IASS News May 2020

In this newsletter we provide an update on IASS’s representation on committees, ISI celebrations, WSC 2021 short courses, COVID19 Surveillance Surveys, the conference in honour of Chris Skinner and Fred Smith, and upcoming conferences.

Links to more information

Please feel free to send items to publish in future IASS newsletters to James Chipperfield james.chipperfield@abs.gov.au

IASS Representation

The IASS Executive Committee will soon appoint two IASS members to the ISI’s Publication Committee. One aim of the committee is “To enhance the ISI’s support of the international statistical community”. Other aims and its terms of reference are available via the link:

https://www.isi-web.org/index.php/news-from-isi/117-isi-publications-committee

ISI celebrations

On 12 May at 13:00 (CEST), the ISI will begin the celebration of the International Year of Women in Statistics and Data Science (Florence Nightingale was born on this day 200 years ago), the ISI’s 135th anniversary (which falls on 24 June), and the official welcome for the 63rd ISI World Statistics Congress in The Hague in July 2021. To mark the celebration the ISI will post presentations on the above three topics on its website

https://www.isi2021.org/international-year-of-women-in-statistics-and-data-science.html

World Statistics Conference 2021 Short Courses

The IASS Executive Committee plans to put proposals for short courses to the WSC 2021’s

Short Course Committee. The focus is on short courses that promote continuing professional development and go beyond our usual statistical capacity building. If you have any suggestions for courses and world-leading experts to present them, please let James know.

COVID19 Surveillance Surveys

IASS will collaborate with the Italian Statistical Society to develop survey methods for COVID19 surveillance (See last month’s IASS newsletter for information about COVID19 surveillance surveys). This includes measuring the prevalence of COVID19 in populations and its impact on well-being. Denise Britz do Nascimento Silva, IASS President, and Gaia Bertarelli, an IASS member, have kindly agreed to collate the plans and progress on surveillance surveys from across the world. If you can contribute to this please contact Gaia (gaia.bertarelli@ec.unipi.it) and Denise (denisebritz@gmail.com).  Examples of organisations engaged in such surveillance cound be found via the links below:

https://www.covid-impact.org/

https://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/mf/4940.0

https://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/Lookup/5676.0.55.003Main+Features1April%202020?OpenDocument

https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/healthandsocialcare/healthandwellbeing/bulletins/coronavirusandthesocialimpactsongreatbritain/7may2020#measuring-the-data

Conference in Honour of Chris Skinner and Fred Smith

A conference in honour of Fred Smith & Chris Skinner, both of whom had served on the IASS Executive Committee, will take place 8-10 July in Southampton 2021. It will finish at lunchtime on 10th, allowing people to travel to the Hague, Netherlands for the start of the WSC 2021. More details will be announced at a later date.

Conferences

Due to the corona virus pandemic some conferences have announced postponements, changes to format (from an in-person to a virtual conference) or suspended registration. Other conferences are in the process of doing so. Where this information is available, it has been noted below. This is a fast-evolving situation so, if in doubt, please check the conference website.

Late last year, the IASS Executive committee decided to provide monetary support to five conferences during 2020. As mentioned, due to the COVID19 pandemic some of these conferences have been postponed to 2021. When asked by conference organisers, the IASS committee has agreed to transfer that support to 2021.

Upcoming IASS-Supported Conferences Initially Planned for 2020

ICES VI – The International Conference on Establishment Statistics was planned to take place 15–18 June in New Orleans, U.S but has been postponed to 2021

Website: https://ww2.amstat.org/meetings/ices/2020/conferenceinfo.cfm.

SAE2020- BigSmall – Conference on Small Area Estimation was to be held 6–8 July in Naples, Italy, with the theme “Big Data for Small Areas”. Due to the corona virus pandemic, the conference will be held 5-7 July in Naples as a satellite conference to the World Statistics Conference in 2021.

Website: https://sae2020.org/ 

Summer School on Survey Statistics 2020 was planned to be held 24–28 August in Minsk, Belarus but it has been postponed. Details to be announced.

Website: https://wiki.helsinki.fi/display/BNU/Events.

11e Colloque International Francophone sur les Sondages – 11th International Francophone Conference on Surveys was planned for 13–16 October in Brussels, Belgium. It has been postponed. Details to be announced soon.

 
Website: http://sondages2020.sciencesconf.org.

Other 2020 Conferences on survey statistics and related areas

American Association for Public Opinion Research Annual Conference will be held 14-17 May in Atlanta, U.S. It will now be a virtual conference rather than an in-person conference. Website: https://www.aapor.org/Conference-Events/Annual-Meeting.aspx

17th IAOS Conference and the 3rd ISI Regional Statistics Conference due to be held 19-21 May 2020 in Livingstone, Zambia, has been postponed to a date to be confirmed. Website: https://2020-iaos-isi.zamstats.gov.zm/index.php

12th International Conference on Transport Survey Methods was to take take place May 31 – June 5 but due to the corona virus pandemic it is currently planned for 25-30 October at the Hotel Golf Mar in Porto Novo (near Lisbon), Portugal.Website: https://www.isctsc2020.pt/

Symposium on Data Science & Statistics is planned to take placeJune 3 – 5 as a virtual conference. Website https://ww2.amstat.org/meetings/sdss/2020/ 

Australian and New Zealand Statistical Conference was to take place 6-10 July 2020, Gold Coast, Australia but is now postponed to 5-9 July 2021. Website: https://anzsc2020.com.au/

Q2020 -10th European Conference on Quality in Official Statistics was planned to take place 9–12 June in Budapest, Hungary. However, the conference will no longer take place during 2020.

Website: http://q2020.hu/

Joint Statistical Meeting with the theme Everyone Counts: Data for the Public Good will take place 1-6th August as a virtual conference.

Website: https://ww2.amstat.org/meetings/jsm/2020/index.cfm

BigSurv20 – Big Data Meets Survey Science was planned to be held 4–6 November in Utrecht, Netherlands. This will likely not happen and organisers are considering a virtual conference or postponement. Website: https://www.bigsurv20.org

The Survey Research Methods Section (SRMS) of the ASA

Information on activities of the Survey Research Methods Section of the American Statistical Association (ASA) are available at: https://community.amstat.org/surveyresearchmethodssection/home