Category Archives: Uncategorized

Hi everyone- As the rain pours down it definitely feels like winter has arrived- all the more reason to spend some time indoors huddled up with some good data science reading materials! Following is the October edition of our Royal Statistical Society Data Science Section newsletter. Hopefully some interesting topics and titbits to feed yourContinue reading “October Newsletter”

This document chronicles the recent controversy surrounding the UK exams fiasco where an algorithmic approach was rejected and demonstrates areas where those building and deploying models must be vigilant and have training, process and governance in placeGiles Pavey – September 2021 Background In March 2020, the UK Government made the significant policy in response toContinue reading “Lessons on Algorithm ethics from UK Exam algorithm story”

Announcing our new Data Science Section Initiative: Share and discuss ethical challenges encountered in your professional life during Ethics Happy Hours Ethical questions are ubiquitous in pursuing real-world data science projects. During the Covid-19 crisis, controversies around the design of contact tracing apps or the moderation of GCSE and A-level results have recently served asContinue reading “Ethics Happy Hours”

Hi everyone- Another month flies by… hard to believe summer is technically over although the coldest August UK bank holiday on record is one way to drive home the point! Following is the September edition of our Royal Statistical Society Data Science Section newsletter. Hopefully some interesting topics and titbits to feed your data scienceContinue reading “September Newsletter”

Hi everyone- Let’s face it, July was a bit lacking in sunshine but at least ended with a couple of scorchers. Possibly not the best conditions to be pulling together a newsletter, but we’d always take the sun over rain! Following is the August edition of our Royal Statistical Society Data Science Section newsletter. HopefullyContinue reading “August Newsletter”

Hi everyone- Well, we have made it to summer (at least the British variety) – and it’s time for the July edition of our Royal Statistical Society Data Science Section newsletter. Hopefully some interesting topics and titbits to feed your data science curiosity while enjoying a socially distanced day on the beach with everyone else…Continue reading “July Newsletter”

Hi everyone- Another month flies by- somehow lockdown days seem to go slowly but weeks disappear – and it’s time for the June edition of our Royal Statistical Society Data Science Section newsletter. Hopefully some interesting topics and titbits to feed your data science curiosity… As always- any and all feedback most welcome! If youContinue reading “June Newsletter”

We are all been bombarded with statistics and graphs right now. Both social media and traditional news outlets are showing graphs of infections, changes in death rates, impact on the economy or environment. We are being overwhelmed with data and it’s important that professionals presenting data do so clearly to a wide audience.

Hi everyone- Well, April is now behind us, so it is high time to pull together the May edition of our Royal Statistical Society Data Science Section newsletter. Rather than dwell solely on COVID related data science topics (of which we know there are plenty) we thought we’d try and bring a more balanced assortmentContinue reading “May Newsletter”

We believe a lack of data scientists in leadership roles is a major reason why organisations don’t get value from data science. Our recent survey has shown that data scientists with a manager from a data science background are more likely to feel they’re delivering value for an organisation. Last year we conducted a surveyContinue reading “Data Science Needs Technical Managers”

Hi everyone- What a month… the end of February seems like an age ago, and life for everyone has changed beyond comprehension since then. The dramatic rise of the COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the crucial underlying importance of rigourous analytical methods to both understand what is going on, and to inform decisions around the bestContinue reading “April Newsletter”

At this critical time in the modern history of the human race, mathematical models have been pushed into the foreground. Epidemic forecasting informs policy and even individual decision-making. Sadly, scientists and journalists have completely failed to communicate how these models work. Last week the Financial Times published the headline ‘Coronavirus may have infected half ofContinue reading “All models are wrong, but some are completely wrong”

Hi everyone- Time flies- even with the extra day, February felt pretty short… Anyway, here’s round 2 of the Royal Statistical Society Data Science Section monthly newsletter- any and all feedback most welcome! If you like these, do please send on to your friends- we are looking to build a strong community of data scienceContinue reading “March Newsletter”

We thought it could be useful (and fun) to pick the collective brains of our Data Science Section committee members (as well as those of our impressive array of subscribers and followers) and put together a monthly newsletter. This will undoubtedly be biased but will hopefully surface materials that we collectively feel is interesting andContinue reading “Our First Newsletter (of many…)”

Last week, the Prime Minister’s chief strategic adviser – Dominic Cummings – wrote a blog which attracted a huge amount of media attention. He called for a radical new approach to civil service recruitment – suggesting that data scientists (among others) should play increasingly important roles. But while data scientists were top of Cummings’ list, it was hisContinue reading “The do’s and don’ts of starting a data science team”

On Thursday May 16th, The Royal Statistical Society’s Data Science Section hosted our inaugural Industrial Strength Data Science event of the year at the RSS headquarters in central London. The event was titled “We are not unicorns” and consisted of a panel discussion on a range of topics centered around the current state of dataContinue reading ““We are not unicorns”​”