The story of three groundbreaking Scottish statisticians was named the winner of the 2025 Statistical Excellence Award for Early-Career Writing last night.
‘Early Scottish statisticians and their lasting legacy’ – submitted by Zhaoxi Zhang, a PHD student in statistics at the University of Edinburgh, UK – was described by judges as accomplished, complete and unique, bringing to vivid life three early statistical giants from Scotland, and showing they were far from “number-crunchers in ivory towers”.
The Statistical Excellence Award for Early Career Writing invites early-career statisticians and data scientists to tell a data-related story that matters to them – one that helps society understand today’s biggest issues, and make better decisions. Jointly organised by Significance and the Young Statisticians Section of the Royal Statistical Society, the competition forms part of the RSS Statistical Excellence Awards programme. Judging took place throughout June and this year’s ceremony was held at the British Medical Association headquarters in central London.
2025 winner Zhaoxi Zhang receives his award from Significance editor Anna Britten
Runners up were Becky Griffiths, a recent mathematics graduate from the University of Bristol, UK, for ‘The Semmelweis Effect: How many lives can hand hygiene save?’ and Sarah C. Lotspeich, an assistant professor of statistics at Wake Forest University, USA, for ‘Interweaving probability and crochet: A stati-stitchin’s guide’
The three finalists have been invited to present papers based on their articles at the RSS 2025 Annual Conference, which takes place 1-4 September in Edinburgh. The winning article will be published in a future print edition of Significance and its digital version. Runners-up will be published on the Significance website.
Mark Louie F. Ramos was highly commended for his entry ‘Autism, Bayesian probability, and why we do what we do’.
Details of the 2026 competition will be announced in February.
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