Online agenda: GSS Conference 2026

Speaker to be annoucnced shortly.

Speaker and session details to be announced shortly.

An opportunity to meet cross-GSS colleagues. Conversation starters will be provided.

Independent time between sessions.

Topic and speakers to be announced shortly.

Putting user needs at the heart of statistics

Attendees will select one of five parallel sessions

• Seeing the unseen: data-driven supply chain intelligence for government impact. Speakers: Livia Hull and Arinze Ugwu, Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade.
• Telling the story of nature’s decline with official statistics. Speaker: Clare Betts, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.
• Being in the room: putting evidence at the heart of the local government story. Speakers: Jamie Thomas and Hasnain Hasnain, Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government.
• ChatGPT is your new user: shaping the future of statistical dissemination. Speaker: Maeve McMahon, Home Office.
• Understanding the UK’s place in the world: how GSS international work helps tell our data story.

A lunch break with optional 30-minute drop in sessions with an array of senior leaders. More details to be announced shortly. Posters will also be circulated for attendees to browse.

We understand society, the economy, and human wellbeing through the window of data. But data represent the world in terms of a limited number of dimensions. This means there is a risk that the questions we want to answer might be poorly represented by interrogations of our data. This talk illustrates this risk and suggests ways to mitigate it.

Further information about David Hand can be found on the Conference speakers webpage.

Panel session theme and speakers to be announced shortly.

Releasing the potential of data

Attendees will select one of five parallel sessions

• Behind the case number: the child’s journey through family justice. Speaker: Megan Green, Ministry of Justice.
• Insight behind the statistics: Understanding the real Universal Credit story. Speaker: Afolabi Morakinyo, Department for Work and Pensions.
• A recruitment evaluation in three parts. Speakers: Joseph Wilton and Rachael Loftus, Welsh Government.
• Developing a new survey to understand how people experience technology. Speaker: George Pickering, Department for Science, Innovation and Technology.
• Ofsted: explore an area. Speakers: Rebecca Driffield and Carmel Howe, Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills.

Posters will be available to browse.

Transforming statistics into stories

Attendees will select one of five parallel sessions

• Spreadsheet to broadsheet: working with the media to communicate statistics. Speaker: Anouska Pandya, National Records of Scotland.
• Beyond the numbers: communicating migration statistics effectively. Speaker: George Feldman, Office for National Statistics.
• Data storytelling in an uncertain world: when and how to communicate uncertainty. Speaker: Nicola Rennie, Office for National Statistics.
• Automated data storytelling without AI. Speaker: Ahmad Barclay, Office for National Statistics.
• Numbers don’t speak for themselves: using clear statistical storytelling to prevent misinterpretation and misuse. Speaker: Penny Babb, Office for Statistics Regulation.

Speakers to be announced shortly.

More details to be announced shortly.