technology)
Discipline: Econometric and statistical methods
Year elected: 2021
What initially drew you to your field of study?
Some bad luck. I wanted to study English, but only got a D in my A-level. My best A-level was a B in mathematics/statistics, so I decided to study statistics at university. I loved my statistics degree from the first to the last day, so I am forever grateful for being terrible at English.
What role do the social sciences play in your work?
A lot of my ongoing work is with economists, we’re studying big questions like what’s the best system for funding research and how should we adjust for career disruption. I love the mix of data and important problems.
What question or issue, in your field, keeps you awake at night?
I’m really genuinely worried about the state of science and evidence, and the lack of worry in other people makes me even more worried. Journals are struggling to cope with the enormous deluge in AI generated papers. Australian institutes are obsessed with numbers and the unspeakably daft international league tables, and they are all sacrificing quality for quantity, whilst loudly stating that they are doing the opposite.
What should your field of study be doing more of right now?
Everyone in every field needs to slow down. Slow science is better science. Check your work, publish your data and code, check your model assumptions, preprint your papers and get lots of feedback.
How would you describe your work at a dinner party?
Very briefly, as people normally quickly change the subject once I say “I’m a statistician”.
What continues to motivate your work?
Science is cool. It’s a bloody brilliant way to work stuff out. I’m still extremely excited to see new results, especially those that took years in the making. And as Isaac Asimov said, “The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds the most discoveries, is not “Eureka!” but ‘That’s funny…”
Where is your ‘happy’ place?
My moods are often controlled by how well Northampton Town FC did on the weekend. After moving to Australia, my happy place is watching a delayed stream of the Cobblers on a Sunday morning.