The Bowman Lectures
The annual Bowman Lecture aims to highlight the crucial importance of statistics, and the mathematical sciences more generally, in addressing issues of public importance. The speakers and subjects are chosen to connect as closely as possible with issues which are both topical and high profile.
The lecture series was established as the result of a generous donation from an anonymous donor. It is named after Emeritus Professor Adrian Bowman who served on the staff of the Department of Statistics, and subsequently the School of Mathematics and Statistics, from 1986 to 2020, including a term as Head of School (2014-18).
Recent Bowman Lectures
- 2024 Chris Wiggins
Chief Data Scientist, New York Times
How Data Happened: A History from the Age of Reason to the Age of AI
Recording available - 2023 Ken McCallum
Director General of MI5
Maths and MI5: The calculations that keep the country safe
Recording available - 2022 Prof. Sir Paul Collier
University of Oxford
Left Behind: How poor places can get trapped, and how they can catch up
Recording available - 2021 Chris Stark & Keith Bell
UK Committee for Climate Change
The Path to Net Zero: data, evidence and policy
Recording available - 2020 Prof Christl Donnelly CBE FRS FMedSci
University of Oxford and Imperial College
Understanding Infectious Disease Transmission and Control
Recording available - 2019 Prof Sir David Spiegelhalter FRS
University of Cambridge
Trust in Numbers