As we usher in the New Year at the RSS, there are a number of changes in personnel happening at board level which we’d like to inform members about.
As well as the seven new members of RSS Council that we’ve reported previously, there are new people in some key posts that will work with the membership to help us drive forward the Society’s goals.
New President
Every two years, the RSS is led by a new President, and on 1 January 2021, Sylvia Richardson MBE (pictured above) succeeds Deborah Ashby as RSS President. Sylvia is director of the MRC Biostatistics Unit at the University of Cambridge, and was recently awarded a CBE for her services to medical statistics. She currently co-chairs our Covid-19 Task Force with Sir David Spiegelhalter.
New vice presidents
The RSS has four vice presidents who oversee certain areas of the RSS’s work and in 2021 two new VPs will take up their four-year tenureship.
Christl Donnelly CBE FMedSci FRS takes up the vice presidency for external affairs, picking up the baton from Jen Rogers. She is professor of statistical epidemiology at Imperial College. This year Christl chaired our Florence Nightingale 200 planning group. She is also a member of our Covid-19 Task Force.
Rachel Hilliam is our new VP for professional affairs, succeeding John MacInnes. Rachel is senior lecturer in statistics and former director of teaching for mathemetics and statistics at the Open University. She is also a founding member of the RSS Special Interest Group on Teaching Statistics in Higher Education. She will chair our Professional Affairs Committee as it rolls out exciting plans for professional membership in 2021.
New honorary officers
The new honorary officer for sections and local groups will be Blaise Egan when Karen Facey steps down. Blaise is a data and statistics specialist at BT and will work with the Society’s 17 sections, 19 local groups and three special interest groups in organising their activities and events throughout the year.
Scott Heald takes on the honorary officer position for conferences and events in an unprecedented time when all of our events have moved online. Scott, who is associate director and head of profession for statistics at Public Health Scotland and recently won the RSS Chambers Medal, will help the Society organise next September's conference, due to take place in Manchester, and will oversee the Society’s move back to face-to-face meetings as and when they become feasible again.
Finally, Johanna Hutchinson takes up the role of honorary officer for staffing and remuneration from Moira Mugglestone, overseeing pay and staffing at RSS headquarters.
Download the 2021 list of Council members and honorary officers (PDF)
Read more about our current President and vice presidents.