2025 Recipient: Harold Henderson
Harold Henderson has made an enormous contribution to the application of statistical methods in New Zealand industries. Harold has been a statistician with the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries (MAF) and continuing with the formation of AgResearch. Harold started work with MAF in Wellington in 1974 before getting an NRAC Fellowship and going to Cornell for his doctoral studies with Shayle Searle, returning to MAF at Ruakura in 1979. Harold has collaborated in a wide range of projects including animal physiology and endocrinology, livestock production including dairy foods, molecular biology, pastures and crops, animal health, animal reproduction, animal behaviour, human health and nutrition, and environmental science. Much of this work has resulted in his 61 refereed papers, published between 1977 and 2024.
Harold has a wide-ranging set of interests including the use of matrix algebra in statistics, unbalanced data, generalised linear models, regression analysis, and curve fitting. In 1997 he received a Prince & Princess of Wales Science Award to visit Cornell to pursue interests in exploratory data analysis, statistics packages and the graphical display of data. He returned with a particular interest in dynamic graphics and adopted the early use of such software including the DataDesk package.
Harold has been a vital part of the Ruakura team over the years, being a highly valued and sought-after collaborator on research projects, a respected mentor to others in the team and particularly to new graduates starting work or on work experience. One of Harold’s strongest contributions to statistics in New Zealand has been through encouraging, mentoring and connecting statisticians. Harold has served on NZSA committees in various roles over a long period including president (1993-1995), newsletter co-editor (1989-1993), awards committee (2004-present), membership secretary (1989-2023), retiring from the exec committee in 2023 but still supporting the association informally such as with email communications. He was awarded Life Membership of the NZSA in 2013. He has also been heavily involved in organizing national and international conferences. These include the joint International Biometrics and NZSA conference at the University of Waikato in 1992 where there were 461 delegates representing 36 countries. In 2001 he was part of a team that organized the Australasian Biometrics and NZSA Joint Conference in Christchurch. At these and many other events he has been the unofficial photographer and has shared these photographs with the statistics community. Even though he began phased retirement in 2018, Harold continues to have regular contact with colleagues, continuing to do some unpaid work on research projects, giving advice and assistance to younger members of staff, and attending the Ruakura statisticians’ Tuesday morning teas.
The above citation is from Neil Cox and Ken Dodds.
The NZSA Jean Thompson Award recognizes excellence in the application of statistics in New Zealand industry, including business, Crown Research Institutes, government agencies and departments, media, etc. The award celebrates the insightful use of statistical thinking and practice in solving practical problems and creating value.
Next Round
- Next round opens: TBD
- Next round closes: TBD
Nominations should be sent to the Convenor of the NZSA Awards Committee, by email at vanessa.cave@auckland.ac.nz.
Award Details
CriteriaThis award celebrates statistical excellence by practitioners in New Zealand industry. It recognises outstanding levels of impact in the application of existing or new statistical methods to New Zealand industry, and the exemplification of good statistical practice. We look for candidates that have demonstrated statistical leadership in one or more of the following:
Candidates must be financial members of the Association. Previous recipients of the award are ineligible for nomination for a period of five years following their win. NominationsCandidates can self-nominate, be nominated by an individual, or a group of individuals. Nominators may be non-NZSA members. Nominations will be assessed by the NZSA Awards Committee. The nomination must provide evidence of sustained and/or significant positive impact to New Zealand industry through the application of statistical excellence. This could include, but is not limited to:
The nomination should include a citation of max 40 words that summarizes the application. |
Background
The Jean Thompson award was established in 2022 and is named after the inspirational New Zealand Statistician C. Jean Thompson. Jean worked as a consultant on topics including earthquakes, horticulture, microbiology and educational achievement, to name a few.
Jean has made an outstanding contribution to the New Zealand Statistical Association. She has held many roles, including President (1991-93), Secretary-Treasurer (1962-63) and Secretary (1987-88). She was also a founding member of the Education Committee, serving on the committee for many years. Jean was made a life member of the Association in 2006.
Jean has led the way for women in statistics in New Zealand. In 1993 she was awarded the New Zealand Suffrage Centennial Medal in recognition of her work encouraging young women to further their studies in mathematics and statistics. In 2017, she was selected as one of the Royal Society Te Apārangi’s “150 women in 150 words“, which celebrated the contributions of women to knowledge in New Zealand. Furthermore, she was instrumental in the publication of a book, Women with maths: making a difference, which tells the story of New Zealand women for whom a knowledge of statistics or mathematics had enabled an interesting career or lifestyle.
Jean spent 30 years working for the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research. She used New Zealand’s first scientific computer, an Elliot 503, enabling analyses that had not been practical before and a much wider use of experimental design methods. After 1992, when the Applied Mathematics Division of the DSIR was closed down, she established her own consulting company and continued to work applying a statistical approach to problem solving in general.
If you have any queries about making a nomination/application for this award please email the Convenor of the Awards Committee.
Recipients of the NZSA Jean Thompson Award are:
| Year | Recipients of the Jean Thompson Award | |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Harold Henderson | |
| 2024 | David Baird |  |
| 2023 | Neil Cox |  |
| 2022 | Ian Westbrooke |  |