Harding Professor of Statistics in Public Life
This professorship, formerly known as the
Winton Professor of the Public Understanding of Risk, was generously endowed by The David and Claudia Harding Foundation
to undertake research into the use of quantitative evidence in public policy making, and develop new ways to use data in public life and debate. This involves three main aims:
- developing cutting edge statistical techniques of relevance to public policy
- working with those in public life to ensure the best quantitative methods are used
- improving the use of statistics and other quantitiative evidence in public policy debates
This research is joint with a number of collaborators not least the
Winton Centre for Risk and Evidence Communication. I am co-Director of the
Cambridge Mathematics of Information in Healthcare Hub and on the management board of the
Cantab Capital Institute for the Mathematics of Information.
I am also a non-Executive Director of the
UK Statistics Authority
If you are interested in more general articles, podcasts etc about my work, please see
here
Home Office Chief Scientific Adviser and Director-General STARS
From 2017-2020, I was on secondment as Chief Scientific Adviser and Director-General for Science, Technology, Analysis, Research and Strategy (STARS) at the
Home Office. This involved working with the Home Secretary,
Ministers and Officials on all aspects of science (very broadly definied, including physical, technological, biological and social sciences), both in terms of advice and the overseeing and commissioning of research. I also led approximately 1000 colleagues in
STARS, made up of analysts (economists, statisticians, operational researchers and social researchers), scientists, stategy and private office members of the Home Office. The Home Office is one of the great Departments of State, and I was fortunate to be part of some of the pivotal
moments in the history of the UK over the last few years.
Statistical Research Interests and Publications
My interests include all areas of Applied Statistics but particularly Official and Public Policy Statistics, Statistical Neuroimaging and Statistical Linguistics. I'm also very pleased to be involved in some of Cambridge's AI and COVID-19 work through
AIX-COVNET.
I have methodological interests amongst other things in Functional and Manifold Data Analysis, Time Series Analysis, Image Analysis, Changepoint Analysis, Spatial-Temporal Statistics, as well as applications of sequential Monte Carlo techniques. I am also very interested in the links between statistics and other areas of pure and applied mathematics.
Fuller information on
Journal Publications can be found at the link and additional information can be found at my
Google Scholar profile.
Postdoctoral Researchers and Students
I have been fortunate to work with a number of excellent postdoctoral research fellows and associates, as well as some really talented PhD students. Further details about past and present
PhD Students and PDRAs can be found at the link.
Some Previous Projects and Positions
My previous EPSRC Fellowship Project
Functional Object Data Analysis and its Applications
From 2015-2017, I was a trustee and member of the board of directors of the
Alan Turing Institute.
Prior to being at Cambridge, I held academic positions at the
University of Warwick and at
Academia Sinica and was a NISS Junior Fellow at the
United States Census Bureau.
I was secretary of the Royal Statistical Society
Research Section during 2013-2014
Research Support
My research has been generously supported by:
The David and Claudia Harding Foundation
EPSRC
ESRC
MRC
Marie Curie
FIRB
LMS
Contact Details
John Aston
Statistical Laboratory
University of Cambridge
Wilberforce Road
Cambridge CB3 0WB
Email:
J.Aston@statslab.cam.ac.uk
Last updated June 2021.
