Ian Gordon

Professor Ian Gordon is a Professor of Statistics in the School of Mathematics and Statistics, Faculty of Science, at the University of Melbourne, and Director of the Statistical Consulting Centre. He holds a BSc (Hons), MSc, and PhD, with tertiary training in mathematical statistics, and possesses over 40 years of experience in applied statistical work. Throughout his career, he has authored over 350 consulting reports for clients in business, industry, and government, and served as an expert witness in numerous court cases across various jurisdictions. Notably, he provided expert evidence in a landmark class action against Johnson & Johnson and Ethicon, involving meta-analyses of 438 studies on stress urinary incontinence and 130 studies on pelvic organ prolapse; his testimony was extensively cited in the judge's 1500-page judgment. Gordon has been a Chief Investigator on nationally competitive grants, including ARC Discovery, ARC Linkage, and NHMRC projects. He has supervised or co-supervised five PhD students to completion and maintains an active role in statistical education, developing and delivering short courses such as Statistics for Research Workers using R and RMarkdown, and training in statistical thinking for manufacturing.

Gordon's research focuses on broad statistical problem-solving, with methodological contributions in sample size determination and meta-analysis, alongside collaborative work in cardiac surgery, cancer, cardiovascular research, dentistry, geomatics, social and occupational epidemiology, and issues in statistical education. His refereed publications exceed 4,500 citations, with an h-index of 36. Key publications include 'A comparison of statistical methods for meta-analysis' by Brockwell and Gordon (Statistics in Medicine, 2001), 'Randomised factorial trial of falls prevention among older people living in their own homes' by Day et al. (British Medical Journal, 2002), 'Bare bones or rich feast? Taking care with context in a data rich world' by Finch and Gordon (Teaching Statistics, 2023; co-recipient of the C. Oswald Prize 2023), and 'Teaching of confidence intervals in context' by Finch and Gordon (Australian and New Zealand Journal of Statistics, 2025). An Accredited Statistician (AStat) with the Statistical Society of Australia, he served as its President from 2022 to 2024. Gordon emphasizes communicating statistical ideas effectively to promote health, well-being, and justice in society.

Professional Email: irg@unimelb.edu.au