Name: Discussion on exam grading algorithms at RSS Conference by Royal Statistical Society
Duration: 17 min
Description: RSS Chief Executive Stian Westlake chaired a short panel discussion on what is commonly termed the ‘A level exams fiasco’. When physical exams taking place in 2020 were cancelled in the UK because of the Covid-19 pandemic, an algorithm was developed to set students’ exam grades. However, this algorithm had to be abandoned after significant inconsistencies were identified in the results.

Dr Richard Saldanha is an expert in statistical machine learning and quantitative finance. He co-heads Oxquant, a management consulting business involved in AI/ML advisory work in finance and other knowledge-based industries.

Richard has worked in quantitative finance for over 23 years and has held senior roles in both asset management and investment banking at major institutions in the City of London in the areas of risk management, trading and investments.

Richard holds a doctorate (DPhil) in Statistics from the University of Oxford. He is a Fellow and Chartered Statistician (CStat) of the Royal Statistical Society, a Member of the Institute of Mathematical Statistics.

PSN podcast with Richard Saldanha CStat

Dr Anna Heath is a biostatistician at SickKids Hospital in Toronto within the Child Health Evaluative Sciences (CHES) program, an assistant professor at the University of Toronto in the Dalla Lana School of Public Health and an honorary research fellow at University College London in the Department of Statistical Science. We spoke with Anna about the application of health economic ideas to the conception, design and analysis of clinical trials, and in particular the concept of the Value of Information whereby we can quantify the economic value of obtaining information through research.

Statistical Developments in the Calculation of Value of Information

Biostatistician by design: from prisons to prions

Stephanie Hare, author of 'Technology is Not Neutral', talks to Real World Data Science about the 'wicked problem' of technology and AI ethics, and why laws and regulations are 'necessary but insufficient' to minimise harms. 'We’re going to have to inculcate an entire new mindset', she argues.

Stephanie Hare on why we need a culture of technology ethics

Mags Wiley speaks to Colin Gillespie from Newcastle University about his modelling of sheep flocking.

A Bayesian Analysis Of Animal Movement Data

Mags Wiley speaks to Rachel Hogg about the work she does as a statistician at NHS Blood and Transplant, as part of the team looking into the reasons why mortality rates for patients on the lung transplant list are so high and how better patient care can be delivered.

An Analysis Of Patient Outcomes From Listing For A Lung Transplant

RSS Chief Executive Stian Westlake chaired a short panel discussion on what is commonly termed the ‘A level exams fiasco’. When physical exams taking place in 2020 were cancelled in the UK because of the Covid-19 pandemic, an algorithm was developed to set students’ exam grades. However, this algorithm had to be abandoned after significant inconsistencies were identified in the results.

Discussion on exam grading algorithms at RSS Conference

Professor Christl Donnelly, of Oxford University and Imperial College London, gave the 29th Bradford Hill Memorial Lecture on 30th June 2020 in London. We caught up with Christl to talk about her vast practical experience of applying methods in the context of infectious diseases, including SARS, MERS, Ebola and Covid-19. We discussed the real-time analysis of infectious diseases and some of the questions related to this we might ask. For instance, how many cases are there, who's getting sick and how fast is the epidemic growing? Christl explained how statistics, epidemiology and modelling can help to address these questions.

Real-time epidemiology, statistics and modelling with Professor Christl Donnelly

Dr Maria Van Kerkhove is an epidemiologist at the World Health Organisation (WHO) and technical lead for the Covid-19 pandemic. We spoke with Maria about how the WHO is able to best use vast amounts of data and research findings to inform guidance and some of the challenges and opportunities for the future.

Use of data and research at the World Health Organisation with Dr Maria Van Kerkhove

The Stats + Stories podcast comes to RSS Conference 2020. Join host John Bailer for 80 minutes of debate and discussion on “the statistics behind the stories and the stories behind the statistics”. Featuring guests Tim Harford, author and presenter of BBC Radio 4’s More or Less, who will explain his “rules for thinking differently about numbers”; and Timandra Harkness, presenter, writer and comedian, who will talk about the misunderstanding of risk and the challenge of Covid-19. 

https://statsandstories.net/

Stats+Stories: Live at RSS 2020

The Royal Statistical Society (RSS) is one of the world's most distinguished and renowned statistical societies.  It is a learned society for statistics, a professional body for statisticians and a charity which promotes statistics, data and evidence for the public good.

It was founded in 1834 as the Statistical Society of London and became the Royal Statistical Society by Royal Charter in 1887.  Today the Society has more than 10,000 members around the world, of whom many are professionally qualified as Chartered Statistician.  The RSS is active in a wide range of areas both directly and indirectly relevant to the study and application of statistics.

Discussion on exam grading algorithms at RSS Conference

Royal Statistical Society

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