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The original guidelines for the EYSM were written by Paul Embrechts in 1986. In 2007, Adelchi Azzalini added some remarks and recommendations to help the EYSM organizers. This document can be considered a revised and updated set of recommendations based on the traditions and experiences of the more recent meetings.

The original guidelines continue to form the official framework for the organization of the EYSM, which has been organized every second year since 1981. As is emphasized in the guidelines, the meeting is organized "by young statisticians for young statisticians", and the responsibility of its organization lies with the International Organizing Committee (IOC). This set of recommendations should help clarify how the IOC is formed, how it should act, what the responsibilities of the IOC are, how it can interact with the European Regional Committee (ERC) of the Bernoulli Society (BS), and how the guidelines should be interpreted today.

The IOC

The IOC consists of a relatively large group of young statisticians. It is the responsibility of the IOC of meeting n-1 to suggest a new IOC for meeting n.

Although the guidelines suggest that IOC members are preferably not selected among previous participants, the tradition is that the majority of IOC members are former EYSM participants. This tradition has worked in practice, and the selection of the IOC can continue along this tradition as long as it is ensured that:

  • the IOC represents young European statisticians in terms of geography and research interests
  • the IOC is composed to ensure diversity as much as possible

The IOC should adequately inform about the EYSM. This includes as a minimum announcements about the meeting in Bernoulli News, Bernoulli Society Bulletin e-Briefs and the ISI Newsletter. This is to ensure that the meeting is widely known, so that all interested parties have the possibility to suggest IOC members and participants (participation is by invitation only; see the section “Invitation of Participants”).

The local organizers

The IOC of meeting n - 1 should suggest a venue and a local organizing committee for meeting n. Often one or more participants of meeting n-1 suggest themselves to the IOC of meeting n-1 as candidates for the local organization of meeting n. Otherwise, the IOC will have to find the next local organizers. As for the IOC, the local organizers should be young statisticians.

At least one of the local organizers of meeting n should be an IOC member of meeting n. Moreover,  a local organizer of meeting n-1 should be an IOC member of meeting n, to ensure continuity.

The relation to the ERC

After consultation with the IOC of meeting n-1, the ERC must approve the IOC, the venue and the local organizing committee of meeting n. The ERC also ensures that the newly appointed organizers know the guidelines and this set of additional recommendations. The ERC usually appoints a member of its Conference Committee to act as liaison between EYSM organizers and the ERC.

Invitation of participants

Participation in EYSM is by invitation only. The IOC is responsible for selecting and inviting participants according to the guidelines. It is emphasized that the age requirements should be enforced, and that first time participants should be given preference. 

It is the responsibility of the IOC to ensure diversity among the participants in terms of geography and research interests as well as in all other ways. To this end, the IOC should reach out to their own networks, to former IOC-members, senior BS (ERC and non-ERC) members, as well as other senior European statisticians for suggestions. Such suggestions must remain exactly that, with the final decision about invitations resting with the IOC.

Speakers

According to the guidelines, each participant must give a 20 minute talk. Although this is not mentioned in the guidelines, it has also become a tradition that some (senior) keynote speakers are invited. This tradition is aligned with the idea of the EYSM to be "an introduction to the international scene within the broad subject area". Therefore, this tradition can be maintained, but it should not interfere with the EYSM being a meeting "for young statisticians". It is recommended that the number of keynote speakers is limited to 3-5.

Other remarks

Senior researchers and the ERC can help the local organizers with advice on for example fundraising or the practical organization of local arrangements. It is, however, not advisable that senior researchers are given any formal role at the EYSM, except for the few keynote speakers and possibly for an opening welcome or similar activities.

Niels Richard Hansen
July, 2020

The Séminaires Européens de Statistiques (SemStat) is a series of instructional meetings, at which high-level expository talks are presented on new developments in statistics, with the objective of promoting the "European School of Statistics".

The most recent SemStat meeting was held at Eurandom in March 2017.

The SemStat Elements series is published by Cambridge University Press. This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. acts as Series editor.

A series of SemStat books containing expository articles based on the main lectures has been published by Chapman and Hall:

History: ps-file pdf-file

Scenario: ps-file pdf-file

Paul Embrechts
Diepenbeek, February 1986


In organizing a sequence of meetings: Wiltshire (1978), Bressanone (1981), Leuven (1985), Varna (1985), in which young researchers from all over Europe come together, a number of traditions and experiences with the arrangements of these Meetings have accumulated. It is the purpose of these notes to make these experiences more widely available as potential guidelines to future organizers. I very much would like to stress that these points for a personal view, however they are all based on comments, advice and experiences gained at these meetings and delivered to me via a wide variety of people interested in the future of these gatherings.

1. Introduction

The European Young Statisticians Meeting are held every two years (normally for a week during the period of half of August till the end of September). It is desirable to avoid any clash in time with other major meetings to be held in Europe during this period.
Although in some case the planning of future meetings involves more than 2 years of preparation, it is advisable that a broad basis for consultation on the future venue is available. If possible, the International Organizing Committee (IOC) at meeting n-1 should take a final decision on the venue for the meeting n.
At every meeting, the IOC for the next meeting is formed on the basis of genuine interest, geographical location, ... Members of the next IOC don't have to (and indeed preferably shouldn't) be drawn from the previous meetings' participants. It is however advisable to invite the organizer of meeting n-1 as a member of the IOC of meeting n. This to safeguard a minimum of continuation.

2. The notion of "Young Statistician"

The idea of the meeting is to provide young researchers, perhaps just started in, or about to enter post-doctoral positions (and reasonably committed to remaining in research), an introduction to the international scene within the broad subject area. It is within this spirit to be rather rigid about the age of participants.
The original definition of young, i.e. LESS THAN 30 YEARS OF AGE OR 2 TO 8 YEARS OF RESEARCH EXPERIENCE still seems flexible enough to accommodate most of the different systems of education in the various European countries. It is up to the members of the international organizing committee to ensure that, for their respective countries, an honest choice in the spirit of the above definition is made. In all cases should preference be given to first time participants. It is to be avoided that a small group imposes its personal preference on whom to invite and what scientific topics to be treated. Therefore it is advisable to ensure widespread information on the existence and format of these meetings, including announcements in the ISI newsletter. This, together with consultations of more senior members in the Bernoulli Society about appropriate candidates as potential participants should safeguard the original idea of a Young Statisticians Meeting.
It would be possible to increase the number of participants by for instance opening the meeting to participants from outside Europe. However, it is impossible to keep to the original idea of NO parallel sessions and everybody attending ALL lectures if more than sixty (say) researchers participate. In any such event, the IOC should think very carefully about the consequences.
Every member of the IOC is responsible for inviting certain number of young researchers from those countries for which he/she is responsible. Any invitation should be based upon wide consultation within those countries! The final decision always rests with the IOC and the local organizers.

3. The form of the European Young Statisticians Meeting

In its established form, a EYSM meeting runs from a Monday morning till the afternoon of the following Friday. All participants are chosen by invitation according to the above rule an in a uniformly distributed way (as much as possible) from all European Countries. Past experience has thought us, that roughly fifty participants is about right. It is up to the IOC to ensure that a fairly representative sample from young, European researchers, whose scientific research interests in stochastic range from pure probability theory to applied statistics, is invited. I would like to stress that every participant is expected to give a 20 minutes talk introducing his/her research field to a wide audience. An abstract of up to five printed pages should contain basic references for further study. The success of the meetings very much depends on the clear and introductory level of the talks given: all participants participate in all talks (hence NO parallel sessions).
Besides the talks there should be ample of time for informal discussions so that people can meet at leisure and as such a basis for future scientific collaboration will be formed. For this to materialize, it is very important that the right venue for these meetings to be held at is chosen. A separate building where the lectures are held together with the presence of sleeping and eating facilities for ALL participants is ideal.

4. Final Comments

It is to be stressed that both financially as well as scientifically these meetings are organized by young statisticians for young statisticians. This implies that it is entirely the responsibility of the local organizers to provide the necessary financial support.
The IOC is ultimately responsible for the scientific program and the appropriateness of the invited participants.
If the meeting is organized in a Western-European country, then financial means should be provided to pay for all the local expenses of at least fifteen participants from Eastern Europe. It is normally understood that the latter participants have their travel paid by their home country. The local organizers should do their utmost to ensure that expenses for participants are kept to an absolute minimum. i.e. no registration fee, free abstract booklet, cheap accommodation and meals, preferable free social program. The local organizers can always consider the provision of remunerations or economic support in exceptional cases not covered above.
The Bernoulli Society allows these meetings to use its name as an official flag and as such the Bernoulli Society is the patron of the European Young Statisticians  Meeting. It has, however, from the beginning been clear that the responsibility for the organization lies with the individual IOC. It is important that this tradition is preserved.

The European Young Statisticians Meetings (EYSM) is a series of conferences organised by and for young European statisticians. More information is available in guidelines and more recent remarks for the their organisation

The complete series of
European Young Statisticians Meetings:

  • 23rd EYSM September, 2023, Ljubljana, Slovenia
  • 22nd EYSM September 6 - September 10, 2021, Athens, Greece
  • 21st EYSM July 29 - August 2, 2019, Belgrade, Serbia
  • 20th EYSM 14-18 August 2017, Uppsala, Sweden
  • 19th EYSM 31 August - 4 September 2015, Prague, Czech Republic 
  • 18th EYSM 26-30 August 2013, Osijek, Croatia
  • 17th EYSM 5-9 September 2011, Lisbon, Portugal
  • 16th EYSM 24-28 August 2009, Bucharest, Romania
  • 15th EYSM 10-14 September 2007, Castro Urdiales, Spain
  • 14th EYSM, 22-26 August 2005, Debrecen, Hungary
  • 13th EYSM, 21-26 September 2003, Ovronnaz, Switzerland
  • 12th EYSM, 4-8 September 2001, Jánska Dolina, Slovakia
  • 11th EYSM, 24-28 August 1999, Marly-le-Roi, France
  • 10th EYSM, 1997, Warsaw, Poland
  • 9th EYSM, 1995, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
  • 8th EYSM, 1993, Vilnius, Lithuania
  • 7th EYSM, 1991, Oberwolfach, Germany
  • 6th EYSM, 1989, Prague, Czech Republic
  • 5th EYSM, 1987, Aarhus, Denmark
  • 4th EYSM, 1985, Varna, Bulgaria
  • 3rd EYSM, 1983, Leuven, Belgium
  • 2nd EYSM, 1981, Bressanone, Italy
  • 1st EYSM, 1978, Wiltshire, Great Britain
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