Project Description
Dr Chris Brown
Australian Rivers Institute, Griffith University
Chris is a research fellow at Griffith University’s Australian Rivers Institute. He works on the conservation of marine ecosystems and sustainable management of fisheries. His work brings ecological complexity to the planning tools used to inform decision making (http://www.seascapemodels.org/Research/). His research applies both mathematical models and statistical analysis, using primarily the R programming language (https://cran.r-project.org/). He enjoys teaching R and his teaching resources are free and open-access (http://www.seascapemodels.org/Rstats/).
Visualisations are a crucial aid for interpreting your data and also for communicating your research, yet too little attention is paid to teaching the skills required to create great visuals. A great visual will enhance the impact of your research, by helping other scientists, policy makers and the public understand remember and ultimately re-communicate your research. Creating great visuals requires specialised tools that bridge data analysis and creative design. The R programming language is fast becoming the most powerful and flexible package for data analysis and visualisation. R’s flexibility also means it can be used to create almost any design you can dream up. This talk will cover some of the basics of visualisations, starting with the psychology of communication, then covering how visuals can help market your research, and finally how R can be used to realise your creativity.