Mathematics/Statistics: Skills & Insight – Tackling Previously Unseen Data With Professor Theo Kypraios From University of Nottingham

Data is everywhere, comes in different formats and is ever-increasing both in terms of volume and complexity. Finding insights and patterns in large datasets at scale and at speed happens all the time: from using our smartphone to answering business questions and making predictions; and from advancing science to informing policy-making.

In this talk, Professor Theo Kypraios will give an insight to a statistician’s journey by discussing through real-life examples (i.e. non-textbook data) how to extract useful information from data to solve a particular problem. Examples will include predicting the course of an infectious disease outbreak based on data available to date (i.e. number of cases, hospitalisations) and detecting the occurrence of a major disruptive event based on data from social media.

Theo will also highlight the ups and downs of tackling previously unseen data and the various ways to overcome the technical challenges one may be faced with.

Lecturer Profile (Please Click): Theo Kypraios is a Professor of Statistics and is the Head of the Statistics and Probability Section in the School of Mathematical Sciences at the University of Nottingham.

Our events are designed so that a group of students can take part from a classroom or students and teachers can take part as individuals, either from school or from home. This means that sessions will continue irrespective of possible school closures.

As a live, participative event, this session will not be recorded but slides and other resources will be shared after the event, where available.

Suitable for: Year 12 & 13 students (and equivalent) studying, or with a possible interest in studying, Mathematics/Statistics and related disciplines.

Preparation/Pre-Reading: Students may wish to consider the topic in advance, with respect to challenges they may face or questions they have. Students can also think about questions they have about studying Mathematics/Statistics at university level.

The IT Setup: The event will be run on Bluejeans (similar to Zoom) and participants will be able to join using laptops, tablets, and mobile devices. If you are joining as a school group, we recommend connecting with one device and projecting on to a whiteboard. You will be able to interact with the university via a microphone and/or typed comments and questions. Full details will be sent to those who have registered (see below) prior to the event.

Booking a Place: This is free for schools and colleges. If you would like to take part in this event, please register your interest using the link to the registration form below: