SAMPLE SPACE
FROM PROFESSOR RICHARD CHANDLER
[ Maybe IMSS would be interested in The Leonard-Forster Written Submssion to the UCL Inquiry into the History of Eugenics at UCL]
Welcome to our first edition of Sample Space, a newsletter that aims to keep our community
of past and present students and staff in touch with what’s happening in Statistical Science
at UCL. I hope you find the contents interesting: we plan to do more of this kind of thing
in the future, to keep you all updated with the latest news from the department.
UCL Statistical Science is currently undergoing a period
of significant expansion: this is part of a strategic
investment in mathematics, statistics and operational
research that will lead to the establishment of a UCL Institute for
Mathematical and Statistical Sciences, or IMSS for short. We
plan for the Statistical Science and Mathematics departments to
be re-housed next to each other on a single site, in a purposedesigned facility that will put UCL on the map as one of the
‘go-to’ places for the mathematical sciences in London – and
that will also provide our students with a much greater sense
of community than is currently possible. Bringing this idea to
fruition has already taken considerable effort, and will continue
to do so in the coming months and years, although I strongly
believe that the rewards will be well worth it. Apart from
anything else, being bigger gives us additional resources
to do things like producing Sample Space!
The department has also recently established a new master’s
programme in Data Science, which has proven very popular
with students. A recent graduate, Mete Veyisoglu, has kindly
taken the time to share his experiences of the programme in this
issue. Further curriculum developments are being undertaken
at the moment to ensure that we continue to equip our students
with the tools to be statistically literate, perhaps a more
desirable skill than ever in today's world.
On the research side, the recent announcement of a large
increase in UK government funding for the mathematical sciences
is very welcome, and particularly timely in view of our IMSS
expansion plans. Final preparations are underway for REF 2021,
the latest iteration of the UK’s ‘Research Excellence Framework’.
The department’s performance in this exercise will also contribute
to the level of government funding we receive for the next few
years. We have excellent staff doing exciting and incredibly
diverse research, some of which is making a real impact outside
academia: this issue highlights work being done by Serge Guillas
and his team on understanding tsunami risk around the world.
As always, there are external challenges: as I write, UK universities
are grappling with the uncertainties posed by Brexit and, more
urgently, by the worldwide Covid-19 outbreak. UCL Statistical
Science is such a thoroughly international community that these
issues will certainly affect us to some extent. I very much hope,
however, that the effects will be minimal for all of us.
Finally, I would like to extend my very sincere thanks to everyone
who contributed to this first issue of Sample Space, and in
particular to Samuel Livingstone for coordinating and editing it.
If any readers have feedback, or potential contributions to future
issues, or suggestions for material that they’d like to see, please
contact him at samuel.livingstone@ucl.ac.uk. I think he and all
the contributors have done a fantastic job: I hope you do too.
No comments:
Post a Comment