The Department of Statistics is a world leader in research. Its activities span a wide range of modern and exciting developments across theoretical, computational and applied statistics. Much of this research is interdisciplinary, with applications and collaborations in areas from physics to social sciences. In recent years, the department has become one of the leading international centres for mathematical genetics and bioinformatics: study of the human genome is a central concern.
The growing importance of genomics across the life sciences will see increasing collaborations with biologists and the department will play a role in many of the initiatives planned as part of the MPLS division’s Biosphere 2100 theme. Computational and statistical tools are also required to make sense of vast data sets now being generated in a variety of other fields, and statisticians will contribute to interdisciplinary initiatives such as climate prediction and the Dark Universe.
Over the next few years, the department plans to expand in a number of areas. Work in statistical genetics will continue to grow, and the department is seeking funds to support new posts in core statistical research, medical statistics and actuarial science, together with enlarged and improved facilities.