Young Statisticians' Prize

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Published: Thursday, 02 July 2020 10:12

2022 IAOS Prize for Young Statisticians

Announcement of Competition

Calling all Young Official Statisticians
Win a trip to an international statistical conference

The International Association for Official Statistics (IAOS) is pleased to announce the launch of the 2022 IAOS Young Statisticians Prize. This international prize encourages young statisticians to take an active interest in official statistics and is awarded for the best paper in the field of official statistics written by a young statistician.

In addition to the monetary prizes, the first-place winner(s) receive travel funds to present their paper at an international conference.  Details of the conference will be decided in conjunction with the winner and may include the 2022 IAOS Conference being held in Krakow, Poland in April 2022.

Submissions should address and propose solutions to pressing methodological or strategic issues in the area of official statistics at the regional, national or international level, be no more than 4,000 words, be submitted in English and should not have been previously presented in a public forum or published. A maximum of three co-authors is allowed for each submission and an author can participate in only one submission.

An international panel will judge submissions based on the following criteria:

• Scientific and/or strategic merit
• Originality
• Applicability of the ideas in the practice of statistical organizations
• Quality of the exposition.

The 2020 prize winner, Ms. Kenza Sallier, shared her tips on preparing a winning submission in this presentation (LINK). Her presentation is recommended viewing. 

Papers must be submitted before 11:59 pm (UTC) on 11 February 2022.

The decision of the panel will be final. Prizes will only be awarded if papers of significant quality are submitted.

The author(s) of the best paper will be awarded:

• A cash prize valued at €1,500 (divided among co-authors if applicable)
• An opportunity to present the paper at a mutually agreed international statistical conference, with airfare and hotel accommodation provided (for only one author in situations of co-authorship)
• Two years of IAOS membership
• A certificate of award from the IAOS acknowledging success in this competition.

Prizes may also be awarded to those in second and third place:

• 2^nd Place - A cash prize valued at €1000, 2 years of IAOS membership, and a certificate
• 3^rd Place - A cash prize valued at €500, 2 years of IAOS membership, and a certificate

A prize will also be awarded to the best paper from a developing country:

• Best paper – honorable mention, 2 years of IAOS membership, and a certificate.

Prize winning papers will be considered for publication in the Statistical Journal of the IAOS.

To be eligible, authors (and co-authors) must:

• Be under the age of 35 on 11 February 2022 and
• Be employed [1] by an official statistical organization [2] as at 11 February 2022

Submissions must comprise a maximum of 4,000 words (including abstract, titles and references) plus the filled-in submission template plus a cover page that must include:

• A line that it is a “Submission for the 2022 IAOS Prize for Young Statisticians”
• The title of the paper
• The name(s), prefix(s), job title(s), full date(s) of birth, age(s) and e-mail addresses of the author(s)
• The name(s) of the employing official statistical agency(ies)
• An abstract of no more than 15 lines.

Any material beyond the core text of the paper, such as table of contents, references, appendices, tables, and graphs, must be contained within the maximum of 4,000 words. Any submission exceeding 4,000 words plus cover page will be disqualified.

Please submit papers, in MS Word or compatible format [3] to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

[1]Full-time, part-time, or contractual employees or interns are eligible and an NSOs employee who also teaches or studies on a part-time basis is eligible. Professional consultants or members of the teaching profession carrying out a contract with the NSO agency are not eligible.

[2]A National or International Statistical Organization or the Statistics Department of a Central Bank, Ministry or Regional or Local Government in a decentralized National Statistical System or non-statistical international organization. 

[3]In Times New Roman (size 12) font, with side, top, and bottom margins of 1 inch (25.4 millimeters).

2021 IAOS Prize for Young Statisticians

IAOS Members Newsletter - September 2019

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Published: Friday, 08 November 2019 12:14

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Members Newsletter September 2019

Dear IAOS Members

I feel very fortunate to have been elected as President of the International Association for Official Statistics for the period 2019-21. 

I have the good fortune to be following Mario Palma, and his predecessors in the role. They have built the Association into what it is today and my task is made all the easier by their leadership over many years. 

I also have the good fortune to be part of a brilliant and diverse newly elected Executive Committee (EXCO) team [ https://www.iaos-isi.org/index.php/latestnews/246-announcement-iaos-executive-committe-2019-2021 ]. The IAOS is an entirely voluntary Association and the commitment of those who are elected to serve is testament to how much they care about the role of official statistics in serving the public good across the globe. 

Finally, I have the good fortune to come into the role at a critical time for our community: the need for trustworthy numbers to guide decision making is everywhere evident; the opportunities arising from new data sources, technologies and methods are tantalising; and the IAOS has a unique place, both in upholding the centrality of official statistics to effective democracy and in calling out those who seek to undermine it and seduce others to ignore evidence and instead rely on anecdote, whim or populist rhetoric. 

Now is a time for us to find our voice.

One month into the role I am greatly encouraged. The World Statistics Congress in Kuala Lumpur (with IAOS EXCO member Dr Mohd Uzir Mahidin, Chair of the organising committee, a most wonderful host) included many sessions organised by the IAOS and many other sessions strongly linked to our interests, such as on statistical literacy. 

I particularly enjoyed the passion displayed in the session on official statistics and Parliaments organised by our founding President, Jean-Louis Bodin (one of no less than eight IAOS Presidents present at the WSC). There are plenty of other highlights on YouTube [

My thanks also to Rolando Ocampo, who was the IAOS representative on the WSC Scientific Committee.

Our new Executive Committee has got off to a great start and we have launched a consultation into the IAOS strategy for 2019-2021. Make sure you have your say  

Plans are well advanced for our conference in Zambia (19-21 May 2020 - note for your diary) which promises to be an exciting celebration of all that we value as a professional community. 

Our Journal is thriving and developing fast in the hands of new Editor-in-Chief, Pieter Everaers and his impressive editorial team. Do you have a paper or an article that could inspire others? Or a contribution to make to our online discussion platform? Register at www.officialstatistics.com and have your say! Our first discussion topic is based on the recently published article “You say you want a [data] revolution”: A proposal to use unofficial statistics for the SDG Global Indicator Framework by Steve MacFeely and Bojan Nastav.

It was a great joy for me to present the Young Statisticians Prizes for 2019 at the closing ceremony of the World Statistics Congress.  Congratulations again to the 2019 winners. YSP 2020 is our tenth year. Do look out for good nominees. Applications for 2020 are now open http://www.iaos-isi.org/index.php/statistics-prize with a cash prize and a trip to Zambia on offer for the winners.

There are plenty of other opportunities too to contribute to the work of the IAOS. As well as the Conference, Journal and Young Statisticians Prize we are looking for people to help with communications, including engagement on social media and development of our website. Contact us to get involved at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or at https://twitter.com/IAOS_stat 

Our membership has been growing fast but with more members we can do even more: if you have not joined yet do so; if you are already a member get a friend (or maybe five or more...) to sign up https://www.iaos-isi.org/index.php/about-us/join-us ]. We have had to increase the membership rates for 2020 to cover overhead charges levied on us by the ISI, but the new full member rate of E50 for the year remains great value and there are discounts for members in developing countries, students, individuals who work in an organisation who is an institutional member and Journal article contributors.

It is also important that we share experience and support each other. The case of Andreas Georgiou is an especially important one. The support given by Kathy Wallman and others in a recent letter to the Financial Times (Brussels must assess Greek judicial reform efforts ) calling for an end to the persecution of Andreas will hopefully make a difference.

As for me, I will be out and about spreading the word. September’s activities include the Bloomberg Data for Good Exchange [ https://www.bloomberg.com/lp/d4gx/], the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development Data Board meeting [www.data4sdgs.org/], meetings with Director of the United Nations Statistics Division and his colleagues, and the Valuing Statistics conference.

 If you have some other opportunities to spread the word about the IAOS, or have information to share with others interested in official statistics, contact me at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

John Pullinger

IAOS President

September 2019

IAOS Members Newsletter November 2019

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Published: Friday, 08 November 2019 12:38

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President’s message, November 2019

Dear IAOS Members

I have been enjoying getting to know lots more people over the last month. The more I see, the more impressed I am with what is going on in our network. I can also more clearly see the potential for the official statistics community to have a stronger voice and greater impact for public good in countries around the world.

The Young Statistician Prize 2020 is well underway. Please reach out to your networks and encourage submissions. This year we have introduced a new category of Honourable Mention for an author from a developing country. We have also brought the submission date forward to 30 November in order to make announcements ahead of the 2020 Conference in Zambia. So please, if you haven’t put in a submission yet, get writing soon.

We have also announced the call for papers for the 2020 conference.  (https://www.iaos-isi.org/index.php/conferences)

The conference Better Lives 2030: Mobilising the power of data for Africa and the world -17^th IAOS Conference/ 1^st ISI Regional Statistics Conference for Africa, Hosted by the Zambia Statistics Agency will take place at the Avani Hotel, Livingstone, Zambia, 19-21 May 2020.  Proposals for sessions, papers as well as events before and after the conference close on 31 December 2019.

Members will also be interested to read these attached two pieces about Andreas Georgiou. The first, from the American Statistical Association (https://www.amstat.org/asa/News/Eight-Years-of-Government-Persecution-of-Greek-Statistician.aspx ), updates on eight years of persecution of Andreas and the second, by Miranda Xafa in World Economics (https://www.worldeconomics.com/Files/Xafa.pdf ), gives a history of Andreas’ plight. An event hosted by the ICAEW featuring Andreas (and Ed Humpherson from the UK) is also worth a look (https://audioboom.com/posts/7379312-350m-truth-lies-and-numbers ).

In my last message I mentioned four events I was due to attend. The first, the Bloomberg Data for Good Exchange (DG4X) (https://www.bloomberg.com/lp/d4gx/ ), was an inspiring gathering of mainly private sector data scientists keen to work on public good projects. Michael Bloomberg’s influence as former Mayor of New York was clear through a number of excellent project case studies featuring cities from around the world. 

The second event was the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development Data Board meeting ( www.data4sdgs.org ). We discussed how best the Partnership can scale its impact now it has become well established. Learning from the very positive developments in official statistics in Ghana provided an excellent touch point for our discussion.

 The third event was meetings with Stefan Schweinfest, Director of the United Nations Statistics Division and two of his Branch Heads Francesca Perucci and Ronald Jansen (Ronald is also an IAOS EXCO member). They are all keen to build links with our community and I discussed with them opportunities coming up, including through our conference next year.

 The fourth event was the conference on Valuing Statistics hosted by the United Kingdom. This event was about taking the conclusions of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) report (www.unece.org/index.php?id=51139 ) and turning them into concrete actions. I used the occasion to set out the important role played by the IAOS.

As well as these events I met Roger Taylor, the Chief Executive of the United Kingdom’s new Centre for Data Ethics and Innovation ( https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/centre-for-data-ethics-and-innovation ). Roger was interested to explore the role of the National Statistical Office in an ethical data ecosystem.

 Finally, I was a speaker at the PARIS21 Cross-Regional Forum ( https://paris21.org/news-center/events/cross-regional-forum-2019 ) which has been focused on the issue of trust in Official Statistics. There was a super line up of speakers to help delegates get creative and inspired to act. PARIS21 launched their Trust Initiative at the event (https://trustinitiative2020.paris21.org/ ). Do consider whether you want to apply.

 In the weeks ahead, following a meeting of EXCO, I will be visiting our colleagues at the Zambia CSO to help take forward planning for our conference and also attending the ISI/IFC meeting on Data Governance in Tunis.

If you have some other opportunities to spread the word about the IAOS, or have information to share with others interested in official statistics, contact me at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

John Pullinger

IAOS President

November 2019

IAOS Strategies

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Published: Wednesday, 12 September 2018 21:57

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2019-2021 IAOS Strategy

Introduction

Initial ideas for a strategy for the IAOS for the period 2019-21 were discussed at the IAOS General Assembly in August 2019. Following that discussion, a draft strategy was made available for comments with a deadline of 30 November 2019. Comments received were incorporated and this revised version was ratified by the IAOS Executive Committee at its meeting in March 2020.

Background

Official statistics are fundamental to democracy. They provide governments, businesses and civil society with the information they need to make good decisions. And they give people and their representatives the tools to have informed debates, to make choices and to hold decision makers to account.

In 2019 we celebrated the 25th anniversary of the Fundamental Principles of Official Statistics which have been adopted by the United Nations to guide all nations in developing statistics that meet the test of practical utility

At the same time, developments in technology mean that it is possible to utilise statistical science to gain insights from data that were unimaginable only a few years ago. This means, as Brad Efron memorably said on receiving the International Prize in Statistics at the 2019 World Statistics Congress, that we are on the verge of a new golden age of statistics.

The IAOS is one of the seven associations of the International Statistical Institute (ISI). The ISI has a medium term vision for the period 2017-21 and the IAOS aligns itself with the ISI vision.

Context

IAOS objectives are:

• to promote the understanding and advancement of official statistics and related subjects.
• to foster the development of effective and efficient official statistical services, particularly in developing countries, through international contacts among individuals and organizations, including users of official statistics as well as research institutions.

The world of official statistics is changing fast:

• demands are extending in scope and are up in all fields – users need faster, more fine grained and relevant insight
• many new data sources are available but also many new providers of data services
• we have a challenge to demonstrate trustworthiness and the special value of official statistics in a complex data landscape

The IAOS has many strengths: a growing membership, a well respected journal (SJIAOS), good conferences, the young statisticians prize (YSP), an active community, and the ability to be “free-thinking”. However, we have limited reach and impact with decision makers, our “call to action” for our supporters is not well understood and work rests on few shoulders.

There are opportunities for us arising from the 25th anniversary of Fundamental Principles, World Statistics Day 2020, the 2020 Census round, data gaps in the indicator framework for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) and recent case studies in official statistics. At the same time, we face threats that are confronting institutions in many countries, in particular loss of political (“enough of experts”) and public (“your GDP not our GDP”) support.

These issues have already been recognised in the IAOS 2017-19 strategic plan which set out to:

• provide IAOS membership and producers of statistical information in general, with a forum for the analysis and discussion of the most relevant issues in official statistics
• be a recognised vehicle for spreading knowledge in official statistics
• increase and diversify IAOS membership
• invest in creating mutual beneficial partnerships
• strengthen communications with relevant actors related to official statistics
• contribute to the promotion and defence of the fundamental principles of official statistics
• institutionalise IAOS functions
• strengthen links with the ISI family

The positive progress that has been made against the strategic plan is well set out in the 2018-19 annual report and the report on the 2018 IAOS conference.

Plan Themes for 2019-21

The strategy for 2019-21 builds on the existing plan and our current activities rather than develop new ones:

• the conference: for Zambia 2020 we should aim to build on success of Paris 2018 which attracted 323 attendees from 71 countries
• the journal: SJIAOS is in good health, proposals for the next two years are well advanced and our new discussion platform, launched at the World Statistics Congress, has been well received
• the young Statistician Prize: 2020 is the 10th year and the prize is now a well respected feature of our community. This anniversary year provides a basis for linking the prize with wider efforts to engage young statisticians and young people more generally

We can draw on our core principles: the Declaration on Professional Ethics for Statisticians adopted by the ISI in 2010 (succeeding to the 1985 one), as well as in the Fundamental Principles of Official Statistics published in 1994.

The unifying idea behind the IAOS and the principles on which we draw is that our central interest is our users: those who rely on us to provide a trustworthy guide for the domains we cover to what is going on in the world around them. What matters is the better use of official statistics in public debates, decision making and democratic accountability. We should focus our work in each of our activity areas on delivering an outcome where the IAOS is seen as a leading global advocate for official statistics with the result that:

• Parliaments and Governments recognise value of official statistics and invest in them through strong laws and adequate funding, with a particular attention to the capacity of Official Statistics to inform national and international decisions and to track progress in all the SDG domains.
• Commentators refer to official statistics as fundamental to democracy
• The impact of poorly supported official statistical systems on countries and citizens is widely understood and referenced

This implies five themes for our strategic plan:

1. Focus on users so that the value of official statistics is understood and recognised. This requires us to analyse the key users of official statistics and make sure we reach them. Leading figures outside official statistics acting as advocates, including politicians, central bankers and other public figures, could be highly effective champions (Outcome theme)
2. Build on existing activities rather than develop new ones: the conference, the journal, young statisticians prize each with a clear focus that supports our outcomes. (Output theme)
3. Develop IAOS processes to deliver activities focused on outcomes: EXCO agendas and actions designed to help those responsible for each activity area. Improved two-way communication to engage and enrol. (Process theme)
4. Increase resources by growing membership still further. We have had a growing membership in recent years. We could build on this progress and recruit more members, especially in Africa and other underrepresented regions and amongst younger people, to increase the breadth, depth and diversity of our community. Growing membership has not yet resulted in healthier finances. Indeed we have yet to cover the new levy raised on Association members by the ISI since 2018. EXCO has agreed new subscription rates for 2020 that will cover this extra cost. The new rates are intended to be at a level that does not impact on membership but ensures our finances are sustainable. (Resources theme)
5. Enhance capability: build new partnerships with others who share our goals eg Parliaments, data ethics bodies, National Statistical Associations/Societies and organisations like PARIS21, the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development Data, open data/fact checking organisations and consumer groups. At the same time, we should deepen existing partnerships with the ISI and its Associations. Relationships with National Statistical Institutes (and other producers of official statistics including central banks and ministries) are especially important. Specifically, we should support the ISI strategic priority for capacity building, the ISI strategic plan for the Public Voice for Statistics and the new ISI Special Interest Group on Communicating Statistics and Data Science. IASE is another priority partnership for us given the imperative to build statistical literacy and capability. (Capability theme)

The strategic plan could become a call to action:

• Official statistics give people a voice in decisions that affect them, they make the invisible visible. Official statistics are fundamental to democracy, helping society to leave no one behind. The best known example of official statistics is a countries Population Census – often the largest civic engagement exercise undertaken
• the IAOS is the voice of official statistics
• with a fast growing membership, with acclaimed conferences, journal and young statistician prize, the IAOS is the place to come if you:
  • care about taking part in developing the future of democracy
  • recognise the importance of evidence in making good decisions
  • want to make a difference
• join us

2017-2019 IAOS Strategy

The 2017-2019 Strategic Plan was discussed at the 2017 General Assembly. This plan builds on the previous Strategic Plan, the new ISI Strategy, and a SWOT analysis. The Strategic objectives of the new plan seek to promote the understanding and advancement of official statistics, and to foster the development of effective and efficient official statistical services, particularly in developing countries, through international contacts among individuals and organizations, including users of official statistics as well as research institutions.

The strategic objectives are:

1. Providing forum for analysis and discussion of the most relevant issues in official statistics
2. Be a recognised vehicle for spreading knowledge in official statistics
3. Increase and diverify IAOS membership
4. Invest in creating mutual beneficial partnerships
5. Strengthen communicatons with relevant actor related to official statistics
6. Contribute to the promotion and defence of the fundamental principles of official statistics
7. Institutionalise IAOS functions

IAOS members and supporters are encouraged to plan

• IAOS 2017-2019 Strategic Plan

2015-2017 IAOS Strategy

The 2015 -2017 Strategy had a strong focus on improve and develop the services of IAOS to meet the growing challenges facing official statistics as well as the improvement of statistical infrastructure in developing countries. The plan focused on enhancing  relevancy, visibility and partnership as well as institutionalization. 

• IAOS 2015-2017 Strategic Plan