Robert has been Chairman of the Office for Budget Responsibility since October 2010. Previously he served as Director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies from 2002 to 2010, as an advisor to senior management at the International Monetary Fund from 1999 to 2002, as Economics Editor of the Financial Times from 1995 to 1999, and as an economics and business writer on the Independent and Independent on Sunday from 1990 to 1994.

He is a member of the Finance Committee of the University of Cambridge and a Governor of the National Institute for Economic and Social Research. Robert was educated at Queens’ College, Cambridge, at City University in London and at the School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University in Washington DC.

“A thriving democracy needs good statistics, well explained and well understood. Only then can we adequately understand the world around us and make sensible decisions about the choices that individuals and society confront.”

Sir Ian is a social statistician who has worked most notably in the area of population, also in health, in environmental noise and with local authorities. His research has involved collaboration with a number of government departments. He took up his current post in April 2010. Before this he was Chief Executive of the Economic and Social Research Council, also, from 2004 – 2009 Chair of the Research Councils UK Executive Group.

“As we move into the century of data the need for everyone to understand how to use statistics and to be able to spot errors in data has never been more necessary. I am pleased to be able to support everything getstats does to help this to happen.”

Mark’s career as a journalist began when he joined his local paper after leaving school. Since then, he has won numerous awards – including an RSS award for excellence – for his reporting. Mark’s ambition is to be a chronicler of the story of changing Britain – the way we live in the UK and the many ways in which that is constantly changing – and views an understanding of numbers, data and statistics as an essential component of how that story is told and understood.

“If we want to understand what is happening to our society, the answers will be found in numbers. It is only by understanding and respecting statistics and data that we can recognise trends, evaluate policy and consider how best to make Britain a better place.”

Harvey was awarded the RSS Guy medal in silver in 1998 and elected a fellow of the British Academy in 1997. He has been a member of the Royal Statistical Society’s Council and chaired its education strategy group. His research interests are in the way educational tests are developed and analysed (esp. in the comparison of performance between institutions and countries) and he has written extensively on the use (and misuse) of item response modelling in educational testing.

“I believe it is really important to support getstats in order to help produce quantitatively literate citizens for a society increasingly dependent on statistical data in order to function democratically and equitably.”

Dougal works between parliament, Whitehall, business and the research community to promote policy debate concerning scientific, engineering, technology and medical issues. He is a non-executive Chairman of the Lighthill Risk Network, a consultant to the marine insurance market and a visiting professor at UCL and the University of Cranfield. Previously, he worked for the British Antarctic Survey and BP.

Julian’s political interests include science, education and evidence-based policy. He sits on the Home Affairs Select Committee and is a member of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Statistics. After completing a doctorate in Biological Chemistry at the University of Cambridge, he worked as a research scientist studying the structures of DNA and tutored students. He was then a councillor in Cambridge (East Chesterton) for 8 years before being elected as an MP.

“We are all surrounded by numbers and statistics everyday of our lives. By learning what they mean and how to use them we have a better understanding of the world around us and can play a greater part.”

Denise has taught at and led organisations in the UK and overseas. She has been Chief Executive of the English Information Centre for Health and Social Care; Director of Statistics at UNESCO and of the UK Data Archive, also a special adviser at the UN’s African Centre for Statistics. She is a past president of the RSS. She has always campaigned for the use of evidence-based public policy and is committed to protecting the integrity of official statistics, free from political influence.

“Statistical understanding is such an important component of empowering the citizen. I subscribe to the World Bank definition of ‘empowerment’ – the process of increasing the capacity of individuals or groups to make choices and to transform those choices into desired actions and outcomes. Central to this are actions which build individual and collective assets, and improve the efficiency and fairness of the organizational and institutional context governing the use of these assets. Trusted and trustworthy statistical information and the ability of citizens to use these data effectively are central to this”

John is the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC)’s Strategic Advisor on Quantitative Methods Training. His research interests are: social demography; quantitative methods; sociology of gender and national identity in Scotland and Catalonia. In his capacity as ESRC’s adviser on quantitative methods training, John is taking the lead in developing a new, generic Statistics curriculum for undergraduate social science and humanities undergraduate courses.

“In the rapidly emerging digital society we will be confronted with a relentlessly increasing volume of data about every imaginable sphere of life. I want more people to understand Statistics because it will enable them to tell when this data is being used well, and, more often, when it is being misused as ‘policy based evidence”.

Jil took up post as the National Statistician in 2009. She is also Chief Executive of the UK Statistics Authority, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) and the Government Statistical Services. Before this she worked in Whitehall for more than 30 years, including from 2004-8, as the ONS’s Director of Census, Demographic and Regional Statistics. As National Statistician, her role is to safeguard the production and publication of high quality official statistics by all departments, agencies and institutions within the UK. She is also the Government’s principal adviser on official statistics.

“Statistics really matter. They help all of us understand the world we live in, and inform all the most important aspects of public debate.”

In his role as CSA, Bernard advises the Home Secretary, ministers and policy officials on all the topics relevant to Home Office business. He leads Home Office Science including applied science and technology and advises on policy and operations in crime and migration inter alia. He is a highly cited researcher whose published work is centred on computational statistics, the understanding of new statistical methods made possible and necessary by increases in computational power.

“Statistics are too important just to leave to experts, and it’s crucial that people grasp the basic principles so that they can make good judgements—whether about their own lives or about wider public issues.”

David divides his time between the Statistical Laboratory, the Medical Research Council Biostatistics Unit and other interests including the ‘Understanding Uncertainty’ website and regular TV and radio contributions about uncertainty, risk, probability and statistics. He is a highly cited researcher and mathematical scientist. He has been a consultant on a range of UK and international projects. He played a leading role in the public inquiries into children’s heart surgery at the Bristol Royal Infirmary and the murders by Harold Shipman.

“We get bombarded with numbers, and I feel very strongly that people should be able to take them apart and see which ones are worth taking any notice of”

Neville is Professor of Statistical Education and Director of the RSSCSE at Plymouth University. He has taught and carried out research in statistics for 40 years. He is the originator of the international internet-based CensusAtSchoolproject, designed to raise awareness about population censuses and provide real data, learning and teaching curriculum-enrichment resources in schools across the world.

“All citizens have a right to know why it is important to be able to get trustworthy information from the enormous amount of data in the world around us; they should be able to understand good and bad data-based arguments, including being sceptical about anecdotes used to further a cause; and they should be able to do certain statistical tasks for themselves. That’s where the getstats campaign comes in”