Belinda Warren
Australian Bureau of Statistics, Brisbane
Bachelor of Science (Public Health) and Bachelor of Science (Honours) graduate
As a member of the Health and Vitals Team in the Australian Bureau of Statistics' Social and Demographic Branch, Bachelor of Science (Public Health) and Bachelor of Science (Honours) graduate Belinda Warren is responsible for collecting and processing data used in government decision-making and academic research.
First employed by the Canberra office of the ABS, Belinda was selected as one of six people from about 300 initial applicants to join the Social and Demographic Branch in Brisbane.
Her main duties include working with data in the Private Health Establishments Collection, Marriages Collection data-which is used by government and researchers as a social indicator-and with Births Collection data, which is combined with other statistics and used for estimating the resident population, allocation of seats in the House of Representatives, and GST funding distribution. Belinda is also completing a research project about the implications of publishing data in changing environments.
Belinda says her USC studies taught her valuable techniques to use data to make realistic and informed decisions.
"The breadth of knowledge from the range of different topics throughout my degree have really helped me to be aware of how and why people collect the data that they require," she says.
"I have always enjoyed statistics, especially social data and epidemiology, and my background is in public health, so to be in the Social and Demographic Branch is right up my alley!"