We are delighted to announce that Professor Fiona Steele is the recipient of the Howard Medal given by the Royal Statistical Society. The Howard Medal was established in memory of the prison reformer John Howard (1726-90). It is awarded every three years to a fellow of the Society for outstanding contributions to the development or application of social statistics. The RSS is a professional body for all statisticians and data analysts wherever they may live.
The RSS have explained to us that:
'The Howard Medal is awarded to Fiona Steele for her outstanding contribution to the field of social statistics, in particular the development of methods for the analysis of panel data, the use and extension of event history models, multilevel and multistate models as well competing risk and survival models within the longitudinal framework.
Many modern developments in social statistics have been directly influenced by her work. Her many major contributions in the context of longitudinal studies, including the British birth cohort studies and the UK Household Longitudinal Study, have led to statistically sound methodology to keep track of, eg, the UK populations and subpopulations in health, social mobility educational development, fertility and many key sub areas.
Fiona can be considered as a leading international researcher in her field, as reflected by the various honours she has received in social science. She manifests the continuing importance of social statistics within the RSS orbit.'
We have also kindly been given a personalised quote from the RSS President, Dr Andrew Garrett:
“Fiona has had a profound impact on social statistics and in particular her work around longitudinal study methodology has significantly strengthened the insights that these essential studies deliver. Fiona is to be congratulated for being a true role model in her field.”
This is an amazing achievement and everyone in the Department of Statistics is incredibly proud. Many congratulations, Fiona!