The R Project - The Use of R in Official Statistics

uRos2024 on-site event 27-29 November 2024

The annual conference on the Use of R in Official Statistics will be organized as an on-site event in Greece, on 27-29 of November 2024.
Details about the format and the programme will be announced soon.

Over the last two decades R has become the lingua franca for statisticians, methodologists and data scientists worldwide. The reasons why the official statistics community is rapidly embracing R are clear: it has an active worldwide community of users, there is wide support from the industry and it combines a vast amount of functionalities for data preparation, methodology, visualisation and application building. Moreover, R-based software is exchanged through strictly enforced technical standards: “R is probably the most thoroughly validated statistics software on Earth.” – Uwe Ligges, CRAN maintainer (useR!2017).

Finally, R is a free (libre) Open Source software product, making it an ideal environment for sharing, collaboration and industrialising official statistics.

The annual event “use of R in Official Statistics” started as a local conference at the Statistical Office of Romania in 2013, with the first international edition being held at that same office in 2014. In 2018, Statistics Netherlands hosted the sixth edition of this event, which brought together official statisticians, scientists, and prominent members of the R community to share ideas on using and developing R tools in the area of official statistics.

In 2020, was Statistics Austria’s turn to host the conference, for the first time being a virtual event. In 2021, uRos was hosted by its home country and institution - Romanian National Statistics Institute.

A decade of uRos events was celebrated by the first non-European uRos, hosted by Statistics Canada, as a virtual event in December 2022.

After three editions in an online format, the 2023 event was on-site, hosted by the Romanian INS headquarters, representing an opportunity for direct interaction among participants.

We are delighted to invite you to uRos2024 (12th edition) in Greece, on 27-29 of November 2024.

Abstracts

You can browse all the accepted abstracts at https://uros.hopto.org/.

Download the book of abstracts: book-of-abstracts-uros2024_v3.pdf

Important dates

Abstracts and tutorials submissions deadline: 30th of ~~May~~ June 2024
Notification of acceptance: 1st of August 2024
Scientific conference: 27-29 November 2024
Journal paper submission deadline: 15th of January 2025

Keynote Speakers

Sandra Barragán

Sandra Barragán is Official Statistician at Statistics Spain since 2016. Her academic journey reflects her passion for statistics. She pursued her studies in the field of Statistics from the undergraduate level to the attainment of a doctoral degree, all at the University of Valladolid. Sandra currently holds the position of Head of Unit at the SG for Methodology and Sampling Design. In this capacity, she carries out various projects focused on selective editing, machine learning techniques, and the development of standardized and modular production processes.

“Why and for what purpose R in Official Statistics?”

Abstract: In the discipline of Official Statistics there is an absolute necessity of evolving towards programming languages oriented to modern data science to face new challenges such as fast prototyping innovative ideas, standardizing production processes and automatizing manual tasks. The implementation of statistical techniques, methods and methodologies can be done with R functions, scripts and packages in a proper manner following the principles of modularity. Moreover, some essential characteristics such as open source, user-friendly, functional programming, object-oriented can be met by taking advantage of the high degree of development of R packages related to the discipline of Official Statistics.
In this talk, we will overview the most important challenges that can be undertaken by the R language implementing an innovative end-to-end statistical production process through a real-life use case. This presentation will showcase a novel process that combines machine learning techniques, time series filtering, and benchmarking. Utilizing existing R packages, this innovative approach achieves a significant improvement in time granularity.

Romain Lesur

Romain Lesur is the head of the Data Science Lab (SSP Lab) at INSEE, the French National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies.
Romain Lesur is a senior data scientist and software developer known for his contributions to the R programming community, particularly in the area of reproducible research and document generation. He has played a key role in the development of some R packages such as {pagedown}.
Prior to his current role, he was head of the IT innovation division at INSEE, that is responsible for the development of the Onyxia project https://onyxia.sh. Previously, he was deputy head of the Statistical Service of the French Ministry of Justice. Before that, he was an economist at the French National Competition Authority and at the French Ministry of Finance.

“Moving away from SAS: an opportunity to modernise the practices of statisticians”

Abstract: The rapid evolution of data science requires a reassessment of the tools and practices used by statisticians. This presentation explores the shift from proprietary softwares to open source alternatives, such as R and Python, which are fundamental to modern data science.
This transition not only enhances the intrinsic value of statistical coding, but also introduces a more collaborative and interdisciplinary approach within the data community. Through the adoption of tools such as Git, statisticians are increasingly engaging in collaborative practices that align with those of software developers and data engineers. In addition, the adoption of DevOps principles provides an opportunity for statisticians to contribute more effectively to broader project teams, thereby enriching their role and impact in data-driven projects. This shift represents a critical opportunity to modernise statistical practices, thereby increasing project agility and reproducibility.
In practice, the increasing use of data science platforms based on cloud technologies means that statisticians can enjoy the greatest possible autonomy. This transition not only modernises statistical practices, but also aligns them with current industry standards for software development and deployment, ensuring that statisticians can fully contribute to the demand of modern data analysis.

Programme

27th of November: Tutorials
28th of November: Welcome message & Keynote speaker 1 & Sessions of presentations
29th of November: Keynote speaker 2 & Sessions of presentations & Closing remarks

Download the agenda, in detail: Detailed_agenda_uRos2024_v14.pdf

Register

Registration is closed.

Conference registration fee 220 EUR.

The Participant registration fee includes:
* participation Certificate;
* entrance to all sessions;
* conference materials;
* coffee breaks & lunch;
* official dinner.

The payment of the registration fees for EU and non-EU participants will be made to:
HELLENIC STATISTICAL AUTHORITY (ELSTAT)
46, Pireos and Eponiton street 18547- Piraeus, Greece
VAT: 090401013
Bank: Alpha Bank
Bank address: Alpha Bank S.A.. 40 Stadiou Street – GR - 102 52 ATHENS
IBAN (EURO): GR9801401010101002002271972
SWIFT code: CRBAGRAA

Please state the name of the registered conference participant beneficiary of the payment and conference identifier code: UROS2024.

To register, please pay the conference fee and send an email with a pdf or screenshot of your payment to uRos2024 [at] statistics.gr. You will receive a confirmation email with a link to an online form where you are kindly asked to fill in some information, such as name, affiliation, and dietary restrictions.

Call for abstracts - presentations

We are cordially inviting you to submit papers to and attend the International Conference The Use of R in Official Statistics – uRos2024 until ~~May~~ June 30, 2024.

There will be two kind of presentations “regular presentations” with roughly 15 minutes time slots and “lighting presentations” with 5 minutes time slots. Please indicate your preference, but the scientific committee will finally assign the presentations into the two categories.

The purpose of the conference is to provide a public forum for researchers from academia and institutes of official (government) statistics to present, exchange ideas and discuss developments in state-of-the-art statistical software commonly used in applied economics and statistics. The most focused debates are expected to be on the use of R in Official Statistics.

The topics covered by the conference are the following:

Using R in new data sources
Sampling and estimation
R in organization
Data cleaning
Methods for official statistics
Machine learning and AI
LLMs for code generation or other task
NLP in official statistics
Time series
Report and GUI programming
R in production: data analysis
R in production: automation
Disclosure control, dissemination and visualization

The participants are kindly asked to submit the abstract via e-mail to: uros2024 [at] statistics.gr, preferably as plain text or Word or PDF, there is no template for the abstract submission.

Call for abstracts - tutorials

Tutorials will be 2 to 4 hours in length (1 slot is 2 hours). Tutorials will be presented as live presentations. The scope of the tutorials comprises the whole statistical production process of official statistics. Deadline for tutorial submission is 30 ~~May~~ June 2024.

Papers for Special Journal Issues

Authors with an accepted abstract can submit a full-length paper for one of the following journals: R Journal (special section) or Romanian Statistical Review (special issue).

For R Journal, submission deadline will be February 15, 2025, and for Romanian Statistical Review, submission deadline will be January 15, 2025.
Submissions for R Journal: : Mark van der Loo, mpj.vanderloo [at] cbs.nl

Submissions for Romanian Statistical Review: Ana Maria Ciuhu, anamaria.ciuhu [at] insse.ro

R Journal

A selection of papers will be published in a special section of R Journal. Publications are subjected to passing the standard peer review process. Please make sure to follow the R Journal author guidelines.

Papers should be submitted no later than 15 February 2025 to the R Journal special section’s Editor-in-Chief, Mark van der Loo via e-mail to: mpj.vanderloo [at] cbs.nl

The R Journal is the open access, refereed journal of the R project for statistical computing. It is run under the auspices of the R Foundation, and editors of the Journal are appointed by the board of the Foundation.

Romanian Statistical Review

A maximum of ten selected research papers will be published in a special issue of the Romanian Statistical Review. Publications are subjected to passing the standard peer review process. Please make sure to follow the RSR author guidelines.

Papers should be submitted no later than 15 January 2025 via e-mail to: anamaria.ciuhu [at] insse.ro

The Romanian Statistical Review is included in the Web Of Science Core Collection - Emerging Sources Citation Index (ESCI), a Clarivate Analytics database. It aims to provide a favourable space for exchange of ideas and a challenge at the same time. Any paper that can contribute to the understanding of statistics as a science is welcome. It is open-access without any fees.

Presentations

The presentations will be uploaded in a separate page: link

Organisation

Organizing committee

Katerina Kalioti (Hellenic Statistical Authority - ELSTAT)
Georgia Panagopoulou (Hellenic Statistical Authority – ELSTAT)
Ana Maria Ciuhu (Statistics Romania and Institute of National Economy, Romanian Academy)
Bogdan Oancea (Statistics Romania, University of Bucharest)
Marian Necula (Statistics Romania)
Silvia Pisică (Statistics Romania)
Daniela Ștefănescu (Statistics Romania)
Ciprian Alexandru (Ecological University of Bucharest)
Alexander Kowarik (Statistics Austria)
Mark van der Loo (Statistics Netherlands)
Raluca-Mariana Drăgoescu (Statistics Romania)

Scientific Board

Athanasios C. Thanopoulos (President, Hellenic Statistical Authority)
Tudorel Andrei (President, National Institute of Statistics - Romania)
Matthias Templ (ZHAW school of engineering, Switzerland)
Adrian Dusa (University of Bucharest, Romania)
Kazumi Wada (Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, Japan)
Marcello d’Orazio (Italian National Institute of Statistics - Rome, Italy)
Valentin Todorov (UNIDO, Vienna Austria)
Alina Matei (University of Neuchatel, Switzerland)
Bernhard Meindl (Statistics Austria, Austria)
Edwin de Jonge (Statistics Netherlands, The Netherlands)
Gergely Daróczi (RX Studio, USA/Hungary)
Kamarul Ariffin Mansor (MARA University of Technology, Malaysia)
Marius Nicolae Jula (University of Bucharest, Romania)
Matyas Meszaros (Eurostat, Luxemburg)
Mihaela Paun (University of Bucharest)
Roxana Adam (University of Bucharest, Romania)
Silvia Pisică (Statistics Romania)
Daniela Ștefănescu (Statistics Romania)
Bogdan Oancea (Statistics Romania, University of Bucharest)
Raluca-Mariana Drăgoescu (Statistics Romania)

Venue & Contact

We are looking forward to meeting you in person at the premises of the Hellenic Statistical Authority in Piraeus, Greece!
Conference venue: Hellenic Statistical Authority (ELSTAT) 46, Pireos and Eponiton street 18547- Piraeus www.statistics.gr
The conference secretariat can be reached via: uros2024 [at] statistics.gr

Accommodation (no guarantee by the conference, only informations).
Accommodation and Transportation (PDF)

Secretariat members

Katerina Kalioti, Hellenic Statistical Authority (ELSTAT)
Ana Maria Ciuhu, National Institute of Statistics, Romania

Code of Conduct

Organisers, speakers, registered participants, and sponsors of the uRos conference and/or unconfUROS hackathon, as well as persons or organizations following and discussing the conference through (social) media or internet are required to follow this Code of Conduct. We shall refer to the combined group as ‘participants’ of the uRos conference.

Privacy: participants respect each other’s privacy. In particular it is not allowed to systematically gather information on organisers, speakers and (registered) participants, including but not limited to personal life, professional position, political views, social media outings, open source contributions, or pictures.

Open: participants are open to collaboration, whether it’s on projects, working groups, packages, problems, or otherwise. Participants are receptive to constructive comment and criticism, as the experiences and skill sets of other participants contribute to the whole of our efforts. Participants are accepting of anyone who wishes to take part in their activities, fostering an environment where all can participate and everyone can make a difference.

Respectful: participants are respectful of others, their positions, their skills, their commitments, and their efforts. They are respectful of the volunteer efforts that permeate the R community. In the case of disagreement, participants are courteous in raising their issues. Participants are attentive in communication, whether in person or online, and tactful when approaching differing views. They refrain from demeaning, discriminatory, or harassing behaviour and speech.

Considerate: participants are considerate of their peers — fellow uRos participants. They are thoughtful when addressing the efforts of others, keeping in mind that oftentimes the labour was completed simply for the good of the community.

In case of violation, participants may be removed from the premises or blocked from communication with the organization. Where relevant, the proper authorities or organizations will be informed of inappropriate behaviour.

References

This code of conduct is based on the R Community Code of Conduct by the R consortium

GDPR terms and conditions

This chaptersets out the terms and conditions between organisers and you when you register as a participant for this conference and you are agreeing to comply with these terms and conditions.

Please read these terms and conditions carefully.

DECLARATION OF CONSENT

I hereby give my consent for organisers to collect, process and use my personal data for the purposes related to my participation to uRos Conference events and for any other use to which I have consented. The data that can be collected consist of:

Name, surname, academic degree, institutional affiliation, e-mail address;
Photos from the conference that might include my person;
Videos from the conference that might include my person;
Abstracts and slides from presenters to be published on the conference’s website.

USE OF PERSONAL DATA

Organisers will not sell your personal data.
The processing of the respective personal data involves communication with the authors in order to publish the studies, publication of the accepted studies in journals and indexation of the journal in international databases.
I hereby give my consent to organisers to use my personal data for the following purposes:

to receive email communication about uRos Conference events;
to use my images and videos in which I may be photographed or filmed by the organiser’s photographer and/or cameraman in promotional or event related materials by organisers.

The usage of my personal data must comply with the requirements of the Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 April 2016 on the protection of natural persons about the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data (“GDPR“).

PERSONAL INFORMATION

You can ask organisers at any time to have an unrestricted access to your personal data and exercise your rights to: consult, modify, erase, export your personal information, by sending a message to the conference secretariat e-mail: urosconf [at] gmail.com.
You will find all data protection information (name and address of Romanian National Institute of Statistics as controller within the meaning of the GDPR, name and address of the data protection officer of Romanian National Institute of Statistics as well as information on the data protection rights and rights of complaint to which you are entitled) in the data protection information about this website.

Organisers

Hellenic Statistical Authority - Greece
National Institute of Statistics - Romania
Ecological University of Bucharest

Live

This page contains agenda, real-time and important information during the conference:
https://r-project.ro/conference2024-live.html

The R Project - The Use of R in Official Statistics - uRos2024