ISI - International Statistical Institute
Newsletter Volume 26, No. 3 (78) 2002

Message from the President

Dear Colleagues,

My main intention in this message is to bring you up to date with the activities of the ISI Executive and ISI Council. We both met in London on 2-3 September following the IAOS Conference on the New Economy. We were hosted by the Royal Statistical Society of the United Kingdom. We are very grateful for their hospitality.

Possibly the most important item we discussed was the final report of the ISI Ad Hoc Committee on Membership Expansion and Renewal. This Committee was chaired by David Moore. It was commissioned to address some of the imbalances in our membership, particularly the lack of young statisticians, women and members from developing countries. The report was very well received by Council. It made a number of very useful suggestions, most of which Council agreed to implement.

Their recommendations included:

We are very grateful for the efforts of David Moore and his Committee. I am confident that the implementation of the recommendations will lead to a much stronger ISI. We will keep you up to date with our plans to implement the recommendations.

ISI Council members

Some of the simplifications to the nomination procedures will require changes to the ISI By-laws. You will be asked for your opinion on these By-laws prior to the General Assembly in ISI 2003

Also, the ISI Executive Committee will commence the strategic planning exercise at its next meeting. If you have any matters you would like considered at this meeting, please pass them through to the ISI Permanent Office.

You can also help address the ISI membership problem. Why don't you consider nominating new members who satisfy the relevant criteria, particularly women, those from younger age groups and developing countries? Nominations can now be submitted electronically (without any signatures) at http://isi.cbs.nl/candidateform.htm.

One of the most important activities of the ISI is its biennial Sessions. We received an update of the arrangements for ISI 2003 in Berlin. Everything is going very well. You can be confident that it will be an excellent ISI Session. Among other things, it will include tutorials and short courses on topics of particular interest. Distribution of Bulletin No 1 has commenced so you should receive your copy shortly, if you haven’t already done so. Also, you can check out the web site
(http://www.isi-2003.de/) to obtain an update on the arrangements. Among other things, there will be an increase in the short courses and tutorials that are available.

I was also able to bring Council up to date with developments for the ISI 2005 Session in Sydney. We have made a flying start to the arrangements with a well-established National Organising Committee in place. The Conference venue is in a beautiful site on Sydney Harbour with an abundance of space. There is plentiful accommodation within walking distance and at a reasonable price. The official website (http://www.tourhosts.com.au/isi2005) is now functional and the content will be gradually increased.

Switzerland has unfortunately had to withdraw its invitation to host ISI 2007 because of budgetary problems. I have received a letter of apology for any inconvenience from the Director-General of the Federal Office of Statistics. Fortunately, Portugal has stepped into the breach and have agreed to host ISI 2007 in Lisbon. This should be an extremely attractive alternative venue.

The Council also agreed to some changes to the arrangements for Programme Committees. First, the roles of the ISI Programme Co-ordinating and the ISI Programme Committee will be made quite distinctive (with some name changes). Membership will be changed as well with the Co-ordinating Committee comprising the overall ISI Programme Chair, the Vice-Chair (from the host country), the Chair of the ISI Program Committee and the Section Chairs. These arrangements will commence from 2005. Following a suggestion from Jean-Louis Bodin, standardised forms (electronic) are to be introduced for those wishing to submit invited paper proposals to the ISI programme. This will introduce an element of formality but also enable suggestions to be shared between the members of the different programme committees. It will also ensure that submissions contain all the required information (many don't at present). It may also help overcome one of the main problems with the ISI Programme Co-ordinating Committee - the members tend to take an advocacy role in respect of their sectional interests rather than looking at the whole ISI programme.

Another important item of discussion was the ISI publications programme. This is one of the core services that the ISI provides to its members. The ISI Publications Committee Chairman, Chris Klaassen, presented a report to Council. The main emphasis was on the move to increased use of electronic publishing. 

Our main conclusions were:

The ISI finances remain in a sound position. Although our operating profit is only small (as is appropriate for a non-profit organisation), the balance sheet is healthy and our liquid assets exceed three years of expenditure. This was assisted by what turned out to be a prudent financial strategy of moving some of our investments from US dollars to Euros. Our finances are such that there is some scope to spend on some of the initiatives recommended by the Ad Hoc Committee on Membership Expansion and Renewal.

I hope this Newsletter finds you in good health and that many of you will be able to attend our next Session in Berlin. Please remember we always welcome the views of the membership. 

With my best wishes,
Dennis Trewin
President ISI

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