Congratulations to Dr Laura Bonnett, who is the new RSS William Guy lecturer for 2020 following an open call and a competitive selection process.
Named in honour of William Augustus Guy, an early medical statistician and past RSS president, this prestigious volunteer role recognises fellows with a successful track record in undertaking school outreach activities.
Over the coming year, Laura will be delivering lectures to school students across the UK on the topic of ‘Driving is a risky business!’ which covers various aspects of road safety where statistics can illuminate people’s decisions. The lecture will include a discussion regarding conditional probabilities relevant for secondary school mathematics and statistics students, together with ethical considerations, which will appeal across the curricula.
Laura is a medical statistician at the University of Liverpool. Her research interests include the development and validation of clinical prediction models for people with recurrent conditions such as epilepsy and asthma. In addition, Laura is a Chartered Statistician (CStat), a member of the RSS’s Teaching Statistics Special Interest Group and a committed STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics) Ambassador. She was actively involved in the development of the RSS Hands-on Stats materials.
Laura has given many interactive talks to secondary school students. If you are interested in organising a William Guy Lecture, please visit education@rss.org.uk. Priority booking is given to e-teacher members and RSS local groups, especially for lectures open to multiple schools in a given location.
Sharon Witherspoon MBE, RSS vice president for education and statistical literacy, commented ‘Congratulations to Laura on her appointment as the RSS William Guy lecturer for 2020. We welcomed the emphasis of Laura’s talk on the importance of statistics and relevance to curriculum learning. We hope to explore more opportunities to encourage a wider audience this year, building upon the successes of previous years, and hope to engage with widening participation officers to ensure we reach out to an ever broader group of students.’