IASS News September 2020

In this newsletter we will mention the August IASS Annual General Meeting, the September IASS webinar and conference-related news.

Links to more information:

The IASS Executive Committee encourage members to subscribe and contribute articles to the Statistics Journal of the International Association of Official Statistics. Website: https://officialstatistics.com/aims-scope .

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

Annual General Meeting (2020) of The International Association of Survey Statisticians

Thank you to everyone who attended the IASS 2020 Annual General Meeting (AGM) held on the 28th August 2002. It was the first virtual IASS AGM. By vote of the members who attended the AGM, the IASS Statutes have been amended to allow virtual IASS AGMs to be held in the future.  For more background on this issue refer to the August 2020 Newsletter.

The President, other members of the Executive Committee, the editor of the TSS, and other committee members gave reports on the achievements of the IASS in the previous year and the EC’s plans for the upcoming year. Much of these have been covered in previous newsletters but if you would like to know more, we will be making a video recording of the AGM available on the IASS website.

IASS’ Webinar 2 on Covid-19 surveillance surveys

On the 3rd of September the IASS EC hosted its 2nd webinar on Covid-19 surveillance surveys. The webinar consisted of three talks:

  • Measuring the socio-economic impact of coronavirus in Asia and the Pacific, presented by Gemma Van Halderen, Director of the Statistics Division in the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific
  • Overview of the design and estimation methods in the ONS Covid Infection Survey presented by Salah Merad, Office for National Statistics
  • Statistical Design for Covid-19 monitoring and control, presented by Stephen Haslett, Massey University

followed by questions from the audience. My thanks to the speakers for preparing such interesting talks and to the IASS members who attended. Also thanks to those who asked questions via the chat function- apologies if we did have time to ask your question. A recording of this webinar, along with a copy of the presenter’s slides, will be available on the IASS website shortly.

IASS Webinar 3 is being planned for October so stay tuned for details!

Revising the terms of the Cochran-Hansen Prize

Thank you to those who have made suggestions on the revision of the CH prize, necessitated by travel restrictions due to the Covid pandemic and by the WSC being virtual in 2021.

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.

 IASS-Supported Conferences Planned for 2020

Conference for Population Surveys, Data Users and Producers, took place 5-6 February 2020, Nigeria, Africa

 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 June 14-17, 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 to 2021. 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

Women in Statistics and Data Science Conference 2020 is planned to take place 1-3 October in Pittsburgh, USA Website: https://ww2.amstat.org/meetings/wsds/2020/

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

American Statistical Association Conference on Statistical Practice is planned to take place 18-20 February 2021 in Nashville, USA

Symposium on Data Science & Statistics is planned to take place June 2-5, 2021 in Missouri, USA–. Website https://ww2.amstat.org/meetings/sdss/2021/

Conference and Special Issue of Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series A in memory of Fred Smith and Chris Skinner will be held in Southampton, UK, 8‐10 July 2021. See the August 2020 IASS Newsletter for full details.

63rd ISI World Statistics Congress will take place 11-15 July 2021 and will be virtual.  Website: https://www.isi2021.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