S3RI Seminar - Science and Mathematics in Government: DNA Profiles, Border Security and Modern Slavery, Professor Bernard Silverman Seminar
- Time:
- 18:00 - 20:00
- Date:
- 21 November 2017
- Venue:
- Building 58, Lecture Theatre 1067, Highfield Campus, University of Southampton, Southampton, SO17 1BJ
For more information regarding this seminar, please email Dankmar Boehning at D.Bohning@southampton.ac.uk .
Event details
Science and mathematics are relevant to a very wide range of Government polices and operations. For example, if someone is arrested but not charges, for how long should their DNA profile be retained? How should resources be allocated to queues at the border? How many victims of modern slavery and human trafficking are there in the UK today? In this seminar, Professor Silverman will discuss these and other aspects of his work as Chief Scientific Adviser to the Home Office, and will reflect more broadly on issues around the contribution of science to public policy.
Speaker information
Bernard Silverman , Home Office Chief Scientific Adviser. Bernard was one of the pioneers of Computational Statistics, the understanding and development of the ways that increasing computer power over the last 40 years has revolutionised the handling, analysis and presentation of data. His research has ranged widely across theoretical and applied aspects of statistics and he has collaborated in many fields, as diverse as equine gait analysis, climate science, human genetics and the neuroscience of hearing. He has acted as a consultant in many areas of industry, commerce, finance, law and government. Following an academic career with appointments at Bath, Bristol and Oxford, from 2010 to 2017 he was the Chief Scientific Adviser to the Home Office, providing advice to the Home Secretary and other ministers and officials on all aspects of science and research, and more generally leading the scientists within the Home Office, building external and international relationships, and taking part in the wider scientific network across Government. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society and a past President of the Royal Statistical Society.