The Department of Statistics and Actuarial Science of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) has hosted a symposium to commemorate World Statistics Day and International Year of Women in Statistics and Data Science sponsored by International Statistical Institute. The symposium dubbed “Connecting the World with Data we can Trust” was held at the Allotey Auditorium, KNUST.
The Pro-Vice-Chancellor, Professor Ellis Owusu-Dabo in his welcome address, indicated that since the outbreak of COVID-19, the information received from world statisticians regarding the pandemic are science and data, hence, it is imperative for the world to rely on trusted and available data. In view of this, the theme of the symposium is appropriate.
Professor Owusu-Dabo reminded participants of the Vice-Chancellor’s vision to increasing female researchers in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics disciplines through mentorship and attractive fellowships. He, therefore, encouraged the participants to support the vision to help build female interest in pursuing STEM programmes.
Professor, Nicholas N.N. Nsowah-Nuamah, President of Ghana Statistical Association, KNUST, in his key note address, explained ‘Big Data’ as a very high volume, velocity and variety of data that require new high-performance processing.
According to him, big data is highly complex and the means for understanding and interpreting them are still being fully conceptualized. Statisticians should thus continue to pioneer methods that manage, integrate, aggregate, and interpret data with the available known methods including data indexing and cleaning.
The Head of Statistics and Actuarial Science Department, Professor (Mrs.) Atinuke O. Adebanji, stated that the role of women in society has evolved from passivity to active involvement in contemporary times. She revealed that it has been agreed that the development and growth of a nation would not be possible unless women are brought into the main stream of national development. This is because women make important contributions to economic development and further make significant improvement to life.
Professor Adebanji presented a review of the contribution of women in the statistics and data science.
Also present were the Provost of the College of Science, Professor Leonard Amekudzi; the Dean of International Programmes Office, Professor Rexford Assassie Oppong; representatives from various tertiary institutions and other members of staff.