Every year, the RSS International Conference brings together statisticians and other data professionals from around the world for four days of talks and discussions about the most pressing issues and developments in the fields, as well as providing an opportunity to meet and network. This year’s iteration in Brighton looks set to be one of our best yet, with delegates from around the world coming to a buzzing location, surrounded by pebbled beaches and historic shopping streets, as well as an opening reception on the famous Brighton Pier.
With so much to choose from and so many amazing events, we’ve compiled a list of some of the things you might not want to miss.
.png.aspx "RSS-23-Day-3-00767-(1).png")
Celebrating diversity
Something we’re particularly excited for in Brighton are the events aiming to bolster and showcase the diversity of the data professions. The talk
Hidden Figures in Statistics organised by our Celebrating Diversity Special Interest Group is going to highlight the importance of representing minority mathematical scientists when we teach statistics and data science. Our
Future Leaders will also be reporting back on their work so far developing mentoring, training and professional support for underrepresented groups.
For women statisticians, our Young Statisticians Section has also organised an event to promote
practical career advice around issues like career breaks, flexible working and work-life-balance that are currently limiting factors for women achieving their career goals.
Topic streams
With ten streams to choose from this year, there’s endless topics and subjects to learn about and discuss. We’re particularly looking forward to some in-depth and practical discussions regarding decision making with statistics, including a session run by Carol Alexander on
Decision Making in Financial Markets for the Applications in Business, Industry & Finance stream (sponsored by Minitab); and the
Statistics Under Pressure session is going to take a deeper look at case studies and principles that can help statisticians inform decision making in high pressure situations (Official Statistics & Public Policy stream). Meanwhile, in a six-person panel in the Environmental & Spatial Statistics stream, we’ll be looking at how bias impacts decision making in
disaster impact analysis.
For Communicating and Teaching Statistics, Professor Jennifer Visser-Rogers is going to explore how we can
communicate statistics using compelling narratives, with a panel discussion to follow featuring John Burn-Murdoch, chief data reporter at the Financial Times. The RSS Data Ethics & Governance and Young Statisticians Sections are going to lead a discussion on
AI adoption for the Data Science & AI stream, and we’ll take a deep dive into the
role spatial statistical methods play in global public health in the Medical Statistics stream.
Our corporate member, the social innovation agency Nesta, is going to be taking us through some
multifaceted solutions they are pioneering to achieve ambitious social and environmental goals in the Social & Wellbeing Statistics stream. The winner of this year’s Kendall Prize, Qiyang Han, will also be
discussing his research in the Methods & Theory stream, and one of the Other Applications of Statistics talks will be an in depth look at
statistics and sport.
There’s even a specific stream dedicated to professional development, where you can hear from successful statisticians about the
mistakes they made along the way, as well as all about how to get involved with our CV-enhancing projects like
Statisticians for Society and how to
secure research funding.
Social and networking
But it wouldn’t be the RSS Conference without plenty of opportunities for socialising and networking! The
Welcome Reception on Brighton Pier will be an excellent opportunity to meet new and old friends and peers, all whilst enjoying panoramic views of the seaside and the various beachfront attractions the city has to offer.
Another event you absolutely won't want to miss is the
Awards & Poster Reception sponsored by the Smith Institute, where, as well as celebrating with this year’s awards recipients, over 80 poster presenters will be showing their work and discussing topics as broad as the world’s first fertility dashboard, student career predictions, modelling environmental extremes and the Callanish Standing Stones.
As always, the Young Statisticians have arranged some unmissable social offerings including a
reception Tuesday lunchtime as well as their customary and ever-enjoyable
Quiz Night, sponsored by Phastar.
Finishing Conference in style, we can’t wait to sample the culinary delights at the Grand Hotel for the
Conference Dinner on Thursday evening.
And that’s just a small sampling of all that will be on offer in Brighton in September! Come and see us at the membership stand, where those of you who aren’t members already can get 10% off your first year of membership. We’ll also be available to chat about gaining professional and corporate membership too, and look out for the membership info cubes with QR codes and info on joining and making the most of RSS membership. We’d also like to thank this year’s headline sponsor, MSD, whose support has been vital for putting together such an extensive programme.
See you there!
Read the
full programme.