Introduction

My working philosophy is to keep a balance between my work and home life.  I aim to excel in everything I do that is connected with my job, including teaching, research, administration and community outreach.

Since my field of statistics spans many areas it is important to keep up with the latest research and pass these outcomes on to the students as part of their learning.  It also helps to keep my subjects fresh and interesting and provides ideas for my own research.

Focus

My research and teaching focuses on the field of information and decision analysis, applied business techniques as well as quantitative research methods.  In particular I am interested in the practical application of statistics and passionate about the different aspects of this area.  I have an outstanding record of scholarship and publication as a research leader in my areas of specialty, statistics and quantitative management, producing quality work with international recognition, and a distinguished record as an outstanding teacher in the discipline.

Since 2004 I have held the position of Professor of Management at MGSM and since 2005 the position of Visiting Professor in the Faculty of Economics at Birkbeck College, University of London and have recently been appointed as a distinguished Visiting Professor at Divine Word University in PNG until 2014.

Research

My research record includes a major contribution to the discipline of the application of quantitative methods to business and management through refereed journal articles, refereed conference papers and books, as well as strategic research grants with industry bodies and significant consultancies.  A full list of my publications, grants and consultancies is listed below and includes 14 books and well over 100 refereed journal articles and conference proceedings.  I have also made a major contribution to enhancing the ‘public face’ of the discipline through over 1000 newspaper and magazine articles, recognised in 2004 when I was awarded the inaugural Distinguished Alumni Award from Macquarie University for “outstanding contributions to my profession”.

Of special research significance was my collaboration in a project with Drs Jonathon Curtis and Raymond Cook investigating the effectiveness of thalidomide versus chemotherapy in the treatment of recurrent brain tumours.  The resulting paper, “Thalidomide in high grade glioma”, won the annual Peter Leech prize for the best paper presented at the Australian Conference of Neurosurgeons held in October 2000.

My standing in and contribution to the discipline were similarly honoured in election as a Fellow of the Australian Mathematics Society (FAustMS) and the Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (FRSA) in the UK and as a Member of the Australian Academy of Forensic Sciences.  I am also on the Editorial Board of four international journals as listed in my CV.

Another example of my standing is my appointment in 2007 as one of a handful of ‘moderators’ in Macquarie University’s RQF trial with the University of Newcastle, in which research active faculty were rated by external assessors on their research.  I was the final arbiter at both universities for all faculty in accounting, finance, economics and actuarial studies.

Teaching

At MGSM my teaching has been in the area of information and decision analysis in the MBA program and quantitative research techniques in the DBA program.  I have been responsible for classes in Sydney, Hong Kong and Singapore, as well as in executive education programs.  I have contributed in this discipline area for over 10 years, first as an Adjunct and then as a permanent professor at MGSM (from January 2004).  I have also contributed to the scholarship of teaching in the discipline through refereed journal articles, invited contributions on pedagogy and other key teaching and learning issues as well as research grants, as listed in my CV.  In recognition of my contributions as teacher, I have won every major teaching award at Macquarie University, along with two national and one state award.

I also received the inaugural prestigious Community Outreach Award in 2001, for “the extraordinarily effective way in which John has brought his ideas to the community and his exceptional ability to communicate them”.

All of my teaching at MGSM, where I have lectured since 1998, is postgraduate, the students being extremely challenging and discerning.  My SETS scores are easily the highest ever obtained in all my subject areas of statistics and quantitative methods and several times obtained a first ‘perfect’ score of 5.00, the first ever in this Discipline in the history of MGSM.

Leadership and Innovation

Leadership

I have served in a number of key leadership roles, in both the academic and external environments.  One prime example is my period of service, over two terms, as Head of the Department of Statistics in the Division of Economic and Financial Studies at Macquarie University.  At the time this was the largest Statistics Department in Australia with around 25 full-time faculty and numerous part-time lecturers, with a multi-million budget to control. In terms of academic staffing and budget it was larger than MGSM.

My periods as Head displayed a strong financial management and innovative practice.  The Department was in a precarious financial state when I assumed this leadership role.  It was deeply in debt and could not sustain the current number of staff and maintain viability.  I undertook the delicate task of downsizing and ‘trading out’ of difficulty through program overhaul, demonstrating skill and experience in financial management, change management as well as staff management.

At MGSM I was elected Discipline Convenor, of the Operations and Technology Management Discipline and also elected as the inaugural Associate Dean of Teaching and Learning.  In the latter role I was able to initiate a mentoring system for junior staff and the Dean’s Teaching Reward scheme, based on the SETS questionnaire results.  I served in both these roles for three years.

A key external role was as elected Chair of the Responsible Gaming Committee of NSW.  In this position I brought together the then divided factions involved in the gaming industry and achieved an outstanding success by the parties developing a much better understanding of each others position.  This resulted in further collaboration of those involved and they are now working together as a team to deal with what is a serious social problem.  A report from Rowan Cameron, Gambling Counsellor/Psychotherapist and Manager of the Australian Hotels Association’s program of Harm Minimisation and Treatment Services for Problem Gamblers, stated:

“There was unanimous support for Professor John Croucher to take the position of Chair for this volatile gathering since he was widely liked and respected for his unbiased position and his ability to challenge the thinking of those on all sides.  It was this committee, under John’s insightful and creative leadership, that started us all on the path to working together.”

My commitment to and record of ethical leadership within the university are evidenced, for example, in my integral role in the development of the lengthy Report on Equal Opportunity on behalf of the Totalisator Agency Board (TAB) of NSW; being an invited member of the Vice-Chancellor’s group to be interviewed by St James Ethics Centre in February 2008 on ethical behaviour at Macquarie University; and numerous interviews in the media on fraud, plagiarism and issues of academic dishonesty.

Innovation

One of my particular strengths is the way in which I have devised new academic programs at both Macquarie University and internationally.  For 25 years I had charge of the Operations Management program in the Division of Economic and Financial Studies at Macquarie University, as well as two terms of Head of the Department of Statistics, where I supervised and developed the program into easily the largest of its kind in the country.  As part of the process I developed a major area of study in Operations Management where students could obtain a commerce degree, at the same time constructing an elective stream in the Operations Management option of the Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) program.  I also oversaw the introduction of units in both Logistics and Project Management into the teaching program to provide more versatility.  This proved an enormous success that has seen the numbers grow in these units by a factor of ten, now having one of the largest enrolments of any unit at the university.

Another example of innovative practice was my joint development, and convening for 10 years, of the continuing education program in Medical Statistics, the only such program in NSW, despite Macquarie’s then lack of a medical school.  Aimed at medical and health science professionals interested in improving their research techniques and knowledge in the area, the course attracted hundreds of participants and soon netted in excess of $100,000 profit to the department’s funds, along with significantly raising its profile as a provider of ongoing high quality professional education.

An example of innovation in the teaching domain was the development of the unit Gambling, Sport and Medicine in statistics supported by one of the largest ever Flagship Grants of $45,000 at Macquarie University. Based on a commitment to flexible learning approaches, this involved setting up part of the unit as a Web-based learning tool to enhance the way in which the material could be taught.  The university showcased my initiatives in their publicity videos and DVDs.

In 2007 I initiated a significant community outreach project in Papua New Guinea, involving the developing Divine Word University located across five campuses.  I continue to have an active role on a pro bono basis, with the approval of Macquarie, including spending a week at DWU in PNG at the invitation of the Vice-Chancellor and President, Jan Czuba, where I attended meetings and presented several public seminars including one to the local Chamber of Commerce.

I have been involved in designing the syllabus and timetable for the entire new MBA program, which commenced in March 2009, as well as setting up mentoring of DWU faculty with a view to their being self-sufficient to teach their MBA program by 2011.  Principal objects of the innovative program are to assist locals to run their own MBA program in future years, increase awareness of MGSM internationally, and raising cash donations and much needed books for the local students and community.

Experience in Management Education

My academic experience is extensive, as indicated both under the first two criteria and set out fully in my CV.  My teaching career spans several countries over a period of twenty-five years.  I have lectured thousands of students, from undergraduates to executives in management training programs and have received numerous awards as an outstanding teacher both at home and internationally.

I have also had considerable supervisory experience at the postgraduate level where I have overseen the theses of a number of Master’s and Doctoral degree candidates in the area of forecasting and quantitative techniques.  I have also been an external examiner for several PhD theses and currently supervise several DBA students at MGSM, along with having supervised hundreds of management research projects at the postgraduate level.

In addition to eleven years experience lecturing MBA and DBA students at MGSM, I have broad experience in executive training in a variety of situations. I have conducted many specialised in-house courses for organisations across Australia and internationally.  For example, for four years I presented a course in data analysis to specialists at the Royal College of Anaesthetists at RPA Hospital in Sydney; and tailor-made courses in medical statistics to some of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the country, including Sandoz, Merck, Sharp and Dohme and Lever and Kitchen.  I was engaged by the ACT Health Commission to conduct a two day training session to their executive staff in medical statistics and the interpretation of data.  Several medical specialist organisations have also engaged me to present executive courses to their members, including one for neurosurgeons at Westmead Hospital, ultrasound specialists at both the Royal North Shore Hospital in Sydney and Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Adelaide.

The management consultant firm of IP Sharpe invited me to design a management training course for executives in Operations Management techniques for application to business; and the Australian Institute of Export engaged me for five years to design and lecture a course in business statistics to their export managers, involving around 400 participants overall.  And for the Royal Australian Navy I designed a course in the application of strategic operations research techniques as a compulsory training unit for their officers who were to be in command of vessels.  I conducted this on HMAS Penguin and later became an examiner for their program.

I have a particular interest not only in providing quality teaching but research into world’s best practice.  My work in the area of educational research has been extensively published in international journals, including Teaching Statistics, International Journal of Mathematics Education and Technology, Directions in Education, Curriculum and Teaching, Higher Education Research and Development and Educational Practice and Theory. My publications have appeared in internationally refereed journals, one particular project examining the differences in student attitude between various cultures in their attitude toward cheating attracting much discussion.

More recently, I have published articles as to how examination rules could be altered to help eradicate fraudulent educational practices.  I have also been instrumental in the course development of large enrolment units and putting into place learning quality assurance systems that will ensure students are obtaining the full benefit from their education.  And in 2003 I was invited to present a series of lectures in the best teaching practice to staff and postgraduate students at Birkbeck College at the University of London.  These lectures formed a valuable part of their quality assurance procedures.

I have played a key role in the design and presentation of courses in operations management and statistics to business students at Shanghai University in China, and, more recently in a significant outreach project in designing management education programs in Papua New Guinea, in conjunction with DWU (see above).

Business Experience

For many years I have had an extensive relationship with the corporate world, acting as a consultant to some of Australia’s largest organisations and playing a leading role in providing expert advice.  Some of these roles have been outlined in previous sections of this document.  These areas include business, statistics, education, market research and general management.  My consulting experience is far-reaching and I have developed a network of businesses with which I have had close liaisons over many years.

As the Director and Financial Controller of education and business consulting companies for fifteen years, I have had the opportunity to establish many business skills in the area of marketing, public relations, budgeting and liaising with senior management.  One of my responsibilities was to maintain an appropriate cash flow while investing in the organisation to allow for growth.  The success of these companies is reflected in their combined turnover of well over one million dollars.

Examples include leading a significant project for the Australian Taxation Office that led to changes in the tax rules governing clubs, development of customer service models for the Electricity Commission of NSW and the Road Traffic Authority along with many pharmaceutical companies.  The NSW Department of Gaming and Racing engaged me as a consultant to produce three brochures on the statistics of gambling.  These became mandatory by legislation to be prominently displayed at every gambling outlet in the state.  In all, over four million brochures were produced involving twelve languages.  They are still widely available.  My CV includes a list of the key organisations for which I have acted as a consultant.

As a result of my business connections I have personally been able to arrange significant prizes and donations from a number of organisations to Macquarie University.  Recent examples include the Georges Electronics Prize, the TAB of NSW Prize and the Pearson Prize at MGSM.  I have also set up partnerships with the international software company Minitab.

My experience in the business environment as well as my broad academic interests and high profile, has also included considerable media engagement.  Since the beginning of 2001 I have been a regular columnist in the Sydney Morning Herald and Melbourne Age newspapers by means of writing the Number Crunch column that appears in Australia’s most popular lift-out magazine The Good Weekend.  Media Monitor figures put the weekly readership of this statistical column at around 1.7 million and with each column the name of Macquarie University is prominently featured.

This in turn has led to numerous enquiries from around the country regarding my work at Macquarie and has led to several consulting jobs.  I expect that in raising the profile of the university in this way that we would attract more quality students for our postgraduate programs.

From 2005-2008 I wrote a weekly column Statistically Speaking for the UK Mail on Sunday that had a readership of six million, leading to a regular guest spot on BBC Radio Scotland every Saturday morning.

I appear regularly in the media, including interviews on many radio stations in both Australia and overseas along with a number of appearances on six Australian television channels.  Many newspapers and magazines have also carried multiple feature articles on the nature and results of my research and role at the university.

I have an extensive media portfolio that includes eight years as a television presenter with over 300 appearances, fifteen years as a newspaper columnist and over 100 interviews on radio stations around the world.  This includes interviews on many radio stations in both Australia and internationally.  The range of my media activities is too extensive to list here, but a good indication can be gained by considering a sample of the media interviews on my work.  This does not include over twenty interviews that I have done with radio stations in the USA. Furthermore, radio stations have interviewed me on over 100 occasions across Australia as well as the USA and South Africa.

My ongoing motor is my interest in and fascination of exploring and learning new things.  The passion for investigating areas caused my first Ph.D. in Statistics in 1973 and also my second Ph.D. in Modern History in 2002.  The topic of the later was the life of Janet Taylor, one of the most extraordinary and least lauded scientists of the nineteenth century. I found out about her through my family tree, as she was my great-great-great-great-aunt.  Her life as a gifted mathematician, astronomer, author and instrument maker has never been told before and builds the cornerstone of my work.  In 2004 I gave a lecture at the National Maritime Museum in London titled ‘The remarkable Janet Taylor: first lady of navigation’.  Pan Macmillan has bought the rights to a book of the same name.

The fascination of new and various fields keeps me following my teaching, through which I can contribute to education, which I belief is one of the highest goods in society.  The value of my research and teaching is the chance to meet new students, as well as the possibility to communicate and to contribute my results and my knowledge to others.

Contribution to Academic Knowledge

My research contributes to the discipline of the application of quantitative methods to business and management.  My work aims to help entrepreneurs, managers and employers to understand the complex structure of the practical application of mathematics and statistics to the real world.  My knowledge and practical experience in various fields of application, as well as my commitment with the subject enables me to provide qualitative discussion and reference to practise.

Relevance

My work aims to help managers to better understand and interpret what they in areas such as in media or in other’s research, and provides them with a new tool and techniques that enables them to solve business problems.

Plans

I would like to continue my teaching and research in my field of information and decision analysis, applied business techniques as well as quantitative research methods.  Furthermore, I would like to follow my work as board member at international journals.

I have recently been invited to a conference in Las Vegas and will be a committee member at the awards ceremony of the Western Suburbs Award for Higher Mathematics.

Together with my colleague Associate Professor Julian Leslie and Fast Impressions, I currently researching on how to better match couples who go speed dating.  The partner, the multi-national Fast Impressions, is keen to use statistics to help resolve this very important social issue – what attracts men and women to each other.  The research grant for this projects has recently been approved.