Melissa Humphries

Dr Melissa Humphries

Senior Lecturer

School of Computer and Mathematical Sciences

Faculty of Sciences, Engineering and Technology

Eligible to supervise Masters and PhD - email supervisor to discuss availability.

Dr. Melissa Humphries is a statistician – she creates, and applies, analytical tools that make sense of our world. Working in areas like forensic science, health and psychology, the goal is always to increase efficiency, accuracy, and transparency. Building bridges between machines and experts, Melissa’s work aims to support experts in making decisions in an explainable way.

Working at the interface between statistics and AI, Melissa's research draws meaning out of complex systems by leveraging the explainable components of statistical and physical models and elevating them using novel techniques. She strongly advocates the integration of the end-user from the outset of all research and is committed to finding impactful ways to implement science.

Melissa is also a passionate advocate of equity across all areas of her work and life.

  • Journals
    Year Citation
    2025 Shorten, D. P., Humphries, M., Maclean, J., Yang, Y., & Roughan, M. (2025). Optimal proposal particle filters for detecting anomalies and manoeuvres from two line element data. Acta Astronautica, 228, 709-723.
    DOI
    2025 Byard, R. W., & Humphries, M. (2025). The importance of outliers in forensic practice. Journal of Forensic and Legal Medicine, 109, 102810.
    DOI
    2025 Senarath, I. D., Weerasekara, I., Humphries, M., Chen, K. K., Farrell, S. F., & de Zoete, R. M. J. (2025). Physical exercise therapy for chronic non-specific neck pain: protocol for a meta-analysis of individual participant data.. Systematic reviews, 14(1), 43.
    DOI
    2025 Xiourouppa, A. H., Mikhin, D., Humphries, M., & Maclean, J. (2025). Theoretical Insights for Bearings-Only Tracking in Log-Polar Coordinates. IEEE Transactions on Aerospace and Electronic Systems, 1-12.
    DOI
    2025 Taylor, D. A., & Humphries, M. (2025). Simulating realistic short tandem repeat capillary electrophoretic signal using a generative adversarial network. Expert Systems with Applications, 280, 127536.
    DOI
    2024 Stephenson, L., van den Heuvel, C., Humphries, M., Scott, T., & Byard, R. W. (2024). Increased incidence of mixed drug toxicity deaths involving tapentadol - A forensic study. Medicine Science and the Law, 64(2), 113-120.
    DOI Scopus1 Europe PMC2
    2024 Stephenson, L., Van Den Heuvel, C., Humphries, M., & Byard, R. W. (2024). Recent trends in an uncommon method of carbon monoxide suicide.. Forensic Sci Med Pathol, 20(3), 863-871.
    DOI
    2024 Stephenson, L., Van Den Heuvel, C., Humphries, M., & Byard, R. W. (2024). Prescribed and Diverted Methadone Toxicity in South Australia: An Update. American Journal of Forensic Medicine and Pathology, 45(2), 124-129.
    DOI
    2023 Ryan, M., Glonek, G., Tuke, J., & Humphries, M. (2023). Capturing functional connectomics using Riemannian partial least squares. Scientific Reports, 13(1), 15 pages.
    DOI
    2023 Stephenson, L., Van Den Heuvel, C., Humphries, M., Nash, C., & Byard, R. W. (2023). Features of fatal pesticide ingestion in South Australia.. Med Sci Law, 64(4), 258024231197914.
    DOI Scopus2 Europe PMC1
    2023 Stockham, P., Partridge, E., Alfred, S., Boyle, L., Camilleri, A., Green, H., . . . Mallon, J. (2023). Characteristics of analytically confirmed gamma-hydroxybutyrate (GHB) positive patients in the emergency department: presentation, poly-drug use, disposition and impact on intensive care resource utilisation.. Clin Toxicol (Phila), 61(4), 241-247.
    DOI Scopus2 Europe PMC2
    2023 Rahmat, R. A., Humphries, M. A., Saedon, N. A., Self, P. G., & Linacre, A. M. T. (2023). Diagnostic models to predict nuclear DNA and mitochondrial DNA recovery from incinerated teeth.. Int J Legal Med, 137(5), 1353-1360.
    DOI Scopus1
    2023 Stephenson, L., van den Heuvel, C., Humphries, M., & Byard, R. W. (2023). Barbecue charcoal burning: an alternative means of carbon monoxide suicide. Pathology, 55, S90.
    DOI
    2022 Stephenson, L., van den Heuvel, C., Humphries, M., & Byard, R. W. (2022). Fatal insulin overdoses among diabetics and non-diabetics in South Australia. Pathology, 54, S70.
    DOI
    2022 O'Donovan, S., Lewis, D., Van Den Heuvel, C., Baldock, M., Humphries, M. A., & Byard, R. W. (2022). Methamphetamine and alcohol detection in vehicle-driver fatalities in South Australia: A 10-year survey (2008-2018).. J Forensic Sci, 67(1), 257-264.
    DOI Scopus5 WoS3
    2022 Johnson, S., Maclean, J., Vozzo, R. F., Koerber, A., & Humphries, M. A. (2022). Don't throw the student out with the bathwater: online assessment strategies your class won't hate. International Journal of Mathematical Education in Science and Technology, 53(3), 1-12.
    DOI Scopus3
    2022 Ryan, M., Glonek, G., Humphries, M., & Tuke, J. (2022). Multivariate distance matrix regression for a manifold-valued response
    variable.
    2022 Stephenson, L., Wills, S., Van Den Heuvel, C., Humphries, M., & Byard, R. W. (2022). Increasing use of sodium nitrite in suicides-an emerging trend.. Forensic Sci Med Pathol, 18(3), 311-318.
    DOI Scopus28 WoS7 Europe PMC17
    2022 O'Donovan, S., Humphries, M., Van Den Heuvel, C., Baldock, M., & Byard, R. W. (2022). Cardiac disease and driver fatality.. Forensic Sci Med Pathol, 18(3), 329-332.
    DOI Scopus1 WoS1 Europe PMC1
    2022 Stephenson, L., van den Heuvel, C., Humphries, M., & Byard, R. W. (2022). Characteristic features of self-immolation in a western population. Pathology, 54(sup 1), S70.
    DOI
    2022 O'Donovan, S., Van Den Heuvel, C., Baldock, M., Humphries, M. A., & Byard, R. W. (2022). Fatal blunt chest trauma: an evaluation of rib fracture patterns and age.. International journal of legal medicine, 136(5), 1351-1357.
    DOI Scopus8 WoS3 Europe PMC5
    2022 Lountain, O., Tuke, J., Brown, H., Redman, K., Wilczek, S., & Humphries, M. A. (2022). A multivariate extension to the standard 4σ criterion for comparison of forensic glass evidence.. Forensic Sci Int, 338, 1-7.
    DOI Scopus2 Europe PMC1
    2022 Stephenson, L., Van Den Heuvel, C., Humphries, M., & Byard, R. W. (2022). Characteristics of fatal insulin overdoses. Forensic Science, Medicine and Pathology, 18(4), 429-441.
    DOI Scopus11 WoS3 Europe PMC9
    2022 Stephenson, L., Grabowski, M., Van Den Heuvel, C., Humphries, M., & Byard, R. W. (2022). Success of Low Aromatic Fuel in Preventing Gasoline Sniffing Deaths.. The American journal of forensic medicine and pathology, 43(4), 354-358.
    DOI Scopus1 WoS1 Europe PMC1
    2022 O’Donovan, S., Van Den Heuvel, C., Baldock, M., Humphries, M., & Byard, R. W. (2022). Seasonal variation in cutaneous seat belt markings in fatal vehicle crashes. Australian Journal of Forensic Sciences, 56(1), 1-4.
    DOI
    2022 O'Donovan, S., van den Heuvel, C., Baldock, M., Humphries, M. A., & Byard, R. W. (2022). Seat belt injuries and external markings at autopsy in cases of lethal vehicle crashes.. Med Sci Law, 63(3), 258024221127845.
    DOI Europe PMC1
    2022 Celma, A., Bade, R., Sancho, J. V., Hernandez, F., Humphries, M., & Bijlsma, L. (2022). Prediction of Retention Time and Collision Cross Section (CCSH+, CCSH-, and CCSNa+) of Emerging Contaminants Using Multiple Adaptive Regression Splines.. J Chem Inf Model, 62(22), 5425-5434.
    DOI Scopus22 WoS4 Europe PMC13
    2021 Rahmat, R. A., Humphries, M. A., Austin, J. J., Linacre, A. M. T., & Self, P. (2021). The development of a tool to predict temperature-exposure of incinerated teeth using colourimetric and hydroxyapatite crystal size data. International Journal of Legal Medicine, 135(5), 2045-2053.
    DOI Scopus1 Europe PMC1
    2021 Stephenson, L., Kenneally, M., van den Heuvel, C., Humphries, M., Stockham, P., & Byard, R. W. (2021). Recent trends in barbiturate detection in medicolegal deaths. Legal Medicine, 53, 1-5.
    DOI Scopus4 WoS2 Europe PMC3
    2021 Rahmat, R. A., Humphries, M. A., Linacre, A. M. T., Malik, A., Saedon, N. A., & Austin, J. J. (2021). Freeze-drying improves DNA yield from teeth. Forensic Science International, 326, 110938.
    DOI
    2021 Bade, R., Tscharke, B. J., O’Brien, J. W., Magsarjav, S., Humphries, M., Ghetia, M., . . . Gerber, C. (2021). Impact of COVID-19 Controls on the Use of Illicit Drugs and Alcohol in Australia. Environmental Science & Technology Letters, 8(9), 799-804.
    DOI Scopus28 WoS15 Europe PMC19
    2020 Rahmat, R. A. -A. R., Humphries, M., Austin, J. J., Linacre, A., Raven, M., & Self, P. (2020). Integrating spectrophotometric and XRD analyses in the investigation of burned dental remains. Forensic Science International, 310, 110236-1-110236-9.
    DOI Scopus10 WoS5 Europe PMC2
    2019 McArthur, L., & Humphries, M. A. (2019). Multi-model mimicry for model selection according to generalised
    goodness-of-fit criteria.
    2016 Lai, F., O'Brien, J., Thai, P., Hall, W., Chan, G., Bruno, R., . . . Mueller, J. (2016). Cocaine, MDMA and methamphetamine residues in wastewater: Consumption trends (2009-2015) in South East Queensland, Australia. Science of the Total Environment, 568, 803-809.
    DOI Scopus68 WoS60 Europe PMC24
    2016 Humphries, M., Bruno, R., Lai, F., Thai, P., Holland, B., O'Brien, J., . . . Mueller, J. (2016). Evaluation of monitoring schemes for wastewater-based epidemiology to identify drug use trends using cocaine, methamphetamine, MDMA and methadone. Environmental Science and Technology, 50(9), 4760-4768.
    DOI Scopus23 WoS17 Europe PMC6
    2016 Manning, E., Holland, B., Ellingsen, S., Breen, S., Chen, X., & Humphries, M. (2016). Comparison of three statistical classification techniques for maser identification. Publications of the Astronomical Society of Australia, 33, e015-1-e015-30.
    DOI Scopus2 WoS2
    2015 Humphries, M., Bruno, R., Karpievitch, Y., & Wotherspoon, S. (2015). The expectancy valence model of the iowa gambling task: Can it produce reliable estimates for individuals?. Journal of Mathematical Psychology, 64-65, 17-34.
    DOI Scopus6 WoS6

  • Book Chapters
    Year Citation
    2023 Johnson, S., Maclean, J., Vozzo, R. F., Koerber, A., & Humphries, M. A. (2023). Don't throw the student out with the bathwater: online assessment strategies your class won't hate. In Takeaways from Teaching through a Pandemic (pp. 69-80). Routledge.
    DOI

  • Conference Papers
    Year Citation
    2022 Stephenson, L., Van Den Heuvel, C., Humphries, M., & Byard, R. (2022). A profile of pesticide self-poisonings in South Australia over 20 years. In TOXICOLOGY COMMUNICATIONS Vol. 6 (pp. 115-116). AUSTRALIA, Newcastle: TAYLOR & FRANCIS LTD.

  • Theses
    Year Citation
    2022 McCormick, K. (2022). Developing a Strong(er) Theory of Eyewitness Memory: The Selection, Verification, and Application of Mathematical Models of Identification Decisions. (PhD Thesis, University of Adelaide).

  • Preprint
    Year Citation
    2024 Shorten, D. P., Beckingham, T., Humphries, M., Fischer, R., Soar, N., Wilson, B., & Roughan, M. (2024). Fast, efficient and accurate prediction of postoperative outcomes using a small set of intraoperative time series.
    DOI
    2024 Xiourouppa, A. H., Mikhin, D., Humphries, M., & Maclean, J. (2024). An insightful approach to bearings-only tracking in log-polar
    coordinates.
    2024 Elborough, L., Taylor, D., & Humphries, M. (2024). A novel application of Shapley values for large multidimensional time-series data: Applying explainable AI to a DNA profile classification neural network..
    DOI
    2023 Shorten, D. P., Maclean, J., Humphries, M., Yang, Y., & Roughan, M. (2023). Optimal Proposal Particle Filters for Detecting Anomalies and Manoeuvres
    from Two Line Element Data.
Year Title Team Scheme Amount
2023-27 What causes low back pain to flare: Has a major opportunity to understand back pain been missed? Klyne D, Hodges P, Barbe M, van den Hoorn W, Suri P, Smith S, Nicholas M, Setchell J, Ferreira M, Hunter D, Toyras J, McAuley J, Smits E, Cordeiro de Costa N, Humphries M NIH USD2,314,282
2022-24 KNOW - The combined CBRN alert and information systems through harnessing the power of Psychoneuroimmunology. Hutchinson M, Semler, C, Barrett D, Barry S, Mustafa S, Humphries M HISS $2,999,098
2021-23 Trusted AI Frameworks for Change and Anomaly Detection in Observed ISR Patterns. Roughan M, Chin T, Humphries M, Mitchell L, Tuke S, Nguyen G, Whitington B SMARTSAT CRC $440,777
2021-23 Improving accuracy in forensic decision making with glass. COVID Recognition Fund Scheme. Humphries M Covid recognition fund - Faculty Award $15,000
2021 A Data Science package to modernise thermal load management in South Australia. Humphries M, Maclean J.  The University of Adelaide $10,000
2019-23 Scholarship Funding in D2D CRC Centre Field. Humphries M Data to Decisions CRC Project  $70,516
2019-23 Recommender systems for forensic evidence triage. Humphries M, Roughan M, Taylor SAPOL $27,000
2019-22 Elemental glass database and statistical modelling with likelihood ratios in forensic investigations. Humphries M, Tuke J, Metcalfe A, Brown H, Redman K ANZPAA NIFS  $18,000
2019-21 Investigating deep learning for handwriting examination writership opinions. Humphries M, Bird C ANZPAA NIFS $8,000
2021 Emergency Medical Retrieval - Improving decision making with Mathematics. Humphries M, Boyle L ACEMS $6,829

 

 

Courses Summary

Date Taught Developed  Coordinated Course Title Institution Course Level/ Code URL
2021 x x x Data Literacy University of Adelaide MATHS 1005 Link
2020-2021 x x x Statistical Analysis and Modelling University of Adelaide STATS 1005 Link
2020 x     Research Methods and Statistics University of Adelaide MATHS 7025 Link
2020 x x   MathTrackX University of Adelaide Pre-Tertiary MOOC series Link
2019 x   x Time Series III University of Adelaide STATS 3005, 7058 Link
2018-2019 x   x Mathematical Background for Biostatistics University of Adelaide BIOSTATS 6001EX Link
2018-2020 x x x Statistical Practice 1 University of Adelaide STATS 1000, 1004, 1504 Link
2016-2017 x x x Big Decisions! Rational belief and action in an uncertain world University of Tasmania XBR111 Link
2011-2017 x x x Statistical Analysis Using R University of Tasmania KMA711 Link
2015-2017 x x x Data Handling and Statistics 2 University of Tasmania KMA253 Link
2014-2016 x x x First year Medicine (Statistics Component) University of Tasmania CAM102  

 

  • Current Higher Degree by Research Supervision (University of Adelaide)
    Date Role Research Topic Program Degree Type Student Load Student Name
    2024 Principal Supervisor Monitoring chronic pain using smart devices Master of Philosophy Master Full Time Miss Joan Shu Ting Lim
    2024 Co-Supervisor Communicating Uncertainty in Forensic Science Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Miss Nicola Brooks
    2024 Co-Supervisor Scalable algorithms for non-linear target tracking Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Miss Athena Helena Xiourouppa
    2022 Co-Supervisor Identifying and preventing the coordinated spread of misinformation Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Scott James Carnie-Bronca
    2020 Principal Supervisor Building a recommender system to increase successful outcomes in crime scene analysis. Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Part Time Ms Louise Margaret Campbell
    2020 Principal Supervisor Large-scale social media sentiment analysis as a predictor of public behaviour in Australia. Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Part Time Miss Saranzaya Magsarjav

  • Past Higher Degree by Research Supervision (University of Adelaide)
    Date Role Research Topic Program Degree Type Student Load Student Name
    2022 - 2024 Co-Supervisor Small sample Rasch: simulation, estimation and evaluation of error Master of Philosophy Master Full Time Miss Christina Anne Tait
    2021 - 2022 Co-Supervisor Developing a Strong(er) Theory of Eyewitness Memory: The Selection, Verification, and Application of Mathematical Models of Identification Decisions Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Part Time Mrs Kym Michelle McCormick
    2021 - 2023 Principal Supervisor Emergency Departments: Predicting the Unpredictable Master of Philosophy Master Full Time Mr Michael John Ucci
    2020 - 2024 Co-Supervisor A retrospective analysis of pharmaceutical and non-pharmaceutical substance-related coronial deaths in South Australia over 20 years Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Miss Lilli Grace Stephenson
    2019 - 2023 Principal Supervisor Riemannian statistical techniques with applications in fMRI Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Matthew James Ryan
    2019 - 2021 Principal Supervisor Statistical Methods for Comparison of Forensic Glass Samples in Australia Master of Philosophy Master Full Time Mr Oliver James Lountain
    2018 - 2019 Co-Supervisor Explanatory statistical modelling of influences of demographic experience on political identity Master of Philosophy Master Full Time Mr Lachlann Bradley McArthur
  • Position: Senior Lecturer
  • Phone: 83135265
  • Email: melissa.humphries@adelaide.edu.au
  • Campus: North Terrace
  • Building: Ingkarni Wardli, floor 6
  • Org Unit: Mathematical Sciences
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