DataFest@MQ 2025

Class of DataFest 2025 @ Macquarie University

Event Summary

Faculty of Science and Engineering and School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences hosted the ASA (American Statistical Association) DataFest at Macquarie University during 22nd to 24th April 2025. 150 undergraduate students (up from 86 in 2025) across the university participated in this year’s DataFest. In total 38 teams (up from 18 in 2024) were formed and they competed head-to-head for prizes.

The key innovation in this year’s event is our use of the University’s Learning Management System (LMS) to streamline communication, distribute materials, manage groups, and handle submissions. We also employed web scraping techniques with rvest to facilitate group creation on the LMS.

Helper

From left to right: Head of School Prof Samuel Muller, Master of Data Science students: Anvitha Peddada, Parinya Sodsai, Lubaba Reza. Hoang Nhu Duong was unable to attend the ceremony.

We sincerely thank Anvitha Peddada, Parinya Sodsai, Lubaba Reza, and Hoang Nhu Duong for their support during DataFest 2024.

Judging Panel

The judging panel was consisted of:

  • Prof Linda Beaumont, FSE Deputy Dean Education and Employability
  • Prof David Coutts, Head, School of Mathematical & Physical Sciences
  • A/Prof Petra Graham, FSE Associate Dean Curriculum and Learning (Science)
  • Dr Joshua Ching, Associate Director @ Johnson & Johnson Innovative Medicine, Asia Pacific.

Winners

Winners’ Medals and Trophies

In 2025, we awarded prizes on 4 categories:

  • Judges Choice Award
  • Awards for the Best Visualisation
  • Awards for the Best Insight
  • Awards for the Best Use of External Data

Judges Choice Award πŸ†

From left to right: Head of School Prof Samuel Muller; Judges Choice Award Winners: Denver Sutandya, Hannah Guo, Jonathan Chang, Radhika Valanju & Angus Stewart.
  • Denver Sutandya
  • Hannah Guo
  • Jonathan Chang
  • Radhika Valanju
  • Angus Stewart

Awards for the Best Visualisation πŸ“Š

From left to right: Winners for the Awards for the Best Visualisation: Brian Zhao, Benjamin Woo, Amogh Gowda, Maksim Gusavac & Dhariya Bheda; FSE Associate Dean, Research Training and Performance Prof Tracy Rushmer.
  • Brian Zhao
  • Amogh Gowda
  • Maksim Gusavac
  • Benjamin Woo
  • Dhariya Bheda

Awards for the Best Insight πŸ’‘πŸ’¬

From left to right: Winners for the Awards for the Best Insight: Nguyen Ha Phuong, Van Canh Yen Vy, Pham Hoang Ha & Diya Maharjan; Associate Director @ Johnson & Johnson Innovative Medicine, Asia Pacific Dr Joshua Ching. Phi Thi Bao Ngoc was unable to attend the ceremony.
  • Diya Maharjan
  • Pham Hoang Ha
  • Van Canh Yen Vy
  • Nguyen Ha Phuong
  • Phi Thi Bao Ngoc

Awards for the Best Use of External Data πŸ‘©β€πŸ’»πŸ§‘β€πŸ’»

From left to right: Winners for the Awards for the Best use of External Data: Denver Sutandya, Jonathan Chang, Hannah Guo Angus Stewart & Radhika Valanju; FSE Deputy Dean Education and Employability Prof Linda Beaumont.
  • Denver Sutandya
  • Hannah Guo
  • Jonathan Chang
  • Radhika Valanju
  • Angus Stewart