The Royal Statistical Society (RSS) International Conference annually brings together the statistics and data science community from across the UK, Europe and around the world. This year the conference was held in our home city of Edinburgh from 1st - 4th September, and many BioSS staff attended. 

The conference consisted of a wide variety of sessions, ranging from broad view keynote talks to discussion panels on specific issues, interactive programming workshops, a poster reception and themed scientific talk sessions. The BioSS staff attended sessions including 'Tackling Environmental Challenges with Statistics and Data Science', 'Missing Data' and 'Advanced Methods in Data Science" as well as leading their own presentations and themed sessions. The conference provided a valuable opportunity to network with statistical colleagues from across the globe, sharing knowledge and learning about the latest developments in our field. 

Mark Brewer chairing session with keynote speaker Claire Miller

At the end of the conference, we were incredibly proud to hear that BioSS's Tess Vernon and Samuel Connolly's poster 'Design and Analysis of a Citizen Science Survey of Badger Distribution in Scotland' won first prize in the best poster presentation competition. 

BioSS staff gave a total of 12 different presentations during the conference, including 10 talks and 2 posters:

• Zhou Fang - In-season predictions for aphid abundance 
• Tess Vernon & Samuel Connolly - Design and Analysis of a Citizen Science Survey of Badger Distribution in Scotland
• Nick Schurch - Reality checking AI’s current capacity for environmental insight
• Gail Robertson - Graphical models as decision making tools in complex systems                                                   Samuel Connolly presenting his poster
• Adam Butler - Evaluating and improving the treatment of uncertainty in offshore wind ornithology assessments
• Esther Jones - A framework for transdisciplinary research in ecology: the complementary roles of AI and domain expertise
• Dave Miller - Adding more (temporal) structure to GAMs
• John Addy - Bayesian time-varying autoregressive models for aphid abundance, using data from Scottish suction trap sites
• Altea Lorenzo-Arribas - Social Trust in AI mapping
• Altea Lorenzo-Arribas - Impacts of Artificial Intelligence (AI) on the different cultures of privacy and identity in rural communities
• Altea Lorenzo-Arribas - Causal Inference for Circular Economy Behaviours
• Ian Hunt - Pragmatic Bayesianism and statistical pluralism for animal ethics applications

BioSS staff also organised a total of 11 themed sessions throughout the conference:

• Gail Robertson - Statistical evidence in investigation of murder in healthcare settings
• Adam Butler & Esther Jones - Ecological impacts of offshore renewables: uncertainty and transferability
• Esther Jones - Effectively communicating outputs from spatio-temporal models
• Esther Jones - Addressing the challenges for effective integration of AI and novel technologies in statistical ecology
• Dave Miller & John Addy - Here today, GAM tomorrow: incorporating temporal structure in generalized additive model
• Mark Brewer - Helping statisticians to thrive within the environmental, agricultural and biological sectors
• Altea Lorenzo-Arribas - Socially responsible AI & Sustainability
• Altea Lorenzo-Arribas - Socially responsible AI & Inclusion
• Altea Lorenzo-Arribas - Plotting your path: Women in statistics and data science share their stories
• Altea Lorenzo-Arribas - Statistical considerations in inequality and sustainability studies
• Ian Hunt - Animal health and welfare