BigInsight congratulates Ingrid Dæhlen from BigInsight and the Department of Mathematics, who successfully defended her thesis "The best of the bad: Precise and robust estimation and model selection" for the degree of Philosophiae Doctor on January 31, 2025.
Main research findings:
A model is a mathematical description of some phenomenon. Models can help us predict, understand and shape the world around us. That being said, the world is complex, and the language of mathematics is rigid. This gives models a major flaw. They are almost always wrong. But models work well in practice and are crucial for humans to make sense of the world. This thesis attempts to guide scientists in the search for good models, by deriving ways of evaluating, fitting and ranking candidates without trusting them blindly. This is achieved by formulating precise approximations to the "error" of models, and by studying methods for fitting wrong models in the best possible way.
Adjudication committee:
Professor Ingrid van Keilegom, University of Leuven
Associate Professor Kristoffer Herland Hellton, OsloMet
Associate Professor David Ruiz Banos, University of Oslo
Supervisors:
Associate Professor Ingrid Hobæk Haff, Universitetet i Oslo
Professor Nils Lid Hjort, Universitetet i Oslo
Ingrid Dæhlen
