World Statistics Day in Delta Centre will discuss topics of modern statistics

On 20 October, the University of Tartu Institute of Mathematics and Statistics invites all to the Delta Centre to celebrate the World Statistics Day. The event will also be broadcast on UTTV.

The event gives the opportunity to listen to the thoughts of experts who do statistics on a daily basis as well as people whose work is indirectly affected by it. The topics of the presentations range from statistics-related problems in today’s world to the connections of Tartu and statistics in the past century. The seemingly simple issues, such as counting people and households or informing someone about their risks, can turn out to be quite complex when examined thoroughly.

“By the year 2020 we have evolved into an information society, where numerous decisions are made on the basis of data – on the national, institutional and individual level. Therefore, none of us can do without statistical literacy – the ability to understand numerical data and talk about it,” said Krista Fischer, Professor of Mathematical Statistics at the University of Tartu, who is also going to speak at the event. “Statistical literacy is also one of the most important topics of the World Statistics Day. We offer the opportunity to listen to the views of academic statisticians, representatives of official statistics as well as data scientists, economists and politicians on the world of numbers. We will discuss how well we have adapted to it and how we can go on improving our skills together.”

In a panel discussion, experts of different fields try to find an answer to the question of what is the best way to communicate numerical indicators to the public. The speakers include Minister of Social Affairs Tanel Kiik, Associate Professor and Research Fellow in Macroeconomics at the University of Tartu and Senior Economist at the Bank of Estonia Lenno Uusküla, Academician and Professor of Bioinformatics of the University of Tartu Jaak Vilo and many more. For more information about the performers and the programme, see the web page of the Delta Centre.

The event will be carried out with the help of Statistics Estonia, Estonian Research Council and SEB. Participation at the event is free of charge, but registration is required to take part in the event on-site.

Further information: Krista Fischer, Professor of Mathematical Statistics at the University of Tartu, 737 5496, krista.fischer@ut.ee