Sir Bernard Silverman FRS

• World-leading researcher in practical, computational and theoretical statistics, with research collaborations in many areas across the disciplinary range
  
  
• Considerable board-level and other senior experience within government, including as a departmental chief scientific adviser and a commission chair. Specialist expertise in national security, modern slavery, official statistics, etc.
  
  
• Senior management and leadership, including chairing wide range of boards, within government, academia and the third sector. Chair of trustees of several charities.
  
  
• Consultant in many areas of industry, commerce, law, and government.
  
  
• Knighthood 2018 “for Public Service and services to Science”.

Portfolio, 2017–present (ongoing commitments starred).

*Methodological Assurance Panel, Office for National Statistics:  The panel advises and assures on many aspects of methodology and is now seen as one of the main advisory pillars underpinning the integrity of official statistics.  I set up the panel and continue to lead it.

*Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology: Board member nominated by Royal Society; POST provides accessible, independent and authoritative briefings to ensure that parliamentary business is properly informed by impartial scientific and technological advice.

*Childlight: Founder chair of the Technical Advisory Board of this charity, which combats child sexual abuse and exploitation. We ensure that Childlight’s reports, with their wealth of statistical and related detail, correctly and impartially reflect the various available sources.

*UK–China Transparency: Founder treasurer. This charity fills a vital knowledge gap in ties between Chinese and British educational and research institutions, companies, NGOs, political groups and government bodies, particularly by publishing evidence-based reports on topics such as the semiconductor industry and Confucius Institutes.

Royal Society Digital Assistive Technologies: Chair of Royal Society project to assess the potential of data and digital technologies to meet the needs of people living with disabilities, giving a clear picture of both advantages and disadvantages.

Bovine TB: Member of independent expert panel for DEFRA. The panel reviewed recent evidence relevant to the control of bovine TB in England. A clear and impartial report in this contentious area was crucial both for policymakers and other stakeholders.

Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC): Member of ESRC Council, which works with the Executive Chair to shape the ESRC’s strategy and to support the overall mission of UKRI (UK Research and Innovation) to maintain the UK’s world-leading position.

Academy of Mathematical Sciences: Founder member of the executive committee. This new Academy is an authoritative voice for the whole of the mathematical sciences.

Geospatial Commission, Chair: Strategic oversight of the UK’s geospatial ecosystem. Notable achievements ranged from the National Underground Assets Register to greatly improved working with the partner bodies: British Geological Survey, Coal Authority, UK Hydrographic Office, HM Land Registry, Ordnance Survey and Valuation Office Agency.

Modern slavery: My bespoke statistical work on quantifying the scale of Modern Slavery was a keystone of the Government’s Modern Slavery Act 2015 and received wide public attention. Roles since 2017 include the Prime Minister’s Task Force, the advisory board to the Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner, advice to the UN and to the Walk Free Foundation, evidence to parliamentary committees, and a part time academic appointment (2017–22) as Professor of Modern Slavery Statistics at the University of Nottingham.

Investigatory Powers Commission: The Commission, made up of senior judges and set up under the Investigatory Powers Act 2016, independently authorises and oversees the use of investigatory powers by public authorities (GCHQ, MI5, police, etc) ensuring they are used in accordance with the law and in the public interest. There is a statutory Technology Advisory Panel, which I established from scratch and chaired for five years. The Panel works with the Jucidial Commissioners to give (classified) scientific advice on any relevant matter; because the work can be highly technical, the Panel is an essential component of the structure.

UK Research Integrity Office: During my tenure as chair, the Office (a charity) doubled its membership and revenue and set it on a continuing upward trajectory. More importantly, we worked with stakeholders to gain far more recognition and traction, establishing research integrity as a central concern within the UK research environment.

Chief Scientific Adviser, Home Office (full time, 2010–2017)

The post had several interconnected aspects:

• independent scientific advice on the entire range of topics relevant to Home Office business. I built close relationships with the Home Secretary and Ministers, and regularly gave evidence to Select Committees. It was crucial to assimilate and present scientific evidence in a clear, authoritative, and succinct way appropriate to the audience.
  
• membership of the Home Office Board, and leadership of Home Office Science, a division of about five hundred scientists and social scientists supporting Home Office policy and operations in crime/policing, migration/borders, and counterterrorism.
  
  
• application of personal scientific expertise to specific problems, e.g. assurance to Lord Chief Justice about the DNA database; dental approaches to age assessment; retention periods for DNA profiles in the Protection of Freedoms Act 2011; queueing problems at the border at the time of the 2012 Olympics; accurate forecasts of passport demand. (Many classified security-related examples in addition.)
  
  
• leadership of international collaborations and relationships, notably with US Department of Homeland Security, and on national security issues more broadly, such as horizon scanning on biological terrorism and strategic considerations of the detection of radioactive materials at the border.
  
  
• participation in the cross-government network of Chief Scientific Advisers and giving advice across Government, for example taking a lead on distributed ledger technology (blockchain) and on the methodology of the National Risk Register.

Academic career

2003–                University of Oxford (Titular Professor then Emeritus Professor)
2003–2009      St Peter’s College, University of Oxford (Master)
1993–2003      University of Bristol (Professor of Statistics)
1978–1993      University of Bath (full Professor from 1984)

Research: My core statistical research hit the “sweet spot” of the continual increase in computer power from the 1970s presaging the later big data revolution; my approach of building methodology with strong theoretical underpinning and wide practical applicability has been extremely influential worldwide. In parallel, I have undertaken a wide range of collaborative applied work, both with academic colleagues and as a consultant. My research collaborations span the range of disciplines in the social, physical and life sciences. Areas of consultancy have ranged from nuclear energy and oil exploration to stockbroking and advertising, as well as legal cases both financial and forensic.

Honours and awards included American COPSS President’s award (one of the highest honours in the field of statistics), Fellowship of the Royal Society at an early age, the European Academy, and the Academy of Social Sciences, four honorary doctorates, and a ScholarGPS ranking in the top 0.03% of scholars across all disciplines. I am past President of the Royal Statistical Society and the (US) Institute of Mathematical Statistics.

Research-related activity included membership of the ESRC and AHRC and the Emerging Technologies Group of Innovate UK. I had long involvement with the Research Excellence Framework through membership and chairmanship of assessment panels for several cycles.  I also led on the Hong Kong RAE, which was closely modelled on our own. 

Senior academic management roles have included the Mastership of St Peter’s College, overseeing a generational change in the College’s general attitude and approach. Fundamental improvements in financial management and investment strategy doubled the endowment, and in the succeeding decade these foundations enabled the endowment to double again.  I took a leading role in the governance of Oxford University, mirroring similar roles at Bristol and Bath. I was a Trustee and sat on several key committees. I led an enquiry into the Staff Pension Scheme. I served on the main Animal Experimentation ethics committee, which involved delicate and difficult decisions.

My wider portfolio up to 2009 included being a trustee of the Royal Society, and university advisory and assessment boards in the UK, USA, Hong Kong, and Singapore. Wide Government service for example: non-executive directorship of the MoD analytical services agency, the GM Science Panel chaired by Sir David King, the Anderson Inquiry into the handling of the Foot and Mouth Epidemic in 2001, advice to the Statistics Commission on census adjustment following the 2001 census, and panel chairmanship for the Department for Transport on the Project for the Sustainable Development of Heathrow.

Links: Web site, detailed CV, publications.

Maintained by Bernard Silverman.  Site last edited 12 October 25 (though not every page may be up to date).