Royal Statistical Society
Encyclopedia
The Royal Statistical Society (RSS) is a learned society
for statistics
and a professional body
for statistician
s in the UK
.
(which is older than the LSS) is a notable exception. The associations were formed with the object of gathering information about society. It was many decades before mathematics was regarded as part of the statistical project.
, Charles Babbage
, Adolphe Quetelet
, William Whewell
and Thomas Malthus
. Among its famous members was Florence Nightingale
, who was the society's first female member in 1858. Notable RSS presidents have included William Beveridge
, Ronald Fisher
, Harold Wilson
and David Cox
: see also Presidents of the Royal Statistical Society. The current president is Valerie Isham
.
in 1887, and merged with the Institute of Statisticians
in 1993. Today the society has 7,200 members around the world, of whom some 1,500 are professionally qualified
, with the status of Chartered Statistician
(CStat). In January 2009, the RSS received Licensed Body status within the UK Science Council
, and since February 2009 Chartered Statisticians have been able to apply for Chartered Scientist
(CSci) status.
Unusually among professional societies
, all members of the RSS are known as "Fellows" — fellowship is not a mark of distinction.
Before the 1993 merger with the Institute of Statisticians
, Fellows often used the
post-nominal letters FSS. This merger enabled the Society to take on the role of a
professional body as well as that of a learned society; use of the unearned FSS
qualification was viewed as inappropriate and strongly discouraged, and it became less common.
The post-nominal letters FRSS are sometimes seen, but this is a simple mistake.
, close to the boundary with the City of London
, between Old street
and Barbican station
s.
The Society has twenty-two local groups in the UK, together with a variety of topic-related sections and study groups. Each of these sections and groups organizes lectures and seminars on statistical topics.
The University of Plymouth
was selected by the Royal Statistical Society in October 2008 to become the host institution for its Centre for Statistical Education (RSSCSE) from August 2009.
, having long argued for legislation on statistics.
in September 2008, the University of Edinburgh
in September 2009, at which the Society's 175th anniversary was celebrated, and September 2010 in Brighton. The Society awards Guy Medal
s in Gold, Silver and Bronze, in honour of William Guy
.
The RSS team reached the finals of University Challenge
: The Professionals 2006, where they were beaten 230 to 125 by a team from the Bodleian Library
, Oxford
.
, which currently consists of three separate series of journals whose contents include papers presented at Ordinary Meetings of the Society, namely Series A (Statistics in Society), Series B (Statistical Methodology) and Series C (Applied Statistics), as well as a general audience magazine called Significance published in conjunction with the American Statistical Association
.
Learned society
A learned society is an organization that exists to promote an academic discipline/profession, as well a group of disciplines. Membership may be open to all, may require possession of some qualification, or may be an honor conferred by election, as is the case with the oldest learned societies,...
for statistics
Statistics
Statistics is the study of the collection, organization, analysis, and interpretation of data. It deals with all aspects of this, including the planning of data collection in terms of the design of surveys and experiments....
and a professional body
Professional body
A professional association is usually a nonprofit organization seeking to further a particular profession, the interests of individuals engaged in that profession, and the public interest.The roles of these professional associations have been variously defined: "A group of people in a...
for statistician
Statistician
A statistician is someone who works with theoretical or applied statistics. The profession exists in both the private and public sectors. The core of that work is to measure, interpret, and describe the world and human activity patterns within it...
s in the UK
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
.
History
It was founded in 1834 as the Statistical Society of London (LSS), though a perhaps unrelated London Statistical Society was in existence at least as early as 1824. At that time there were many provincial statistics societies throughout Britain, but most have not survived. The Manchester Statistical SocietyManchester Statistical Society
Manchester Statistical Society is a learned society founded 1833 in Manchester, England. It claims to be "the first organisation in Britain to study social problems systematically and to collect statistics for social purposes" and in 1834 to be "the first organisation to carry out a house-to-house...
(which is older than the LSS) is a notable exception. The associations were formed with the object of gathering information about society. It was many decades before mathematics was regarded as part of the statistical project.
Key figures
Instrumental in founding the LSS were Richard JonesRichard Jones (economist)
Richard Jones was an English economist who criticised the theoretical views of David Ricardo and T. R. Malthus on economic rent and population....
, Charles Babbage
Charles Babbage
Charles Babbage, FRS was an English mathematician, philosopher, inventor and mechanical engineer who originated the concept of a programmable computer...
, Adolphe Quetelet
Adolphe Quetelet
Lambert Adolphe Jacques Quetelet was a Belgian astronomer, mathematician, statistician and sociologist. He founded and directed the Brussels Observatory and was influential in introducing statistical methods to the social sciences...
, William Whewell
William Whewell
William Whewell was an English polymath, scientist, Anglican priest, philosopher, theologian, and historian of science. He was Master of Trinity College, Cambridge.-Life and career:Whewell was born in Lancaster...
and Thomas Malthus
Thomas Malthus
The Reverend Thomas Robert Malthus FRS was an English scholar, influential in political economy and demography. Malthus popularized the economic theory of rent....
. Among its famous members was Florence Nightingale
Florence Nightingale
Florence Nightingale OM, RRC was a celebrated English nurse, writer and statistician. She came to prominence for her pioneering work in nursing during the Crimean War, where she tended to wounded soldiers. She was dubbed "The Lady with the Lamp" after her habit of making rounds at night...
, who was the society's first female member in 1858. Notable RSS presidents have included William Beveridge
William Beveridge
William Henry Beveridge, 1st Baron Beveridge KCB was a British economist and social reformer. He is best known for his 1942 report Social Insurance and Allied Services which served as the basis for the post-World War II welfare state put in place by the Labour government elected in 1945.Lord...
, Ronald Fisher
Ronald Fisher
Sir Ronald Aylmer Fisher FRS was an English statistician, evolutionary biologist, eugenicist and geneticist. Among other things, Fisher is well known for his contributions to statistics by creating Fisher's exact test and Fisher's equation...
, Harold Wilson
Harold Wilson
James Harold Wilson, Baron Wilson of Rievaulx, KG, OBE, FRS, FSS, PC was a British Labour Member of Parliament, Leader of the Labour Party. He was twice Prime Minister of the United Kingdom during the 1960s and 1970s, winning four general elections, including a minority government after the...
and David Cox
David Cox (statistician)
Sir David Roxbee Cox FRS is a prominent British statistician.-Early years:Cox studied mathematics at St. John's College, Cambridge and obtained his PhD from the University of Leeds in 1949, advised by Henry Daniels and Bernard Welch.-Career:He was employed from 1944 to 1946 at the Royal Aircraft...
: see also Presidents of the Royal Statistical Society. The current president is Valerie Isham
Valerie Isham
Valerie Susan Isham is a British applied probabilist and currently President of the Royal Statistical Society.Isham's research interests in include point processes, spatial processes, spatio-temporal processes and population processes. She went to Imperial College London where she was a student...
.
Royal charter
The LSS became the RSS (Royal Statistical Society) by Royal CharterRoyal Charter
A royal charter is a formal document issued by a monarch as letters patent, granting a right or power to an individual or a body corporate. They were, and are still, used to establish significant organizations such as cities or universities. Charters should be distinguished from warrants and...
in 1887, and merged with the Institute of Statisticians
Institute of Statisticians
The Institute of Statisticians was a British professional organization founded in 1948 to protect the interests of professional statisticians. It was originally named The Association of Incorporated Statisticians Limited, but this was later changed...
in 1993. Today the society has 7,200 members around the world, of whom some 1,500 are professionally qualified
British professional qualifications
Professional qualifications in the United Kingdom are generally awarded by professional bodies in line with their charters. These qualifications are subject to the European directives on professional qualifications...
, with the status of Chartered Statistician
Chartered statistician
Chartered Statistician is a professional qualification in statistics offered by the Royal Statistical Society in the United Kingdom...
(CStat). In January 2009, the RSS received Licensed Body status within the UK Science Council
Science Council
The was established by Royal Charter in 2003. The principal activity of The Science Council is the promotion of the advancement and dissemination of knowledge of and education in science pure and applied, for the public benefit....
, and since February 2009 Chartered Statisticians have been able to apply for Chartered Scientist
Chartered scientist
Chartered Scientist is a professional qualification in the United Kingdom that is awarded by the Science Council through its Licensed member organisations...
(CSci) status.
Unusually among professional societies
Professional body
A professional association is usually a nonprofit organization seeking to further a particular profession, the interests of individuals engaged in that profession, and the public interest.The roles of these professional associations have been variously defined: "A group of people in a...
, all members of the RSS are known as "Fellows" — fellowship is not a mark of distinction.
Before the 1993 merger with the Institute of Statisticians
Institute of Statisticians
The Institute of Statisticians was a British professional organization founded in 1948 to protect the interests of professional statisticians. It was originally named The Association of Incorporated Statisticians Limited, but this was later changed...
, Fellows often used the
post-nominal letters FSS. This merger enabled the Society to take on the role of a
professional body as well as that of a learned society; use of the unearned FSS
qualification was viewed as inappropriate and strongly discouraged, and it became less common.
The post-nominal letters FRSS are sometimes seen, but this is a simple mistake.
Structure
The RSS has premises, including offices and meeting rooms, situated in the London Borough of IslingtonLondon Borough of Islington
The London Borough of Islington is a London borough in Inner London. It was formed in 1965 by merging the former metropolitan boroughs of Islington and Finsbury. The borough contains two Westminster parliamentary constituencies, Islington North and Islington South & Finsbury...
, close to the boundary with the City of London
City of London
The City of London is a small area within Greater London, England. It is the historic core of London around which the modern conurbation grew and has held city status since time immemorial. The City’s boundaries have remained almost unchanged since the Middle Ages, and it is now only a tiny part of...
, between Old street
Old Street station
Old Street station is a central London National Rail and London Underground station located at the junction of Old Street and City Road just north of the City of London. It lies close to the border between the boroughs of Islington and Hackney...
and Barbican station
Barbican station
Barbican is a London Underground station serving the Barbican Estate and Centre in the City of London. It is on the Circle, Hammersmith & City and Metropolitan lines between and , in Travelcard Zone 1. Thameslink trains to and from Moorgate via Barbican ceased in March 2009.-History:The station...
s.
The Society has twenty-two local groups in the UK, together with a variety of topic-related sections and study groups. Each of these sections and groups organizes lectures and seminars on statistical topics.
The University of Plymouth
University of Plymouth
Plymouth University is the largest university in the South West of England, with over 30,000 students and is 9th largest in the United Kingdom by total number of students . It has almost 3,000 staff...
was selected by the Royal Statistical Society in October 2008 to become the host institution for its Centre for Statistical Education (RSSCSE) from August 2009.
Function
The Society has been particularly engaged with the passage of the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007
The Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which established the UK Statistics Authority . It came into force in April 2008. Sir Michael Scholar was appointed as the first Chair of the UKSA....
, having long argued for legislation on statistics.
Events
The RSS organises an annual conference; the three most recent being held at the University of NottinghamUniversity of Nottingham
The University of Nottingham is a public research university based in Nottingham, United Kingdom, with further campuses in Ningbo, China and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia...
in September 2008, the University of Edinburgh
University of Edinburgh
The University of Edinburgh, founded in 1583, is a public research university located in Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland, and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The university is deeply embedded in the fabric of the city, with many of the buildings in the historic Old Town belonging to the university...
in September 2009, at which the Society's 175th anniversary was celebrated, and September 2010 in Brighton. The Society awards Guy Medal
Guy Medal
The Guy Medals are awarded by the Royal Statistical Society in three categories; Gold, Silver and Bronze. The Gold Medal is awarded triennially, the other two are awarded annually...
s in Gold, Silver and Bronze, in honour of William Guy
William Guy
William Augustus Guy was a British physician and medical statistician.-Life:He was born in Chichester and educated at Christ's Hospital and Guy's Hospital; he then studied at the University of Heidelberg and the University of Paris before getting a Bachelor of Medicine degree from the University...
.
The RSS team reached the finals of University Challenge
University Challenge
University Challenge is a British quiz programme that has aired since 1962. The format is based on the American show College Bowl, which ran on NBC radio from 1953 to 1957, and on NBC television from 1959 to 1970....
: The Professionals 2006, where they were beaten 230 to 125 by a team from the Bodleian Library
Bodleian Library
The Bodleian Library , the main research library of the University of Oxford, is one of the oldest libraries in Europe, and in Britain is second in size only to the British Library...
, Oxford
Oxford
The city of Oxford is the county town of Oxfordshire, England. The city, made prominent by its medieval university, has a population of just under 165,000, with 153,900 living within the district boundary. It lies about 50 miles north-west of London. The rivers Cherwell and Thames run through...
.
Publications
It also publishes the Journal of the Royal Statistical SocietyJournal of the Royal Statistical Society
The Journal of the Royal Statistical Society is a series of three peer-reviewed statistics journals published by Blackwell Publishing for the London-based Royal Statistical Society.- History :...
, which currently consists of three separate series of journals whose contents include papers presented at Ordinary Meetings of the Society, namely Series A (Statistics in Society), Series B (Statistical Methodology) and Series C (Applied Statistics), as well as a general audience magazine called Significance published in conjunction with the American Statistical Association
American Statistical Association
The American Statistical Association , is the main professional US organization for statisticians and related professions. It was founded in Boston, Massachusetts on November 27, 1839, and is the second oldest, continuously operating professional society in the United States...
.
See also
- President of the Royal Statistical SocietyPresident of the Royal Statistical SocietyThe President of the Royal Statistical Society is the head of the Royal Statistical Society , elected biannually by the Fellows of the Society. ....
- Council for the Mathematical SciencesCouncil for the Mathematical SciencesThe Council for the Mathematical Sciences was established in 2001 by the Institute of Mathematics and its Applications, the London Mathematical Society and the Royal Statistical Society to provide a forum:...
- RSSRSS-Mathematics:* Root-sum-square, the square root of the sum of the squares of the elements of a data set* Residual sum of squares in statistics-Technology:* RSS , "Really Simple Syndication" or "Rich Site Summary", a family of web feed formats...