Rachel Hilliam awarded the Chamber's Medal

Rachel Hilliam and John MacInnes (Edinburgh) have been awarded the Chamber's Medal 2024 by the Royal Statistical Society. The citation for their award reads:

The Chambers Medal, which recognises outstanding service to the Society, is awarded jointly to Rachel Hilliam and John MacInnes. Both Rachel and John are recent RSS vice presidents for professional affairs, with John holding the position between 2019 and 2020, also serving as a member of the Professional Affairs Committee (PAC) from 2016 until 2020. Rachel held the position of VP for three years between 2021 and 2023, serving on PAC since 2019 and stepping down in 2023.

Their tenure saw substantial change within RSS professional affairs, including overseeing the review and launch of new standards for Graduate Statistician (GradStat), the introduction of a competency framework and a competency application route for GradStat, the introduction of new accreditation standards and the new RSS Quality Mark, changes to the Charter and Bylaws, the introduction of a new entry-level award, Data Analyst, and, not least, they both played a vital role in the creation of the Alliance for Data Science Professionals.

With Rachel serving as the first chair of the Alliance until the end of 2023, she and John helped oversee an industry first for the sector. Launching the UK’s first set of standards for data science in July 2022, these were recognised by four of the leading learned societies representing computing, mathematics, operational research and statistics. This, together with the launch of two new professional certifications, the Data Science Professional and the Advanced Data Science Professional, has ensured that the RSS and the statistics profession are rightfully helping shape the profession of data science.

Rachel said of the award:

I’m truly honoured to receive this award together with Professor John MacInnes. It has been a privilege to work with so many talented staff and volunteers at the RSS to bring about the changes to the RSS professional accreditation awards. “The collaborative way in which the RSS has worked with our fellow learned societies to create the Alliance for Data Science Professionals and launch the first set of standards for data science has been particular gratifying and I’m grateful to everyone involved for their time and commitment. This award belongs very much to everyone who has driven this work forwards.

Royal Statistical Society President, Dr Andrew Garrett, said:

Rachel went above and beyond in her time as RSS vice-president for professional affairs, bringing in a number of new programmes and standards. Along with the preceding vice-president, John MacInnes, she played a key role in the creation of the Alliance for Data Science Professionals, chairing it for its important first few years. Rachel is to be congratulated for the role she has played in shaping the standards of data science and professional affairs.