Rate My Professor Tilman Davies

Associate Professor Tilman Davies is a member of the Department of Mathematics and Statistics within the Division of Sciences at the University of Otago. Originally from Perth, Western Australia, he obtained a Bachelor of Commerce (BCM) from the University of Western Australia, a BSc with Honours from Massey University, and a PhD from Massey University in 2011. Following his honours degree, he spent a year working at a biostatistical consulting firm in the United States and has also lived and worked in Denmark. He joined the University of Otago after completing his doctorate, advancing to the position of Associate Professor. In addition to his research and teaching, he serves as Director of Studies for 100-level Statistics and as Pacific Islands Liaison.

Davies specializes in kernel smoothing and density-ratios, computational statistics including R programming, planar point patterns, spatial statistics, geostatistics, and applications in geographical epidemiology and biology. His recent work includes developing Bayesian models for spatially varying phenomena, with collaborations in physiology, epidemiology, physiotherapy, and archaeology. He has received multiple Marsden Fund grants, including a Fast-Start grant in 2016 and a 2023 grant of $712,000 for principled inference for spatial point processes. Other honors include the University of Otago Early Career Award for Distinction in Research in 2017, the Worsley Early Career Research Award in 2014, and the 2024 New Zealand Statistical Association Littlejohn Award. Davies authored the book The Book of R: A First Course in Programming and Statistics, published by No Starch Press in 2016. Key publications encompass Adaptive kernel estimation of spatial relative risk (Statistics in Medicine, 2010), Tutorial on kernel estimation of continuous spatial and spatiotemporal relative risk (Statistics in Medicine, 2018), sparr: analyzing spatial relative risk using fixed and adaptive kernel density estimation in R (Journal of Statistical Software, 2011), and Analysing point patterns on networks—a review (Spatial Statistics, 2021). His research has garnered over 1,400 citations, impacting advancements in spatial point process modelling and applied statistics.