Hello! I’m Shaun Nielsen.

I have a diverse professional background encompassing Biostatistics, Data Integration and Engineering, Web Development, and System Administration. My career spans roles as a Biostatistician and Data Analyst at NSW Health, a Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of NSW and as a Freelancer in Information Technology.

I have conducted ecological research and worked in public health, leveraging my analytical and technical skills to provide robust data assets that drive insights, inform decision-making and add to our body of knowledge. Additionally, I bridge technical expertise with creative problem-solving by engaging in website development projects.

What I do

  • Data Science
    • Data integration and engineering
    • Understanding and application of Information Technology
    • DevOps and project management
  • Applied Biostatistics
    • Experimental design and hypothesis testing
    • Generalised linear models
    • Statistical learning
  • R statistical computing and RStudio
    • Data pipelines
    • R Markdown, Flexdashboard, Shiny
    • Package development
  • Frontend web development
    • HTML5, CCS3, JavaScript
    • WordPress
    • Data visualisation - D3, plotly, leaflet, chartjs
  • Linux servers
    • Self-hosting: this website!
    • Bioinformatics
  • SAS and SAS Enterprise Guide
    • Data pipelines

Where I’ve worked

  • Consultant, World Health Organisation 2025 - current
  • Freelance 2023 - current
    • University of Sydney
    • University of NSW
    • Sydney Children’s Hospital
    • HealthStats NSW
    • Health Protection NSW, Arbovirus disease surveillance
    • Iberian Congress of Biological Systematics CISA 2023 website
  • NSW Health, Australia 2019 - 2022
    • Public Health Response Branch
    • Centre for Epidemiology and Evidence
    • NSW Health Biostatistics Training Program
  • Lancaster University, UK 2018 - 2019
    • The Lancaster Environmental Centre
  • University of NSW, Australia 2013 - 2017
    • Centre for Marine Bio-innovation

My education

  • Master of Biostatistics
    • University of Sydney
    • 2018 - 2022
  • NSW Health Biostatistics Training Program
    • NSW Health
    • 2018 - 2021
  • Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Biological Science
    • University of NSW
    • 2008 - 2013
  • Bachelor of Science (Marine Science)
    • University of NSW
    • 2003 - 2007

Some projects

  • Predictive modelling for escalation in therapy of children with IBD

Used statistical learning techniques to predict escalation in therapy from blood, stool and demographic biomarkers/predictors for children with IBD in collaboration with researchers and clinicians from The Sydney Children’s hospital. See the working prediction model as a shiny app here.

  • Data standardisation and normalisation from Arbovirus field records

Standardised data from mosquito trapping and chicken antibody data across sites and sampling dates in NSW from historical records and for future data for efficient reporting for NSW Arbovirus and Mosquito Monitoring Surveillance Program. The data is used in PowerBI reports here.

  • Data pipeline formalisation for spatial smoothing of health indicators

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  • Biostatistics of results from refractive eye surgery

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  • Web app construction for personalized climate projections and politician behaviour

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