Three leading mid-career statisticians have been announced the winners of the David Cox Medal for Statistics, which has been awarded for the first time in 2025 to commemorate the work of the late world-leading statistician and former Royal Statistical Society president, Sir David Cox.
The international prize, which we jointly award with the American Statistical Association, the Bernoulli Society, the International Biometric Society, the Institute of Mathematical Statistics and the International Statistical Institute, was established to recognise mid-career researchers in the fields of statistical theory, methodology and applications whose body of work is original, with conceptual depth and novelty, and which moves the field or a substantive application area forward.
The winners are:
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Prof Nancy Zhang, also of the University of Pennsylvania, for her contributions to statistical genomics and its application in biomedical research, advancing the analysis of high-dimensional biological data and aiding our understanding of cancer genome evolution
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Prof Richard Samworth of the University of Cambridge for contributions to methodological and theoretical statistics, making significant contributions to numerous statistical areas over the past decades, including shape-constrained modelling and change-point analysis.
Professor Peter McCullagh, chair of the Prize Committee said: ‘Sir David Cox’s work led to great advancements in the field, so it feels fitting to celebrate those carrying on his great work in moving the profession and our understanding of statistics forward. Eric, Nancy and Richard are to be wholeheartedly congratulated for their contributions that have reshaped our understanding across the discipline.’
For more about the award and the full citations, go to the David Cox Medal for Statistics webpages.