Thepresident of the Royal Statistical Society is the head of theRoyal Statistical Society (RSS), elected biennially by the Fellows of the Society. The time-period between elections has varied in the past.
The president oversees the running of the Society and chairs its council meetings. The president gives apresidential address at some point in their tenure, which is published in the longest runningjournal of the society, Series A, setting out personal views on the future of discipline and the role of the society. In recent years, almost all presidents have been nominated following many years' service to the Society, although some have been nominated to mark their eminence in society generally, such asHarold Wilson.
Nominations for president are received by the society's Nominating Committee.[1] The committee recommends at least one fellow to Council who, at a meeting, agree a preferred candidate or candidates. If only one preferred candidate is selected, the Fellowship are given four weeks to offer an alternate candidate.
There has only been one contested election in the Society's history, in 1977. Many fellows objected to the nomination by the Council ofCampbell Adamson because he was not a statistician, was said to have made derogatory comments about statisticians, and principally because in the previous year he had been defeated in an election to the Council of the Society, and fellows felt that he was being foisted upon the Society by the current 'establishment' in an essentially undemocratic fashion.[2]Henry Wynn was nominated by several fellows (includingAdrian Smith, himself later president, andPhilip Dawid) and won the election.
Despite women being elected fellows from 1858, only five have been president of the society. Three of these have been in the 21st century although the proportion remains biased to men with nine male presidents since 2001.
In 2010,Bernard Silverman stepped down very early in his presidential term. This was due to being appointed as chief scientific advisor to theHome Office which presented aconflict of interest as the society sometimes issues expert statements on statistical matters in public life. In 2022 then president-electDavid Firth withdrew on health grounds, prompting a further election in which the immediate past-president,Andrew Garrett, was elected.[3] The current president isProf Sir John Aston.[4]
In 2025, Enkhbilguun Enkhsaikhan was elected president, winning by 78 percent against Prof Sir John Aston.
ThreePrinces of Wales have been an honorary president: