The RSS Glasgow Local Group are pleased to welcome RSS President Sylvia Richardson who will deliver a talk entitles "Tackling Covid-19: Statistics in action".
Abstract:
In this talk, my aim is first to look back at 2020 and 2021 and review the multi-facet engagement of statisticians and the RSS in the Covid-19 crisis. I will highlight different aspects of the work of the RSS Covid-19 Task Force and briefly describe the RSS-Turing engagement with the Joint Biosecurity Centre.
In a second part, I will focus on the statistical issues related to the evaluation and deployment of rapid diagnostic tests. One key area where rapid tests have been deployed is schools, and I will describe how this has motived some recent simulation work to understand the relative merits of different policies of deployment of rapid testing in schools.
In my final remarks, I will move away from Covid-19 and look towards the future landscape for statistics in the fast-moving world of data science. I will give a brief update on an initiative, launched in January, which aims to develop at pace a strategy of visible engagement of the RSS with the ecosystem of Data Science, building on the strong growth in this area and the central position of statistics.
Sylvia Richardson (RSS President)