The Department of Mathematics, Statistics and Actuarial Sciences hosted a workshop in Spatial Data Modelling in partnership with VLIR-OUS Team Project Kenya as from 16th to 20th September, 2019. This was a fully funded workshop organized under VLIR-OUS Team Project 2016: Capacity Building Network in Biostatistics for Public Health Innovation in Kenya.
The five day intensive workshop attracted 55 participants from 13 Kenyan Universities, 1 from Tanzania and 3 Kenyan Industries.
The workshop equipped participants with knowledge of theoretical and practical approaches for analyzing spatially aggregated data. Specifically, the training focused on model based Geo-statistics approaches for point-references Gaussian data; modelling areal/regionally referenced data (Spatial error; Spatial lag; Spatial Durbin models); and Bayesian Hierarchical spatial data analysis using WinBUGS.
By the end of the workshop, participants had acquired competence in using QGIS, GeoDa, winBugs and R softwares.
Five of the participants in the workshop are full-time staff in the Department of Mathematics, Statistics and Actuarial Sciences and plans are underway to organize an internal training to disseminate the knowledge and skills acquired to faculty members and any other interested parties.