General Principles for an ISI RSC

ISI Regional Statistical Conferences aim to bring statistical value to a region by: 

  • Increasing awareness of ISI in the region, and promoting regional and individual participation in ISI. 
  • Promoting and advancing regional cooperation and development in statistics. 
  • Encouraging the participation of early career statisticians and data scientists in the region.

In order to achieve this: 

  1. An ISI RSC is held in one country but ensures regional participation. The RSC must be open to all participants in the identified region who wish to attend. All participants in the region who wish to attend must be able to do so. There must be no impediments to participation from the host country. 
  2. An ISI RSC should target a number of statistical audiences, including at least two of: official statistics, academia, central banks, industry, business, education. 
  3. If there is an ISI outreach committee in the region, it should be involved in the organisation of the RSC in some appropriate way agreed with the ISI outreach committee and the host country. 
  4. An ISI RSC is normally organised by at least two organisations in the host country. These could be at least two of the National Statistical Office, the Central Bank, a national association, a national institute or university. 
  5. An ISI RSC is normally 3 days plus 2 days for associated activities such as workshops, short courses, symposia, meetings. The RSC program consists of Plenary Sessions (PS), Invited Paper Sessions (IPS), Contributed Paper Sessions (CPS). 
  6. An ISI RSC has a Statistical Program Committee (SPC) with at least some international ISI representation. 
  7. An ISI RSC has a Local Organising Committee or a National Organising Committee (NOC). The host may also choose to have a Local Program Committee (LPC). 
  8. The SPC is in charge of IPS and the NOC/LPC in charge of CPS. The SPC and the NOC/LPC jointly arrange the plenary sessions, and jointly arrange the RSC schedule of sessions. 
  9. The SPC is in charge of organising associated workshops and short courses, in consultation with the NOC/LPC. 
  10. The NOC is responsible for a. hiring, directing and monitoring the provision of all the services of a suitable conference venue where the RSC will take place. b. developing, hosting, managing and maintaining a website with associated systems, including submission and registration for the RSC. 
  11. The NOC is responsible for obtaining the necessary funding for the RSC. 12) The NOC sets the registration fees in agreement with ISI.
  12. The ISI will provide the NOC with all the relevant background information, guidance and support required for a successful preparation, organization and management of the RSC. 
  13. The ISI will promote the RSC to the ISI community to engage in the planning, preparation and running of a successful RSC, in particular by contributing to the development of an attractive scientific program for the event. 
  14. There shall be a written agreement for the RSC between ISI and the NOC. The details of the implementation of the activities established shall be defined according to work plans to be established jointly with the ISI. 
  15. The ISI RSC host may cover the costs of the ISI EC participation in the RSC and an EC meeting associated with the RSC in return for EC contributions to the RSC and associated activities, including workshops, and presentations. 

The Hague, 27 February 2019