Using maths and stats to understand the pandemic

Professor David Spiegelhalter is Chair of the Winton Centre for Risk and Evidence Communication in the Department of Pure Maths and Mathematical Statistics in the University of Cambridge, which is dedicated to improving the way that quantitative evidence is used in society, by health professionals, by patients, lawyers and judges, by the media, and by policy-makers. In this talk, opening the "Intro to Maths at Uni" outreach programme at Cambridge
(www.maths.cam.ac.uk/undergrad... ), he talks about some of the uses of mathematics and statistics in communicating data during the COVID pandemic. He also gives a glimpse of his career, and how he ended up becoming one of the world's leading statisticians - and coming 7th in 2011 in an episode of BBC1's 'Winter Wipeout'.
In 2020 he was awarded the Royal Society's Michael Faraday Prize for his work in making statistics and probability entertaining and accessible to key decision-makers and the public.