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My leadership journey as a statistician

I have been a statistician in government for over eight years and have had quite the journey.   My main takeaway? You will develop your skills most in those roles outside of your comfort zone (scary but true)!  My first role was in the Office for National Statistics (ONS) in data collection – coming from a maths background […]

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Why I stayed with the Civil Service as a statistical leader

I have been in the Civil Service as a statistician for 20 years, and each time the potential of a job in the private sector has reared its head, I have found a reason to stay. Why? Impact and public service During coronavirus (COVID-19), and earlier in my career during the summer riots and at […]

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My secondment at the BBC during the General Election

I worked at BBC News at the end of 2019 and it was an incredible experience. There are a number of different ways you can contribute to their work and the experienced and talented Head of Statistics there is able to tailor your experience there so you can make the most of your time. For […]

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Lost in translation

Solving problems, better solutions. The Methodology Division within the Office for National Statistics (ONS) develop methods for working with non-survey data sources, and for integrating non-survey and survey data. Coding qualitative data is a huge part of the work Methodology does. Did you know that there are thousands of different coding languages including Python, R […]

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Remote testing in practice – what we learnt

In the Research and Design Team at the Office for National Statistics (ONS), we are transforming social surveys using a user-centred design approach. For us, this means that we work iteratively, designing with our users in mind. In social survey transformation, our end users are respondents to the voluntary social surveys at the ONS.  In […]

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My summer placement at BBC News

One thing I love about the Civil Service is the wide variety of professional development opportunities. I’ve enjoyed seeing different perspectives working as an analyst in the public, private and third sector – so I was really pleased to be lucky enough to be accepted on the BBC News Secondment Programme to learn more about […]

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Hanging on the telephone

Today (18 November 2020) is African Statistics Day – an annual event that aims to promote the value and importance of statistics – with an emphasis on its value across Africa. This feels like the perfect opportunity to share some of the international partnership work being done by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) in […]

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The user engagement strategy for statistics – the best laid plans…

Well, Nancy Singh and I were thrilled to receive so much helpful feedback on our initial draft of the user engagement strategy. Thank you everyone! So, what have the project team been up to recently? We’ve been busy incorporating all those ideas and suggestions into the next iteration of the strategy. It’s been exciting to […]

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Change the culture, build capability, work collaboratively – working together to improve user engagement

Okay, so it’s not the catchiest of slogans. But, while you’re here, we wanted to introduce you to the three C’s of the user engagement strategy for statistics: Culture Capability Collaboration Where have these come from? It has been a little while since we last updated you on the progress of the user engagement strategy. […]

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Data quality in the time of coronavirus (COVID-19)

The role of data during the pandemic The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has fundamentally reshaped society. We’ve faced unprecedented restrictions on our ability to move, work and interact. The effects of COVID-19 on the economy, health outcomes and our personal well-being are stark. The long-term impacts of the pandemic are uncertain, but likely to be with […]

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