Dr Peter Baker
Dr

Peter Baker

Email: 

Background

Dr Peter Baker is an Honorary Associate Professor at the Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation

From 2021-2023, Peter was an Honorary Senior Lecturer at the School of Public Health, University of Queensland. For twelve years until the end of 2020, he was a Senior Lecturer in Biostatistics at the School of Public Health and a senior statistical collaborator, advisor and consultant to several research projects in the Faculty of Medicine, School of Public Health.

With fourty years experience as a statistical consultant and researcher, Peter has a passion for biometrics in agricultural research and biostatistics applied to public health and medical research. He also champions reproducible research and reporting and to this end has developed R and Make software to aid the workflow of data analysts in any field. As a statistical consultant and collaborator, he has contributed to many agricultural, genetic, public health and medical research projects. His contribution has ranged from advice on standard statistical approaches to the application of novel methods to improve statistical analysis or the development of new statistical methodology to fill a gap in the knowledge.

Peter's current research interests:

  • efficient statistical computing using R, Make, Git and related software for the workflow of data analysis,
  • reproducible research and reporting using R, Markdown, Quarto and Sweave,
  • tailoring R functions and developing bespoke packages for specific statistical analyses, and
  • applied statistlcal research in novel methods for epidemiological and medial research, including
    • graphical models for multivariate data in epidemiology,
    • statistical methods for modelling trajectories of alcohol consumption in youths,
    • propensity score analysis to adjust for selection bias in observational studies, and
    • Bayesian methods for epidemiological and medical MCMC studies.

Dr Baker is an Accredited Statistician (ASTAT) with the Statistical Society of Australia (see SSAI_Accreditation)

Availability

Dr Peter Baker is:
Available for supervision

Fields of research

Agricultural, Veterinary and Food Sciences Biomedical and Clinical Sciences Biostatistics Crop and pasture production Health Sciences Mathematical Sciences Statistics

Qualifications

  • Bachelor (Honours) of Science (Advanced), University of Adelaide
  • Masters (Coursework), University of New South Wales
  • Doctor of Philosophy, Queensland University of Technology

Research impacts

Peter is a highly experienced statistical consultant and researcher who worked at CSIRO Mathematics, Informatics and Statistics for 20 years before joining the School of Population Health at the University of Queensland. Prior to this he was employed as a statistical consultant in enviironmental monitoring at the Electricity Commision of NSW, sports science at Cumberland College of Health Sciences, and agricultural research at NSW Agriculture. During his time at CSIRO, he worked in a range of areas including agricultural research, bioinformatics and quantitative genetics. Highlights: developed novel Bayesian methods for assessing marker dosage in sugarcane and other polyploids and applied false discovery rate methods to QTL analysis and microarrays.

In addition to collaborating with a range of applied scientists to advance scientific knowledge by employing standard and cutting-edge statistical methods, several projects have had practical significance to industry including timely alerts to graziers when drops in temperature are dangerous for lambing, improved soil moisture estimation for cotton production and enhancing quantitative methods for sugarcane breeding. Recent collaborative work has informed public policy on drink safe precincts and alcohol related problems, effectiveness of mosquito nets and the effect of sunscreen to prevent skin ageing.

When it can improve research outcomes, Peter is keen to apply new statistical methods to agricultural research, epidemiology, health and medical studies in order to extract the maximum information from study data. He is also an expert in, and advocate for, reproducible research and efficient statistical computing using the R statistical and graphics system.

R Clinics and Short Courses

  • Please contact Peter if you would like a workshop or Introductory to Advanced R Course tailored to your needs.

Student Projects

  • Developing or contributing to R packages for various aspects of the workflow of data analysis projects like data wrangling, cleaning, validation and reproducible reporting,
  • Statistical and Graphical Models for crop modelling, agricultural research, and epidemiological and medical studies.

Search Professor Peter Baker’s works on UQ eSpace

75 works between 1986 and 2024
All (75) Journal Article (59) Book Chapter (1) Conference Publication (14) Book (1)

41 - 60 of 75 works

2014

Journal Article

National spatial and temporal patterns of notified dengue cases, Colombia 2007-2010

Restrepo, Angela Cadavid, Baker, Peter and Clements, Archie C. A. (2014). National spatial and temporal patterns of notified dengue cases, Colombia 2007-2010. Tropical Medicine & International Health, 19 (7), 863-871. doi: 10.1111/tmi.12325

National spatial and temporal patterns of notified dengue cases, Colombia 2007-2010

2014

Journal Article

Item ordering of personal disturbance scale (DSSI/sAD) in a longitudinal study: using Mokken scale analysis

Saiepour, Nargess, Najman, Jake M., Clavarino, Alexandra, Baker, Peter J., Ware, Robert S. and Williams, Gail (2014). Item ordering of personal disturbance scale (DSSI/sAD) in a longitudinal study: using Mokken scale analysis. Personality and Individual Differences, 58, 37-42. doi: 10.1016/j.paid.2013.09.030

Item ordering of personal disturbance scale (DSSI/sAD) in a longitudinal study: using Mokken scale analysis

2014

Journal Article

An Australian national panel study of diurnal temperature range and children's respiratory health

Li, Shanshan, Baker, Peter J., Jalaludin,Bin B., Guo, Yuming, Marks, Guy, Denison, Lyn and Williams, Gail (2014). An Australian national panel study of diurnal temperature range and children's respiratory health. Annals of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology, 112 (4), 348-353 + e1-e8. doi: 10.1016/j.anai.2014.01.007

An Australian national panel study of diurnal temperature range and children's respiratory health

2014

Journal Article

The role of parental alcohol use, parental discipline and antisocial behaviour on adolescent drinking trajectories

Alati, R., Baker, P., Betts, K. S., Connor, J. P., Little, K., Sanson, A. and Olsson, C. A. (2014). The role of parental alcohol use, parental discipline and antisocial behaviour on adolescent drinking trajectories. Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 134 (1), 178-184. doi: 10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2013.09.030

The role of parental alcohol use, parental discipline and antisocial behaviour on adolescent drinking trajectories

2014

Conference Publication

Impact of misspecified random effect distributions on models for panel survey data

Marquart, Louise, Haynes, Michele and Baker, Peter (2014). Impact of misspecified random effect distributions on models for panel survey data. IWSM 2014: 29th International Workshop on Statistical Modelling, Gottingen, Germany, 14-18 July, 2014. Graz, Austria: Statistical Modelling Society.

Impact of misspecified random effect distributions on models for panel survey data

2013

Journal Article

Concurrent and simultaneous polydrug use: latent class analysis of an Australian nationally representative sample of young adults

Quek, Lake-Hui, Chan, Gary C. K., White, Angela, Connor, Jason P., Baker, Peter J., Saunders, John B. and Kelly, Adrian B. (2013). Concurrent and simultaneous polydrug use: latent class analysis of an Australian nationally representative sample of young adults. Frontiers in Public Health, 1 (61) 61, 1-9. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2013.00061

Concurrent and simultaneous polydrug use: latent class analysis of an Australian nationally representative sample of young adults

2013

Journal Article

Mental health issues decrease diabetes-specific quality of life independent of glycaemic control and complications: findings from Australia's Living With Diabetes cohort study

Donald, Maria, Dower, Jo, Coll, Joseph R., Baker, Peter, Mukandi, Bryan and Doi, Suhail A. R. (2013). Mental health issues decrease diabetes-specific quality of life independent of glycaemic control and complications: findings from Australia's Living With Diabetes cohort study. Health and Quality of Life Outcomes, 11 (170) 170, 1-8. doi: 10.1186/1477-7525-11-170

Mental health issues decrease diabetes-specific quality of life independent of glycaemic control and complications: findings from Australia's Living With Diabetes cohort study

2013

Journal Article

Sunscreen and Prevention of Skin Aging A Randomized Trial

Hughes, Maria Celia B., Williams, Gail M., Baker, Peter and Green, Adele C. (2013). Sunscreen and Prevention of Skin Aging A Randomized Trial. Annals of Internal Medicine, 158 (11), 781-790. doi: 10.7326/0003-4819-158-11-201306040-00002

Sunscreen and Prevention of Skin Aging A Randomized Trial

2013

Journal Article

The topography of multiple drug use among adolescent Australians: findings from the National Drug Strategy Household Survey

White, Angela, Chan, Gary C. K., Quek, Lake-Hui, Connor, Jason P., Saunders, John B., Baker, Peter, Brackenridge, Charlotte and Kelly, Adrian B. (2013). The topography of multiple drug use among adolescent Australians: findings from the National Drug Strategy Household Survey. Addictive Behaviors, 38 (4), 2068-2073. doi: 10.1016/j.addbeh.2013.01.001

The topography of multiple drug use among adolescent Australians: findings from the National Drug Strategy Household Survey

2013

Conference Publication

Ambient temperature and lung function in children with asthma in Australia

Li, Shanshan, Baker, Peter J., Jalaludin, Bin B., Marks, Guy B., Denison, Lyn S. and Williams, Gail M. (2013). Ambient temperature and lung function in children with asthma in Australia. Lausanne, Switzerland: European Respiratory Society. doi: 10.1183/09031936.00079313

Ambient temperature and lung function in children with asthma in Australia

2013

Journal Article

Respiratory virus detection in nasopharyngeal aspirate versus bronchoalveolar lavage is dependent on virus type in children with chronic respiratory symptoms

Wurzel D.F., Marchant J.M., Clark J.E., Mackay I.M., Wang C.Y.T., Sloots T.P., Upham J.W., Yerkovich S.T., Masters I.B., Baker P.J., Anderson-James S. and Chang A.B. (2013). Respiratory virus detection in nasopharyngeal aspirate versus bronchoalveolar lavage is dependent on virus type in children with chronic respiratory symptoms. Journal of Clinical Virology, 58 (4), 683-688. doi: 10.1016/j.jcv.2013.09.016

Respiratory virus detection in nasopharyngeal aspirate versus bronchoalveolar lavage is dependent on virus type in children with chronic respiratory symptoms

2013

Conference Publication

Nasopharyngeal Aspirate (npa): is the Ideal viral sampling method in children with chronic respiratory symptoms

Wurzel, D. F., Marchant, J., Mackay, I. M., Wang, C. Y., Sloots, T. P., Upham, J. W., Yerkovich, S., Anderson-James, S., Baker, P. and Chang, A. B. (2013). Nasopharyngeal Aspirate (npa): is the Ideal viral sampling method in children with chronic respiratory symptoms. ATS 2013 International Conference, Philadelphia, PA, United States, 17-22 May 2013. New York, NY, United States: American Thoracic Society.

Nasopharyngeal Aspirate (npa): is the Ideal viral sampling method in children with chronic respiratory symptoms

2012

Journal Article

Panel studies of air pollution on children's lung function and respiratory symptoms: a literature review

Li, Shanshan, Williams, Gail, Jalaludin, Bin and Baker, Peter (2012). Panel studies of air pollution on children's lung function and respiratory symptoms: a literature review. Journal of Asthma, 49 (9), 895-910. doi: 10.3109/02770903.2012.724129

Panel studies of air pollution on children's lung function and respiratory symptoms: a literature review

2012

Journal Article

Effect of aquatic exercise training on fatigue and health-related quality of life in patients with multiple sclerosis

Kargarfard, Mehdi, Etemadifar, Masoud, Baker, Peter, Mehrabi, Maryam and Hayatbakhsh, Reza (2012). Effect of aquatic exercise training on fatigue and health-related quality of life in patients with multiple sclerosis. Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, 93 (10), 1701-1708. doi: 10.1016/j.apmr.2012.05.006

Effect of aquatic exercise training on fatigue and health-related quality of life in patients with multiple sclerosis

2012

Journal Article

Assessing risk of bias in prevalence studies: modification of an existing tool and evidence of interrater agreement

Hoy, Damian, Brooks, Peter, Woolf, Anthony, Blyth, Fiona, March, Lyn, Bain, Chris, Baker, Peter, Smith, Emma and Buchbinder, Rachelle (2012). Assessing risk of bias in prevalence studies: modification of an existing tool and evidence of interrater agreement. Journal of Clinical Epidemiology, 65 (9), 934-939. doi: 10.1016/j.jclinepi.2011.11.014

Assessing risk of bias in prevalence studies: modification of an existing tool and evidence of interrater agreement

2012

Journal Article

Analysing seasonal data

Barnett, Adrian G., Baker, Peter and Dobson, Annette J. (2012). Analysing seasonal data. The R Journal, 4 (1), 5-10.

Analysing seasonal data

2012

Conference Publication

Adherence to venous thromboembolism (vte) prophylaxis guidelines in two Queensland hospitals

Phillips, N., Heazlewood, V., Bazdar, S., Premaratne, G., Houston, A., Reilly, A., Baker, P. and Waugh, J. (2012). Adherence to venous thromboembolism (vte) prophylaxis guidelines in two Queensland hospitals. RACP Future Directions in Health Congress, Brisbane, QLD, Australia, 6-9 May 2012. Richmond, VIC, Australia: Wiley-Blackwell. doi: 10.1111/j.1445-5994.2012.02780.x

Adherence to venous thromboembolism (vte) prophylaxis guidelines in two Queensland hospitals

2012

Conference Publication

An unusual infection in an immunocompromised host

Phillips, N., Heazlewood, V., Bazdar, S., Premaratne, G., Houston, A., Reilly, A., Baker, P. and Waugh, J. (2012). An unusual infection in an immunocompromised host. RACP Future Directions in Health Congress 2012, Brisbane, QLD, Australia, 6-9 May 2012. Richmond, VIC, Australia: Wiley-Blackwell Publishing Asia. doi: 10.1111/j.1445-5994.2012.02780.x

An unusual infection in an immunocompromised host

2011

Book

Living with Diabetes Study: Preliminary Findings

Donald, Maria, Dower, Jo, Parekh, Sanjoti, Mukandi, Bryan, Rixon, Kylie and Baker, Peter (2011). Living with Diabetes Study: Preliminary Findings.

Living with Diabetes Study: Preliminary Findings

2010

Conference Publication

Diagnosis of Hypogonadism in Obese Males: More Complex Than We Thought?

Ong, C. R., Franklin, M. E., Taylor, P. J., Galligan, J. P., Baker, P. J., Phillips, L. K., Liu, P. Y., O'Moore-Sullivan, T. M. and Prins, J. B. (2010). Diagnosis of Hypogonadism in Obese Males: More Complex Than We Thought?. 92nd Meeting and Expo of the Endocrine Society (ENDO 2010), San Diego, CA United States, 19-22 June 2010. Chevy Chase, MD United States: The Endocrine Society.

Diagnosis of Hypogonadism in Obese Males: More Complex Than We Thought?

Past funding

  • 2017 - 2022
    A Pragmatic Randomised Clinical Trial of Nicotine Vaporisers added to Smoking Cessation Treatment for Priority Populations Living with Comorbidities
    NHMRC Project Grant
    Open grant
  • 2015 - 2018
    A harm reduction trial using novel nicotine replacement products among smokers who are living with HIV in Australia
    HIVFQ HIV Research Grants
    Open grant
  • 2013 - 2015
    Very young adolescents and substance use: Community and family vulnerabilities and healthy developmental transitions.
    ARC Discovery Projects
    Open grant
  • 2009 - 2010
    Advanced graphical modelling for causal inference in epidemiology
    UQ New Staff Research Start-Up Fund
    Open grant

Availability

Dr Peter Baker is:
Available for supervision

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Supervision history

Current supervision

Completed supervision

Enquiries

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