Both David Hand and Martin Dougherty have built impressively on their predecessors' achievements in ensuring that the RSS has the central authoritative position right across the range of statistics in the UK. My view of the RSS is that it supports three main areas of statistics, and I am looking forward to continuing our progress and activity on all these fronts, as well as on the overarching theme of public engagement and outreach.
On the government and national statistics side, since its foundation, the RSS has acted as a fearlessly independent voice. It is excellent that we now have the UK Statistics Authority in place and the RSS looks forward to continuing its constructive engagement with the Authority and the new National Statistician, especially in the period leading up to the 2011 census.
Our work for professional statisticians in a whole range of areas is central to all our activities and I am impressed with the progress that has been made in improving the structures and services in this area. Those involved in statistics research and teaching look to the RSS as the learned society supporting their interests and activities, and this is a very important part of the RSS's work.
In the current harsh economic and fiscal climate, statistics are particularly important in making difficult decisions and in equipping others to do so, so the role of the RSS is will be crucial in the next few years.
This is certainly an exciting and interesting time.
Bio notes
Bernard Silverman has held academic appointments at the Universities of Bath, Bristol and Oxford, where he has held the post of Master of St Peter's College from 2003 to the end of 2009.
He has now stood down from this position to take up part-time research positions in the Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics, and the Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment, both at Oxford. Before moving to Oxford, Bernard held academic posts at the University
of Bristol (1993-2003) and the University of Bath (1978-1993).
Bernard's research interests span both theoretical and applied statistics, and he is probably best known for his work on smoothing methods and computational statistics. He has been involved in a wide range of consulting and government work, for example on the Foot and Mouth epidemic, GM crops, and the sustainable development of Heathrow.
He has been active in the RSS for over thirty years, for example as Council Member, Chair of the Research Section, and Honorary Secretary. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society and currently a member of the Royal Society's Council.
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