Women in STEM
BEHIND THE NUMBERS From collecting stamps and organising dolls as a child, a fascination with order and patterns has led Edith Cowan University’s Professor Caroline Finch to rise to the top of the research world in sports injury prevention and recovery, using her mathematics knowledge to codify injuries into datasets that could be used by institutions around the country.
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tatistics is a type of mathematics concerned with analysing data to identify patterns in it and answering questions that can only be answered with objective evidence. Throughout my career, I have specialised in biostatistics and epidemiology, which is where statistics is applied to addressing health issues. The important role of epidemiology in monitoring health has been brought to the public’s attention recently through COVID-19 updates in the media and
State of our Innovation Nation: 2023 and Beyond
through government and health advisory bodies. But I have done my most important work in sports medicine and the prevention of sports injuries. Sometimes I am asked “Why did you become a statistician/mathematician?” To be honest, the question takes me a bit aback because I do not think I ever “became” a statistician/mathematician, rather I always was one – it's who I have always been. As a child and adolescent, I was very interested in the
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