BioSS celebrated its 25th Anniversary in March 2013 in the presence of colleagues and collaborators at the Royal Society of Edinburgh. This event formed BioSS's principal contribution to the International Year of Statistics which has received world wide support from over 2000 organisations.

We were delighted to have as our guest speaker, Professor Denise Lievesley, a member of the Steering Committee for the International Year of Statistics. Denise gave a stimulating lecture “Living statistics: the interplay between the development and application of statistical methods" in which she focussed on six key challenges facing the statistical profession, including the tension between relevance and autonomy, and the balancing act between pragmatism and purism.

Although Denise's background as Head of the School of Social Science and Public Policy at King's College London brought her into contact with a different range of applications from those encountered by BioSS, all present could identify with the challenges she described.