Distinguished Professor Noel Cressie at the University of Wollongong (UOW) in Australia has been awarded the Hannan Medal from the Australian Academy of Science. Noel Cressie is Director of UOW’s Centre for Environmental Informatics in the National Institute for Applied Statistics Research Australia (NIASRA) and Distinguished Professor in the School of Mathematics and Applied Statistics at UOW.

The Hannan Medal, which recognises outstanding research in mathematics including statistical science, is named for the late Professor E.J. (Ted) Hannan.

Professor Cressie is a world leader in the analysis of spatial and spatio-temporal data and a leading authority on statistical methods in environmental science, especially for large-scale phenomena such as oceanic and atmospheric processes and climate. He has developed powerful Bayesian statistical methodology that integrates physical principles with stochastic models to capture uncertainties in scientific inference from large and complex datasets. His research has been instrumental in scientific applications that include global CO2 flux, regional climate, sea surface temperature, air pollution, disease mapping, ocean bio-geochemical cycles, soil carbon dynamics, glacier movement, and river pollution. Cressie’s recent work on uncertainty in climate-model downscaling investigates causal links between ecology and climate, and hence it has impact in evidence-based policy making.

See https://www.science.org.au/supporting-science/awards-and-opportunities-2/honorific-awardees/2025-awardees#hannan for a video of Cressie talking about his work.