RSSeNEWS to be determined...

With the close of submissions for contributed talks and posters at the end of March, the full programme for the RSS 2010 international conference in Brighton in September is now taking shape.

In addition to the previously announced plenary speakers, Robert Stine (University of Pennsylvania) has accepted an invitation to speak on the area of statistics in finance.

Vern Farewell, chair of the planning committee, confirms; "We have been fortunate to attract leading international speakers on some highly topical subjects. Together with what promises to be a diverse and stimulating collection of invited sessions the conference should be a highly enjoyable and thought provoking event."

The full programme of speakers and sessions for the main conference, which runs from 14 to 17 September, will be made available from the conference website  towards the end of May.

Pre-conference programme

A full programme of pre-conference courses and workshops is scheduled for Monday 13 September.

This includes the third Young Statisticians Training Day – this year’s theme is ‘Making the most of the RSS conference’, with courses on ‘Statistical design’ and ‘Uncertainty in computer models’, as well as a workshop on ‘Management by fact’.

Registration opens

Registration for the conference will open in early April with, as usual, one-day, two-day and full conference registration options available. Registration information will be found on the conference website.

All registrations received by 7 June will receive a 20 per cent discount and those received by 9 August will receive a 10 per cent discount.

The accommodation bookings are being handled by Visit Brighton and their dedicated website can be accessed via the conference website.

Conference grants

Each year the Society allocates a sum of money for a scheme whereby fellows can apply for a grant towards the cost of attending the annual conference.

Any current fellow is eligible to apply; however, the scheme is aimed primarily at assisting young statisticians or research students and those fellows from countries classified as economically developing areas (EDAs) who would not otherwise be able to attend.

These grants will usually be expected to help cover accommodation and registration fees.

Applicants are asked to state clearly the purpose of their attendance at the conference and the activities/sessions they expect to participate in as well as clearly setting out the costs involved in attending.

Applications will be considered on their individual merits by Valerie Isham, the theme director for meetings and conferences, who will consider making exceptions for special cases among those not in the categories of young or student statisticians or fellows from EDAs.

The maximum grant available will be £250.

J H West bursary

The Society is also able to offer a number of J H West bursaries up to maximum of £500 each to fellows from EDAs to assist with travel costs to the conference.

The bursary will only be awarded to those who have had papers or posters accepted for presentation and who have demonstrated clear plans to further their statistical development while in the UK.

Priority will be given to career-young statisticians (defined as those under the age of 30 or who are in the first seven years of statistics based careers).

EDA fellows are still eligible to apply for standard conference grants in addition to the bursary.

Cathie Marsh bursary

The Cathie Marsh memorial bursary was launched in 1994 by the Social Statistics section in memory of Cathie Marsh who chaired the section from 1990 to 1992.

The aim of the bursary is to encourage young statisticians or social scientists in empirical enquiry and those using quantitative methods through attendance at the conference.

The scheme is open to members and student members who are at an early stage in their careers and for whom a bursary award would allow attendance which would not otherwise be possible. The bursary can be used toward the costs of attending the main conference, and/or pre-conference courses, workshops and the Young Statisticians Training Day.

Applications will be considered on their individual merits by a subcommittee of the Social Statistics Section.

Two bursary awards, each of a maximum of £150, are being made available.

• Note that it is not possible to receive both a Society grant and the Cathie Marsh bursary for attendance at the same conference.

The deadline for applications for all grants and bursaries is 24 May. Application forms can be downloaded via the conference website.