Guest blog by Tricia Dodd, Chair of the RSS EDI Committee
As Chair of the RSS Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Committee, I’m proud to share some of the important work we’ve been doing to promote inclusion across the statistical community. EDI continues to shape our work across research, outreach and community engagement, and over the past year, we’ve taken meaningful steps to ensure that statistics and data science are inclusive, representative and accessible to all.
One of our flagship initiatives is the Future Leaders Programme, designed to support early-career statisticians from underrepresented backgrounds through mentoring, leadership training and networking opportunities, in order to create a diverse pipeline of future leaders in the statistical community. Having completed the first programme with excellent results, we welcomed our second cohort in September.
We’ve also been actively addressing gaps in data that impact policy and public understanding. Funded by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation’s (JRF) Insight Infrastructure programme, we’ve held our first roundtable on solutions to data gaps relating to poverty and gender, and are currently planning the next one for December. Missing or incomplete data can obscure the lived experiences of marginalised groups, and by identifying these gaps, we aim to influence data collection practices and ensure that statistics better reflect the realities of those most affected by poverty.
Similarly, with the Office for National Statistics (ONS) and the Office for Statistics Regulation, we’ve launched a project exploring survey representativeness and innovative methodologies to improve it, especially in the context of falling response rate and unequal responses from underrepresented groups. This work is crucial in ensuring that national surveys accurately capture the diversity of the UK population.
Our Celebrating Diversity Special Interest Group (SIG) continues to be a vibrant hub for discussion and action. They hosted an excellent event with the Edinburgh Local Group in July called ‘Rainbow Trap: How Inclusive Statistics Still Box Us In’, as well as a networking lunch at our conference in September. The energy and engagement at both events underscored the importance of creating spaces where diversity is not only acknowledged but celebrated.
And that wasn’t the only event at the RSS International Conference focused on EDI. Our ‘Women in Stats and Data Science session’ and the ‘Neurodiversity in stats and data science’ events were excellent, both for understanding the effects of diversity on the individual but also for emphasising how much benefit such diversity brings to the data professions. ‘Socially responsible AI and inclusion’ was also a fascinating event, and it was great to hear about the discussions regarding representation and bias at the forefront of technological development.
These initiatives reflect our broader vision: a statistical community that is inclusive by design, where everyone can thrive and contribute. We’re proud of the progress made, and we remain committed to pushing forward with our EDI agenda.
We have some vacancies on the Advisory Group and would be very interested to hear from you if you would like to fill one of those. If you’d like to get involved or learn more about our work in this area, visit the EDI section of our website or contact us directly.