Join the Edinburgh Local Group for their annual general meeting (AGM) followed by our final event of the year, Stats and Statisticians of Edinburgh. The evening will involve a brief AGM to report on the last year as a local group and elect a 2026 committee.

Following this we will hear from three speakers about their work on either statistics in Edinburgh or work they conduct as a statistican in Edinburgh.

​Note the AGM will begin at 17:45, with the talk beginning at 18:00.

Nevil Hopley, Senior Data Analyst - Scottish Qualifications Authority
"Ambassador, you are really spoiling us...with Statistics!"
Nevil Hopley will describe what happens when a journalist contacts the Royal Statistical Society and asks for a Statistics Ambassador to help verify the facts behind an article which the journalist is writing. This talk will take the audience on the decision-making journey that kept a neutral stance on a political headline news story from earlier in 2025. Ferrero Rocher chocolates may also make an appearance...

Chris Oldnall, PhD Researcher - The University of Edinburgh
"Collaborating in, around and outside of Edinburgh in health statistics."
Chris Oldnall will talk about a handful of collaborative projects that he is involved in, and talk about the advantages and disadvantages of working with others that either are extremely closely placed geographically (the building next door...) or extremely far away (another country...). With this the audience will be presented with a range of applications of statistics in the health domain.

Ian Dwyer, Devolved Liaison Officer for Scotland - Office for National Statistics
"Treat these number with caution - a statistical tour of Edinburgh"
Ian is responsible for delivering the 'ONS Local' service in Scotland, helping Scottish organisations with local-level decision making by providing analytical support, data signposting and networking. In his talk, Ian will pick out a variety of statistics that give a potted profile of Edinburgh, asking you to make some educated guesses along the way, and show how you can access such data yourselves and how ONS Local has been using similar data in its service to users.