Ruth King

Thomas Bayes' Chair of Statistics at the School of Mathematics | Director of the Bayes Centre

  • School of Mathematics
  • Bayes Centre

Contact details

Address

Street

The School of Mathematics
University of Edinburgh
James Clerk Maxwell Building
Peter Guthrie Tait Road
Edinburgh

City
Post code
EH9 3FD
Street

Bayes Centre
47 Potterrow
Edinburgh

City
Post code
EH8 9BT

Biography

Background

I joined the School of Mathematics at the University of Edinburgh in September 2015 as the Thomas Bayes' Chair of Statistics; and in August 2023 I was appointed as the new Director of the Bayes Centre, the University of Edinburgh's Innovation Hub for Data Science and AI. 

I was elected a Fellow of the Learned Society of Wales in 2017; a fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 2018; and a fellow of the Institute for Mathematical Statistics in 2022. In 2022 I was awarded the Royal Statistical Society Barnett Award.

I am an active member of the wider statistical community. Positions of responsibility held have included Elected President of the International Biometrics Society British and Irish Region (2019-20); vice- president (2018 and 2021); Elected Council member of the Royal Statistical Society (2018-21); Deputy Director of the National Centre for Statistical Ecology (NCSE) (2019-23). In 2017 I was one of the founding team that launched the (still running) Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) on Statistics: Unlocking the World of Data. I am also a co-founder of the University of Edinburgh's Centre for Statistics; launched in 2017, uniting statisticians and quantitative researchers across the three colleges of the University. 

Biometrika Trust: Trustee, 2023-28.

Royal Statistical Society: Webinar Advisory Group Member, 2021-23; Honours Committee Member, 2016- 20; Research Section Committee Member, 2016-19.

International Biometrics Society: Elected President of the British and Irish Region, 2020-21 (vice-president, 2018, 2022); Editorial Advisory Committee Member, 2016-19; 2020-23.

International Society of Bayesian Analysis (ISBA): Mitchell Prize Committee Member, 2021.

Learned Society of Wales: STEMM4 Scrutiny Committee (for selection of new fellows), 2022-24.

Royal Society of Edinburgh: B4 Sectional Committee (for selection of new fellows), 2018-21.

International Statistical Ecology Conference Foundation: Trustee, 2020+. 

National Centre for Statistical Ecology: Deputy Director, 2019-23. 

Carnegie Trust: PhD Scholarship Review Panel Member, 2021-23.

Alan Turing Institute: Programme Committee Member, 2016-18; Turing Fellow, 2016-21.

School of Mathematics, University of Edinburgh: Presenter for Class of '82 40th Reunion, 2022. ; and

Royal Society of Edinburgh: "Women in Science in Scotland" exhibition, 2019; and Winter lecture at Wallace High School, Stirling, 2020. 

PiForum (for supporting diversity in Mathematics PhD applications): Invited speaker (virtual), 2020.

International Centre for Mathematical Sciences (ICMS): Public lecture (Edinburgh) - "The Rise and Fall and Rise of Bayesian Statistics", 2019.

30th Annual Coulter McDowell: Public lecture (London), 2016.

MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) "Statistics: Unlocking the World of Data": Co-developer and academic lead, 2016+.

London Mathematical Society: 150th Popular Lectures (London and Glasgow), 2015.

The Guardian: Invited author of article "How to count invisible people", 2015.

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