Overview
In this talk Professor Sir John Aston will provide an overview of the role played by senior academic leadership on the University’s research activities. He will give insights into how his role contributes to and is responsible for sustaining and enhancing a supportive research culture which allows Cambridge to continue to flourish as an outstanding research‑intensive institution with worldwide influence.
He will reflect on his vision for the University, particularly his initiative to develop large-scale, cross-School initiatives to tackle global challenges and increase the positive impact of Cambridge’s research on society. He will also touch on the importance of the relationship between research and public policy for society, especially from his time as the Home Office Chief Scientific Adviser and Director-General of Science, Technology, Analysis, Research and Strategy during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Speaker
Professor Sir John Aston is the Pro Vice-Chancellor for Research at the University of Cambridge and is the Harding Professor of Statistics in Public Life.
John is an applied statistician with particular interest in statistical neuroimaging, official statistics and statistical linguistics. He has methodological interests in functional and object data analysis, time series and image analysis, and spatial-temporal statistics.
John also leads research into the use of quantitative evidence in public policy making, works with those in public life to ensure the best methods are used, and aims to improve the use of statistics and other quantitative evidence in public policy debates.
John is a non-executive board member of the UK Statistics Authority and from 2017-2020 was Chief Scientific Adviser to the Home Office and Director-General for Science, Technology, Analysis, Research and Strategy.
He was a founding director of the Alan Turing Institute.
He is a member of the London Policing Board and president-elect of the Royal Statistical Society, where he will serve as president in 2025-26.
He is a Fellow of Churchill College, University of Cambridge.
Prior to joining Cambridge, John held academic positions at the University of Warwick and at Academia Sinica in Taiwan.
John was knighted in the 2021 Birthday Honours for services to statistics and public policymaking.
Details
This event is open to all and is free to attend - please .
The event will be followed by Formal Hall. Â鶹ËÞÉáµçÊÓ¾çmembers are welcome to book a place via if they would like to join.
Access
This event will take place in the Dining Hall on the first floor of our main building. There is step-free access with a lift and an accessible toilet.
