Swiss Statistical Society - General information

Goals according to the bylaws

The Swiss Statistical Society (SSS, Schweizerische Gesellschaft für Statistik, Société Suisse de Statistique, Società Svizzera di Statistica, Societad Svizra da Statistica) propagates application and development of statistics in Switzerland, represents the interest of professionals working in this field in relation to practice, research and education and contributes to the recognition of statistics as a scientific discipline in its own right. It fosters contacts between statisticians in administration, business and institutions of research and education. It supports cooperation between all institutions which deal with such goals.

The Society edits a bulletin. It can publish other items, too and can organize meetings.

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Activities

The Society

• edits a bulletin three times a year. The bulletin informs about the activities and upcoming events in statistics in Switzerland.
• organizes the yearly Swiss Statistical Meeting in autumn, together with the Swiss Federal Statistical Office and the Conference of the Regional Statistical Offices (CORSTAT). The meeting is called "Swiss Statistics Meeting", in years with odd numbers, and a "Swiss Days of Official Statistics" in even years.
• consists of three Sections, which usually organise a further meeting each year,
• organises short courses oriented towards practical applications,
• supports a yearly seminar of PhD students.

National and international relations

The Swiss Statistical Society is a member of the Swiss Academy of Exact Sciences (Schw. Akademie für Naturwissenschaften) and an associated member of the Swiss Academy of Human Sciences (Schw. Akademie für Geistes- und Sozialwissenschaften).

The Society is a member of the International Statistical Institute.

The Society is a member of the association for "European Courses in Advanced Statistics". It cooperates with other statistical Societies in Europe, and its president is a member of the conference of presidents of these Societies.

General Assemblies

• Minutes of the General Assembly 2009 (PDF).
• Invitation to the General Assembly 2008 (PDF) and its minutes (PDF);
• Invitation to the General Assembly 2007 (PDF) and its minutes (PDF);
• Invitation to the General Assembly 2006 (PDF);
• Minutes of the General Assembly 2005 (PDF);
• Minutes of the General Assembly 2004 (PDF).

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Statistics and SSS

The word "statistics" generates many associations. For some, it means that they categorize precisely their daily activities into different categories, for every 5 minutes period. Others read skeptically the conclusions in newspapers regarding statistical numbers related to our society. Or they remember that sometime ago, during school and university, they were confronted with methods that were both simple and incomprehensible - mathematics! And finally there are people who appreciate statistical indicators and methods as useful information and tools.

Indicators and methods - the word statistics does have these two meanings. The Swiss Federal Office of Statistics, and the regional and cantonal offices, deal firstly with gathering data, which mirror the economic, politicial and societal reality or the state of the health of the population and the environment. They then develop indicators, which are an important piece of information for political decisions. To do this, they need the more methodological side of statistics, to ensure that the data allow to converge to solid conclusions. These methods do have their value in other scientific and technical areas. Many of these model describe mathematically and precisely phonemona governed by random events.

These two notions of "Statistics" are closely related to the evolution of the different societies who dealt with Statistics. Offices of statistics were founded in many countries towards the e nd of the 19th century. These offices worked on public statistics and they were linked to the science of "Volkswirtschaft". The methodological side was added at a later stage, and its importance varies among the different countires. In Switzerland, Statisticians from academia founded in 1988 their own organization, the "Swiss Statistical Society".

A flyer concerning the activity as a statistician is available here. This flyer was prepared by the CORSTAT, the SFSO und the SSS.

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History

The SSS was founded January 29, 1988, under the name of Schweizerische Vereinigung für Statistik (SVS). In its first year, it counted about 100 members. This number increased steadily to 230 in 1998.

In autumn of that year, the Section of Official Statistics was founded. This lead to a sudden increase to about 350 individual members and to the inclusion of corporate members. In spring 2000, the name of the association was changed to society.

In autumn 2000, the first Swiss Statistical Meeting with support by the SSS took place in St. Gall. Since then, such Meetings are held yearly.

In 2003, the two sections of "Business and Industry" and "Education and Research" were founded. Since then, the three sections cover the main working areas of the members. The society reached many new members from the private sector.

In spring 2003 and 2004, respectively, the Swiss Statistical Society became a member of the Swiss Academy of Exact Sciences (Schw. Akademie für Naturwissenschaften) and assciated member of the Swiss Academy of Human Sciences (Schw. Akademie für Geistes- und Sozialwissenschaften).

In summer 2010, the SSS counted 403 individual and 18 corporate members.

Since its foundation, the following presidents have headed the Society:

• Prof. J. Hüsler, Universität Bern,
• Prof. S. Morgenthaler, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne,
• Dr. U.S. Gugerli, Sandoz Pharma AG,
• Prof. F. Streit, Université de Genève,
• Dr. Jean-Marie Helbling, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne,
• Prof. Werner Stahel, ETH Zürich,
• Prof. Andreas Ruckstuhl, Zürcher Hochschule für Angewandte Wissenschaften,
• Dr. Diego Kuonen, CStat CSci, Statoo Consulting, Berne.

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Bulletin of the SSS

Editors of the Bulletins:

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By-laws

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