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In September there were two in-person events at which NABES had a significant presence.

The first was the Royal Statistical Society International Conference where we had a poster introducing NABES and also held an invited panel session on Helping Statistician’s thrive within the Agricultural, Biological and Environmental (ABE) Sectors. We discussed the challenges and possible solutions to how we can:

  1. Attract people to the ABE statistics/quantitative methods community
  2. Help quantitative individuals thrive within the ABE sectors
  3. Link with other quantitative experts (especially between academia and applied experts) across the sectors
  4. Make the role of quantitative methods scientists more visible within the ABE sectors

We had great ideas and comments from both the audience and our panellists who were representing NABES, International Biometrics Society, National Centre for Statistical Ecology, The International Environmetrics Society and the Environmental Statistics Section of the RSS.

The second was the IBS-NABES Joint Workshop on Statistical Challenges in the Agri-Environmental Sector that brought together academics working on the development of statistical theory and methods with professional statisticians in the agri-environmental sector. Caroline Brophy (University of Warwick) and Nick Schurch (BioSS) both gave key-note speeches on statistical challenges within different parts of the agri-environmental sector. The workshop also included discussions on:

  • Big data and small sample statistics
  • Statistical privacy
  • Statistical indicators
  • AI and sustainabililty

Both events offered NABES members a valuable chance to meet face to face. For those who are professionally isolated, attending a conference already knowing people from feeling part of the NABES community transformed the experience, making it more supportive and enjoyable.