Today, the UK Statistics Authority announced that RSS fellow, Professor Sir Ian Diamond has been appointed as National Statistician. Sir Ian succeeds former RSS President, John Pullinger who stepped down from the role in June.
The UK National Statistician is the chief executive and board member of the UK Statistics Authority, permanent secretary of the Office for National Statistics and head of the Government Statistical Service.
Sir Ian has a longstanding career in official and social statistics, recently serving as principal and vice chancellor of the University of Aberdeen, and was, prior to that, chief executive of the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC). Last year he was appointed chair of the Council for Mathematical Sciences. He is an active member of the RSS and the Society looks forward to working with him in his new role, in which he will be tackling, amongst other things the 2021 census.
“We are delighted that Sir Ian Diamond has been appointed National Statistician, said RSS executive director, Hetan Shah. 'He has been an active fellow of the RSS for many years. We look forward to supporting him in delivering the official statistics that the UK public deserves.'