Dr Johan Ferreira

Tel: 012 420 2362

Email: [email protected]

Position:  Senior Lecturer

Junior Focus Area Coordinator: Statistical Theory and Applied Statistics (see link), Centre of Excellence in Mathematical and Statistical Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand

Academic qualifications: MSc, PhD Mathematical Statistics (UP), LRSM (oboe performance)

Research interests:  statistical distribution theory, matrix variate distributions, wireless communications systems, statistical inference, entropy, Bayesian inference, some ecological modeling (wind speed, animal movement), modeling in material science, autoregressive processes

Subjects lectured: 

2021: WST 311 (Multivariate Analysis), WST 321 & STK 320 (Time Series Analysis), MVA 720 (Multivariate Analysis)

2020: WST 311 (Multivariate Analysis), WST 321 (Time Series Analysis), STK 320 (Statistics), MVA 720 (Multivariate Analysis)

Before 2020: WST 321 (Time Series Analysis), STK 320 (Statistics), WST 211 & WST 221 (Mathematical statistics), SFT 720 (Sampling Techniques), MVA 720 (Multivariate Analysis)

Current postgraduate students: Arno Otto, Nompumelelo Nkabinde, Paul Louw, Gopika Ramkilawon, Delene van Wyk, Ané Neethling

I supervise a number of students at the honours level for both BSc- and BCom honours degrees.

Graduated postgraduate students (masters): Michaela Laidlaw, Christine van Zyl, Jarod Smith, Tichawona Mutoro, Brett Rowland, Seite Makgai.

Accolades:

Mail and Guardian Top 200 Young South Africans under the age of 35 in the Education category: https://200ysa.mg.co.za/2016/johan-ferriera/

Africa Science Leadership Programme 2018 Fellow: http://www.futureafrica.science/index.php/our-community/research-leaders/johan-ferreira-273

Excellence in Teaching award (2018), Department of Statistics, University of Pretoria

Nominated: Best Lecturer in the Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences at UP: Senior Courses (2019)

Google Scholar profile: Link

ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5945-6550

Twitter: https://twitter.com/statisafrican

Publons: Link

Recent publications:

1. Ferreira J.T. & Bekker, A.  2014.  "Objektiewe beramers vir die gesensoreerde Rayleigh model onder verskillende verliesfunksies." (In Afrikaans).  Suid-Afrikaanse Tydskrif vir Natuurwetenskap en Tegnologie, 33(1), http://dx.doi.org/10.4102/satnt.v33i1.1040.

2. Ferreira, J.T.  2015.  “’n Kortpad tot die ontwikkeling van nie-sentrale twee-veranderlike verdelings deur samestelling.” (In Afrikaans).  Suid-Afrikaanse Tydskrif vir Natuurwetenskap en Tegnologie.  34(1), http://dx.doi.org/10.4102/satnt. v34i1.1319.

3. Ferreira J.T., Bekker, A., & Arashi M. 2016. "Objective Bayesian estimators for the right-censored Rayleigh model: evaluating the Al-Bayyati loss function".   REVSTAT Statistical Journal, 14(4), pp. 433-454.

4. Ferreira J.T., Bekker, A., & Arashi, M. 2016.  “Bivariate noncentral distributions : an approach via the compounding method”. South African Statistical Journal, 50, pp. 103-122.

5. Makgai, S.L., Bekker, A., Ferreira, J.T., & Arashi, M. 2017.  “New results from a beta-Pareto class”. South African Statistical Journal, 51(2), pp. 345-360.

6. Ferreira, J.T., Bekker, A., & Arashi, M. 2020. "Advances in Wishart type modeling of channel capacity", REVSTAT Statistical Journal, 18(3), pp. 237-255.

7. Bekker, A., Arashi, M., and Ferreira, J.T. 2019. "New bivariate gamma types with MIMO application", Communications in Statistics: Theory and Methods, 48(3), pp. 596-615.

8. Bekker, A. and Ferreira, J.T. 2018. "Bivariate gamma type distributions for modeling wireless performance metrics", Statistics, Optimization, and Information Computing, 6(3), pp. 335-353.

9. Bekker, A., Ferreira, J.T., Arashi, M., and Rowland, B. 2019. "Computational methods applied to a skewed generalised normal family", Accepted at Communications in Statistics: Simulation and Computation.

10. Ferreira, J.T. and Bekker, A. 2019. "A unified complex noncentral Wishart  type distribution inspired by massive MIMO systems", Journal of Statistical Distributions and Applications, 6(4), pp. 1-19.

11. Ferreira, J.T. and Bekker, A. 2020. "Weighted condition number distributions emanating from complex noncentral Wishart type matrices", in Computational and Methodological Statistics and Biostatistics: Contemporary Essays in Advancement, eds. Bekker, A. et. al, pp. 99-119, Springer: New York.

12. Burger, D.A., Schall, R., Ferreira, J.T., and Chen, D-G. 2020. "A robust Bayesian mixed effects approach for zero inflated and highly skewed longitundinal count data emanating from the zero inflated Weibull distribution", Statistics in Medicine, 39(9), pp. 1275-1291.

13. Ferreira, J.T., Bekker, A., Marques, F.J., and Laidlaw, M. 2020. "An enriched alpha-mu model as fading candidate", Mathematical Problems in Engineering, 5879413, pp. 1-9.

14. Neethling, A., Ferreira, J.T., Bekker, A., and Naderi, M. 2020. "Skew generalised normal innovations for the AR(p) process endorsing asymmetry", Symmetry, 12(8)1253.

15. Salehi, M., Arashi, M., Bekker, A., Ferreira, J.T., Chen, D.G., Esmaili, F., and Frances, M. 2020. "A synergetic R-Shiny portal for modeling and tracking of COVID-19 data", Frontiers in Public Health.

16. Marques, F.J., Ghosh, I., Ferreira, J.T., and Bekker, A. 2021. "A note on the product of independent beta random variables", accepted at Contributions of Barry C. Arnold to Statistical Science - Theory and Applications, eds. Ng, H.K.T. et. al.

Publications emanating from consultation work:

1. Barret, M., van Niekerk, C., Page-Shipp, R., and Ferreira, J.T. 2020. "Learning music theory en passant: a study in an internationally recognised South African University student choir", British Journal of Music Education, 39(2), pp. 155-168.

2. Van Zyl, A., White, Z., Ferreira, J.T., and Wenhold, F. 2019. "Development an impedance based equation for fat free mass of black pre-adolescent South African children", Nutrients, 11(9)2021.

3. Mirkin, P., Evans, R., and Ferreira, J.T. 2020. "Using poetry to teach chemistry in Grade 9  - shifting paradigms", South African Journal of Education, 40(2).

Edited books:

Computational and Methodological Statistics and Biostatistics: Contemporary Essays in Advancement, to be published by Springer in 2020; eds. Bekker, A., Chen, D., and Ferreira, J.T. ISBN nr 978-3-030-42195-3