conference in high gear

Indeed the annual meeting of the RSS is in full swing, and, sadly, I have to leave early tomorrow morning. But today was splendid, everything one hopes for in a meeting.

The highlight of the conference today was the presentation I made at noon. OK, not really, but I did have the opportunity to present a talk titled “Building Trust: Accreditation and the Professionalization of Statistics.” In it, I explored ways we might take advantage of the synergy created by accreditation programs in four statistical societies (the American Statistical Association (ASA), the Royal Statistical Society (RSS), the Statistical Society of Canada (SSC), and the Statistical Society of Australia, Inc. (SSAI)) to further advance the status of statistics as a profession. The RSS and the ASA are finding a number of ways to collaborate, and accreditation is one of them.

The real highlight of the conference today, for me, was the preliminary announcement of the “getstats” program, a 10-year statistical literacy campaign created and led by the RSS. Martin Dougherty, Executive Director of the RSS, presented an overview of the campaign, which will launch officially on October 20 (20.10.2010), which the UN has designated as World Statistics Day. The goal of this campaign is well and succinctly stated: “A society in which our lives and choices are enriched by an understanding of statistics.” It is an ambitious goal, a truth that was brilliantly illustrated by a video Martin put together. The video is a “vox pop,” a series of interviews on the streets of London. People are asked some basic non-technical questions about the relevance and roles of statistics and statisticians. These were people who are clearly literate, but are also clearly not statistically literate. Clearly, there is work to be done.

The plenary sessions were excellent today as well. In the morning, Robert Groves, Director of the US Census Bureau, gave the Campion Lecture. Bob is a superb statistician and an extraordinary leader, and as Census Director he has served his country with distinction. He took on a census that was in the midst of some political turmoil, and quieted things down quickly. Thanks to his work, and that of the vast census team, the US has had a successful decennial census. One of the many things that impress me about Bob is his ability to listen constructively to criticism, even when it isn’t offered constructively.

In a thoughtful and informative talk, Bob reviewed the status of the 2010 census in the US, considered measures of data quality, and provided a look ahead at issues that will need to be addressed.

In the afternoon, Tim Davis, who is both a Chartered Statistician and a Chartered Engineer, discussed the role of statistics and statisticians in engineering. He encouraged early career statisticians to consider going to work in industry, where he said there is great need for their skills. Among many interesting things Tim said, I was particularly interested in his observation that it is the job of the statistical investigator/collaborator to a) encourage creativity (in research and experimentation) and b) ensure convergence (between theory and practice, or theory and data).

Once again, there was an excellent variety of concurrent sessions. I focused on sessions relating to the growth of professionals and the profession, but there was something for virtually everyone. I particularly enjoyed a session on statistical education in the UK, with the clever title “Cornish pasties and learning from teaching statistics.” Unfortunately, convention centre rules made it impossible for us to taste test the pasties.

In the late afternoon, I had the opportunity to get out and stimulate the local economy, and greatly added to the weight of my suitcase going home.

So I will wrap up my blogging from Brighton with three sets of thank yous: (1) to Gerald Goodall and Andy Garrett of the RSS, Judy-Anne Chapman of the SSC, and Nick Fisher of the SSAI for their wisdom and insight, which helped my presentation immensely; (2) to the staff of the RSS for warm hospitality and a superbly executed conference; and (3) to the ASA for making my participation at this conference possible.

Carry on, then!

breadth of statistics profession evident at RSS annual meeting

The conference was launched with an interesting and compelling talk by Peter Donnelly, Professor of Statistics at the Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics, which is affiliated with Oxford. His talk, “Statistics, Genomics, and Human Diseases,” focused on recent developments in identifying parts of the genome related to disease and traits in humans. These discoveries may provide new ways to understand the biology of disease development. At one time, Donnelly said, statisticians in genomics could be described humorously as people who “model genes.” “Now,” he said, “we are more explorers than modelers.”

David Hand, RSS President, brought words of welcome to the conferees. He noted the upcoming World Statistics Day on 20.10.2010, and emphasized the significance of the United Nations’ recognition of the important contributions of statistics and statisticians. Unfortunately, Hand noted, the level of public recognition is still rather small.

President Hand then presented an Honorary Fellowship to Janet Derbyshire for her important work in clinical trials, especially for her consistent recognition of the role of statistics in drug development. According to the RSS website, “Honorary fellowships are awarded for the Society to recognise the contribution of individuals of great eminence working in fields related to statistics who are not members of the statistical profession.”

In the concurrent sessions, there were a rich variety of themes addressed. Kudos are due to Vern Farewell and the rest of the programme committee for a job very well done.

Genomics, climate science, statistics and the law, and adaptive clinical trials are just some of examples of today’s presentations, reflective of the breadth of our profession. I attended a particularly interesting session in which three sources of data for climate science (plankton, surface temperatures, and ice cores) were discussed. Methods of measurement and modeling of uncertainty were shown. The speakers were clear, and did a nice job of talking in understandable terms about the science of measurement and the statistical science involved as well. However, as happens sometimes in discussions of climates, some of the questions after the talks reflected the biases of the questioners rather than the content presented.

A very nice set of posters were on display during the day and featured in the late afternoon. The topics and the locales represented were diverse, though a majority of them focused on some aspect of statistical work in the health sciences. The quality of the work was quite impressive.

The day was capped by the conference social, held out on the Brighton Pier, which was virtually empty (except for RSS conferees) due to the high winds lashing the area. But inside the pub I found cold drinks, warm food and even warmer fellowship. Some of the planned activities had to be cut back because of the weather, but it was a delightful evening nonetheless.

I am already regretting that I have to return home on Thursday, as I realize how many excellent sessions I will miss. In the future I will ask my friends to look at the RSS calendar before setting their wedding dates.

lovely reception, slightly less lovely weather

The RSS conference social programme got underway this evening with a lovely reception at the Sea Life Centre in Brighton. The centre is a large aquarium with a series of interesting displays of aquatic life, and the venue was open this evening only for participants of the conference. So we had the run of the place, enjoying juice, wine, and hors d'oeuvres, while marveling at the undersea world and reveling in the joy of renewing old acquaintances and making new ones.

Registration began this afternoon, and in typical sharp RSS fashion, it was well organized. I was in and out of registration in under a minute, but spent several very pleasant minutes afterward meeting and greeting RSS staff.

The weather got quite blustery and then rather wet this afternoon. Medium-sized waves crashed loudly against the beach and the Brighton Pier. It is a bit chilly as well, or so it seems to someone coming from the lingering summer weather in the US. Nonetheless, the coast and the town are spectacular, a great setting for the conference.

The scientific programme begins tomorrow with opening remarks from David Hand, RSS President and a plenary talk by Peter Donnelly of Oxford. We’ll all be there Brighton-early (sorry, I have a rather nasty addiction to puns).