Council, the trustees of the Royal Statistical Society, met on 27 June for the second time in 2018. The annual accounts for 2017 were approved as well as an inflationary increase in membership fees. Both of these matters will go to the Society’s AGM in September.
Council approved the formation of a new Data Ethics Special Interest Group. The chair will be Peter Elias, and the group plans to engage with topics such as the role of data trusts, data stewardship responsibilities, privacy commission structures and other emerging issues.
Members of Council also discussed some projects which will be commencing in 2019 including implementing a new website and database system for the Society.
Council said goodbye to and thanked Chris Sivers, the Society’s finance and operations director, who has retired after 18 years of service.
A number of governance appointments were made that will take effect in the coming months: John MacInnes as vice president for professional affairs from January 2019; Shirley Coleman as chair of the Obituaries Commissioning Panel; Claire Bhogal and Rachel Hilliam as members of the Professional Affairs Committee.
Council will meet again in November.