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We’re Back: Real World Data Science Relaunches

After a brief hiatus, we’re back with a new Call for Submissions.

Welcome to Real World Data Science, a new project from the Royal Statistical Society, in partnership with the American Statistical Association. We bridge the gap between rigorous analysis and real time relevance, meeting the pace and complexity of today’s data driven world with the RSS’s trademark steadying presence.

Latest content

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Call for Submissions

Contribute to our new editorial sections

Editorial Board
Jul 7, 2025

An image of the cover of the RSS Data Science and Artificial Intelligence

RSS: Data Science and Artificial Intelligence - showcase your research

RSS: Data Science and Artificial Intelligence is now open to submissions. It offers an exciting venue for your work in these disciplines with a broad reach across…

Feb 5, 2025

The Curated Data Enterprise Framework

Defining Purposes and Uses to Support the Development of Statistical Products in a 21st Century Census Curated Data Enterprise Environment

Learn about researchers’ plans to develop the Curated Data Enterprise through a use case research program.

Nov 22, 2024
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Is data science a new and exciting set of skills, necessary for analyzing 21st century data? Or is it (as some have claimed) a rebranding of statistics, which has carefully developed time-honored methods for data analysis over the past century? In this article, we use two popular data science algorithms to examine the difference between data science, statistics, and other occupations.

Jonathan Auerbach, David Kepplinger, and Nicholas Rios ask, ‘What is data science?’

Read their analysis

The Pulse

Portrait photos of 12 members of the Real World Data Science Editorial team

We’re Back: Real World Data Science Relaunches

After a brief hiatus, we’re back with a new Call for Submissions.

Editorial Board
Jul 7, 2025

A neon sign saying "Open

Call for Submissions

Contribute to our new editorial sections

Editorial Board
Jul 7, 2025

Photo of the UK Houses of Parliament at dusk, taken from across the River Thames.

£10m for UK regulators to ‘jumpstart’ AI capabilities, as government commits to white paper approach

It’s been a busy seven days for AI news in the UK as two major government reports were published, millions of pounds of new investments were announced, and warnings rang out…

Brian Tarran
Feb 8, 2024
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Applied Insights

The Curated Data Enterprise Framework

Defining Purposes and Uses to Support the Development of Statistical Products in a 21st Century Census Curated Data Enterprise Environment

Learn about researchers’ plans to develop the Curated Data Enterprise through a use case research program.

Nov 22, 2024

A doctor takes a blood pressure reading from a patient.

Forecasting the Health Needs of a Changing Population

Taking NHS usage of the 1 million people in and around Bristol, then combining with population forecasts into a modelling framework has created a sophisticated but…

Luke Shaw (BNSSG ICB), Rich Wood (BNSSG ICB, University of Bath), Christos Vasilakis (University of Bath), Zehra Onen Dumlu (University of Bath)
May 8, 2024

Dark blue square with off-white rectangle at the bottom and small random white stars, and two white circles slightly off centre. Five black dots denote two eyes and three buttons on a snowman. Two brown lines look like arms. Two red rectangles form a hat. Orange triangle as a nose, with text reading Merry Christmas at the bottom.

Creating Christmas cards with R

The programming language R is capable of creating a wide variety of geometric shapes that can be used to construct high quality graphics – including festive images. In this…

Nicola Rennie
Dec 12, 2023
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Generative AI is based on neural networks, which are so-called ‘black boxes’. This makes it difficult or impossible to explain the inner workings of the model which has potential implications if in the future you are challenged to justify decisioning or guidance based on the model.

Excerpt from the UK government’s framework for the use of generative AI

Read our key takeaways

Foundations & Frontiers

An image of the cover of the RSS Data Science and Artificial Intelligence

RSS: Data Science and Artificial Intelligence - showcase your research

RSS: Data Science and Artificial Intelligence is now open to submissions. It offers an exciting venue for your work in these disciplines with a broad reach across…

Feb 5, 2025

Growth of GDP with statistical graph, 3d rendering. Digital drawing. Credit: Shutterstock, Vink Fan

Nowcasting upgrade for better real time estimation of GDP and inflation

Atmajitsinh Gohil describes a recently devised 3 step framework that improves the accuracy of nowcasting.

Atmajitsinh Gohil
Jun 25, 2024

Themis, goddess of justice. External governance is required to ensure the outcomes of AI deployment are safe and just. Credit Shutterstock, Michal Bednarek

AI series: Ensuring new AI technologies help everyone thrive

This AI article series has highlighted a number of areas where AI can offer genuine benefits, as well as flagging how best to dodge the pitfalls and cultivate models and…

Anna Demming
Jun 11, 2024
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People & Paths

Screengrab of video showing Jonathan Gillard and Penny Holborn in conversation.

Data science and AI in the public sector: An interview with ONS’s Penny Holborn

Penny Holborn, head of faculty for the Office for National Statistics Data Science Campus, talks to Jonathan Gillard about keeping up with new developments, the value of…

Jonathan Gillard
Mar 27, 2024

Screengrab of video interview showing Matthew Jones on the left and Jonathan Gillard on the right. Screengrab is overlaid on a laptop background.

Data science and AI in financial services: An interview with Nationwide’s Matthew Jones

Matthew Jones, head of decision science and analytical innovation at building society Nationwide, talks career path, data science tools and skills, and the role of AI in…

Jonathan Gillard
Mar 21, 2024

Photo of Niclas Thomas.

‘I fell in love with math, really, and fell into data science because of that’

A passion for solving mathematical problems led Niclas Thomas to a PhD in machine learning and then a career in data science in the retail sphere. Now head of data science…

Brian Tarran
Oct 4, 2023
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