[Salon] How to Tell the Truth with Data with David Spiegelhalter

DAVID SPIEGELHALTER
HOW TO TELL THE TRUTH WITH DATA

Evening Salon / Tues 7 May / 6:30 pm - 8:30 pm

Join renowned British statistician and skilled populariser of evidence, risk and uncertainty, as he explains how to make sense of data.

From the accountability of algorithms to the Cambridge Analytica scandal, he will widen your views with his unrivalled ability to communicate about difficult subjects in clear and accessible language.

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Statistics has played a leading role in our scientific understanding of the world for centuries, yet we are all familiar with the way its claims and figures can be sensationalised and manipulated, especially in an age of big data. David Spiegelhalter, statistician and expert communicator on risk, chance and uncertainty, explains how to tell the truth with data and guides us through the essential principles we need to derive knowledge from it. Drawing on real world problems, he shows us how a proper use of data can help us determine the luckiest passenger on the Titanic, how many trees are on the planet, and whether busier hospitals have higher survival rates. Spiegelhalter reveals the answers to these and many other questions that can only be addressed using statistical science. If you have a burning question, this is your chance! Don’t miss it.

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

David Spiegelhalter is Winton Professor for the Public Understanding of Risk, and as Chair of the Winton Centre for Risk and Evidence Communication, he works to improve the way in which risk and statistical evidence are taught and discussed in society. He gives many presentations to schools and others, advises organisations on risk communication, and is a regular commentator on risk issues. He presented the BBC4 documentaries Tails you Win: the Science of Chance and the award-winning Climate Change by Numbers. He was an advisor to the Department for Education on the GCSE Mathematics curriculum, and was elected FRS in 2005, awarded an OBE in 2006, and was knighted in 2014 for services to medical statistics. 

GOOD READS

• How to Tell the Truth with Statistics: The Art of Learning from Data (2019)
• Teaching Probability (2016)

• Sex by Numbers (2015)

• The Norm Chronicles: Stories and Numbers about Danger and Death (2013)