Professor George Athanasopoulos stands as a preeminent leader in quantitative analysis, currently serving as Professor and Head of the Department of Econometrics and Business Statistics at Monash University since 2022. His academic foundation was established at Monash University where he completed both his Master of Commerce with Honors in 2002 and PhD in 2007, launching a distinguished career focused on advancing predictive methodologies. Prior to his current leadership position, he was appointed Professor in 2019, reflecting his significant scholarly contributions and academic excellence. His professional trajectory has been marked by progressive leadership within the global forecasting community, serving as Director of the International Institute of Forecasters from 2014 through 2024 and culminating in his term as President of this prestigious organization.
Professor Athanasopoulos has made transformative contributions to forecasting science through both theoretical innovations and practical applications that have reshaped predictive analytics across multiple sectors. He is internationally renowned as co-author of the seminal textbook Forecasting Principles and Practice with Professor Rob J Hyndman, which has become the definitive resource in the field with its third edition and Python adaptation adopted by institutions worldwide. His research in multivariate ARIMA modeling, tourism forecasting, and forecast reconciliation has generated substantial scholarly impact, evidenced by over 18,000 citations in Google Scholar. The practical applications of his methodologies have significantly improved decision-making processes in tourism, business planning, and economic policy through enhanced prediction accuracy and reliability.
Beyond his individual research achievements, Professor Athanasopoulos has profoundly shaped the global forecasting community through editorial leadership as Associate Editor of the International Journal of Forecasting and service on the Journal of Travel Research editorial board since 2011. His commitment to pedagogical excellence has been formally recognized with the Australian Awards for University Teaching for outstanding contributions to student learning in 2022, alongside earlier distinction with Monash Business School's Dean's Award for Excellence in Research by an Early Career Researcher. Currently, he continues to advance the field through collaborative research projects focused on optimal aligned decisions via forecast reconciliation, while mentoring the next generation of quantitative analysts. His leadership in professional organizations and ongoing scholarly contributions ensure his enduring influence on both theoretical developments and practical implementations of forecasting methodologies worldwide.
