The RSS has announced a series of events for members and other statisticians to garner opinions on the governments’ handling of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Two public inquiries examining governments’ preparedness and responses to the Covid-19 pandemic are currently being established: one for the UK, chaired by Baroness Hallett; and one in Scotland, chaired by Lady Poole QC.
The aim of the RSS sessions is to highlight important statistical and data issues that the upcoming public inquiries should look into, representing the breadth of opinion among statisticians. Each of the four events will examine a different aspect of the pandemic. As well as hearing from the speakers, attendees will have the opportunity to submit short contributions at the events themselves.
Stian Westlake, RSS CEO, said: ‘Statistics, data, and statistical science have been central to our understanding of Covid-19 and to the fight against the pandemic. Our recent survey of RSS fellows in public service showed that statisticians have been working overtime the past two years to collect and analyse information to inform decision-makers, researchers and the general public. There are a number of crucial statistical issues that the inquiries should consider and we hope that these sessions will help us establish where there is consensus and where there are points of disagreement in the statistical community regarding the handling of the pandemic.’
The schedule of events is planned as follows:
- Communication during the pandemic: Data, statistical analyses and modelling, 5 April
Organising panel of David Spiegelhalter, Tom Chivers and Jen Rogers
Register for the in-person or online event
- Governments’ statistical resources, 3 May
Organising panel of Simon Briscoe and Gavin Freeguard
- Evidence and policy, 21 June
Organising panel of Sylvia Richardson, Dani De Angelis and John Aston
- Evaluation, 12 July
Organising panel of Sheila Bird, Christl Donnelly and Max Parmar.
All will be held as hybrid events to enable as many people as possible to join.