Brighton Café Scientifique – Living is a Risky Business

• DOORS: 7.15pm
• SPEAKER: 8.00pm

We are bombarded with numbers and statistics in the media on a daily basis and are expected to use these to make decisions about our day-to-day lives. But what do these numbers really mean? Real life involves risks. From cycling without a helmet, visiting a country with contagious diseases, to living near the water. Sometimes your perception of risk is distorted, making you think that some things are more – or less – risky than is actually the case. And sometimes things happen just by chance, right?
In this talk Jen Visser-Rogers will be taking you through some of the most important concepts in statistics as she looks at extreme weather events, pharmaceutical drug trials, risk, and more.

Professor Jennifer Visser-Rogers is an experienced statistical consultant and a popular science communicator and presenter. With a Ph.D. from the University of Warwick and a B.Sc. and M.Sc. from Lancaster University, she has a broad portfolio of achievement, particularly in the development of clinical trial methodologies. She has an interest in the development and application of novel statistical methodologies, particularly in clinical trials. Jen can also regularly be found giving conference presentations and talking all things statistics in schools, theatres and pubs. She can often be heard on the Radio or seen on TV screens. Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, Jen carried out numerous interviews, was ITV’s resident COVID-19 statistician, and was a member of the Royal Statistical Society COVID-19 Task Force.

This talk has been arranged in collaboration with the Royal Statistical Society whose annual conference is taking place in Brighton during the first week of September.