Participation and Papers

(Organized by ANZIAM MathSport)

Your Conference Committee

Your ANZIAM Mathsport organizing team includes:

• Steven Stern, Conference Co-Chair (sstern@bond.edu.au)
• Anthony Bedford, Conference Co-Chair (abedford@usc.edu.au)
• Erica Mealy, Conference Committee (emealy@usc.edu.au)
• Ray Stefani, Conference Committee (raystefani@aol.com)

Dates, Location and Activities

Our 2026 meeting, 1-3 July, was held near Bond University with presentations at the Sofitel Gold Coast Broadbeach, 81 Surf Parade, Broadbeach QLD, 4218 Australia and with social events held across the road at The Star Gold Coast, 1 Casino Dr, Broadbeach QLD 4218, Australia. The conference was co-organized by Bond University and University of the Sunshine Coast. The seven-acre complex includes conference facilities, restaurants, recreational facilities, a health spa, a theater and more than 1,000 hotel rooms. The facility is connected to the adjacent Gold Coast Convention and Exhibition Centre. For each of the three days, the conference fee included coffee/tea and snacks before we start, a morning break, lunch, and an afternoon break. Other activities were planned for attendees to take part in as their time may permit. A full conference schedule of the speakers, topics and activities is summarized here.

Keynote Speakers

Keynote speakers provided the Mathsport community with significant views and insights into a variety of interesting topics.

David Kendix is an internationally recognised cricket statistician and a Fellow of the Institute of Actuaries. As statistician to the International Cricket Council and a long-serving member of its Cricket Committee, he identifies statistical trends, contributes to playing regulations and translates quantitative ideas into systems used across the international game. He peer-reviewed the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern method before its adoption and designed the ICC team rankings, which now cover more than 100 men's and women's teams. David has also served as an expert witness in a match-fixing trial, scored more than 100 internationals including 50 Tests, and held board and treasury roles at Middlesex County Cricket Club. Beyond cricket, he designed and maintains World Netball's team rankings and helped shape its world championship tournament structure.

Lilliana Prucha is a rising member of the Australian Steelers wheelchair rugby program and one of a new generation of athletes combining elite performance with data-driven thinking. She made her senior Steelers debut at the 2025 World Challenge and was selected for Australia's 2026 Canada Cup campaign. After relocating from Perth to the Gold Coast, Lilliana joined Queensland's high-performance training environment and has continued to develop her tactical awareness, decision-making and defensive impact. She is the first wheelchair rugby athlete to receive Bond University's John Eales Rugby Excellence Scholarship and is completing a Bachelor of Data Analytics with a minor in Sports Analysis. Away from competition, she coaches junior wheelchair rugby and is interested in how technology and analytics can improve athlete performance and understanding.

Zoe Hanna is a dynamic back-rower with the Queensland Reds and a key figure in Bond University's highly successful women's rugby program. In 2022 she became the first female recipient of Bond's prestigious John Eales Rugby Excellence Scholarship, helping open a new pathway for women in the sport. Zoe has been central to the Bull Sharks' premiership success and entered her second Super Rugby Women's season with the Reds in 2026 after returning from shoulder surgery. Her performances have also earned selection in Wallaroos training environments and Australia A representation. Alongside rugby, Zoe completed a Bachelor of Exercise and Sports Medicine and is now studying a Doctor of Physiotherapy, giving her a valuable athlete perspective on preparation, recovery, injury management and the practical use of performance information.

Laura Langman ONZM is one of the most influential and respected midcourters in world netball. Across a remarkable international career, she earned 165 Test caps - the most in Silver Ferns history - and played centre, wing defence and wing attack with relentless work rate, speed and tactical intelligence. After returning to international netball in 2018, Laura captained New Zealand to the 2019 Netball World Cup title in Liverpool. Her career also included Commonwealth Games gold medals, domestic championships in New Zealand and Australia, and a leading role with the Sunshine Coast Lightning. Laura brings a rare athlete's view of how physical data, tactical analysis, communication and trusted analyst relationships can support sustained elite performance.

Topics for the Conference

The conference will cover, but is not limited to, the following topics of interest to sports scientists, mathematicians, statisticians, coaches, and athletes. The term “sport” is interpreted liberally here and includes games and pastimes, gambling, general fitness, and health-related activities.

• Analysis of rules, adjudication, and referee decision-making
• Artificial intelligence in sport
• Application of gambling methodology
• Competitive strategy and methods for in-game strategy
• Computational analysis in sport
• Computer science in sport
• Computer vision in sport
• Data science in sport
• Econometrics in sport
• Identification, analysis, and mitigation of sports injuries
• Machine learning in sport
• Mathematical modeling in sport
• Optimal tournament design and scheduling
• Psychological methods that enhance performance in competition and enhance mental wellness during and after the competitive career
• Quantitative approaches to improve coaching and optimize individual performance
• Sports management
• Sports medicine
• Statistical and machine learning methods applied to motion capture and wearable technologies
• Statistics and statistical modeling in sport
• Teaching of mathematics and computers in sport
• The statistics of performance measurement

Speakers

Speakers generally each had 25 minutes to present a talk and answer questions from the participants. A few 15 minute “powerplay talks” were also held.

Abstracts

The deadline to submit an abstract, 15 March 2026, has passed for a maximum of 300 words, on one-page, titled with the topic and your name, using the template here , that was to be sent to Raystefani@aol.com for review by Ray Stefani and Adrian Schembri. The completed Abstracts Book is now available here. We use the abstracts to setup the conference schedule. 

Proceedings

The template for Proceedings papers is available here. Papers were limited to ten pages. Authors were not to number the pages. Authors were to convert papers to a pdf file, with the last name included first in the file name. Papers were uploaded through the Microsoft CMT page. This service was provided for free by Microsoft and they bore all expenses, including costs for Azure cloud services as well as for software development and support. Papers were then reviewed. As in the past, Proceedings have an ISBN number. The Proceedings are available here , providing the conference speaking schedule, information about keynoter speakers and all abstracts or papers from presenters. The Organizing Committee welcomes all contributors. We enjoyed a very informative and congenial meeting.

Conference Fees

The conference fees are shown below.

• AustMS or ANZIAM Members $375
• Non-members $425
• Students $325

Payment can be made with either Mastercard or Visa using this link . Please pay your fee by 1 June, to help the organizers with scheduling.

Hotels

The following are some of the nearby hotels

• Break Free Diamond Beach Broadbeach
• Broadbeach Savannah Hotel and Resort
• Dorsett Gold Coast
• Mantra Sierra Grand Broadbeach
• Menton Suites Broadbeach
• Peppers Broadbeach
• Sofitel Gold Coast Broadbeach
• The Darling at the Star Gold Coast
• The Star Gold Coast
• ULTIQA Signature at Broadbeach