The Luxembourg Statistical Society is organizing its second LSS price ceremony.

This event will award an LSS price for the best internship report or master thesis of the University of Luxembourg in the domain of statistics.

The aim of this event is to reinforce the importance of statistics as an applied discipline and bring people together with a shared interest in applied statistics. It awards the students that did an exceptional work contributing to statistics via their internship report.

When and where? This event will take place on the 29th of January 2026 at 6 pm at Campus Belval in room MSA 3530.

Save the date!

Who are the nominees?

• Clara Duchossois, Master in Data Science: Machine Learning and Data Analytics in Human Resources: Absenteeism Prediction and Strategic HR Management (Internship done at Banque de Luxembourg)
• Ifeoluwapo Favour Edun, Master in Mathematics: Automatic Classification of IT Help Desk Tickets via LDA, K-means and BERTopic Modeling (Academic Master Thesis)
• Alexandros Meichanetzidis, Master in Financial Mathematics: Probabilistic Shadow Valuation of Maritime Assets in an Illiquid-Alternative Investment Fund (Internship done at JP Morgan)

Program:

• 18:00: Welcome words by Jang Schiltz, president of the LSS and introduction to the LSS prize by Katarzyna Szczerba, scientific jury president.
• 18:10: Presentations by the Nominees
• 19:00: Jury Deliberation
• 19:15: Announcement of the Winner

If you are interested, please register to this event by sending an email to luxstatsoc@gmail.com.

We are happy to announce that the talk by Professor Masanobu Taniguchi from Waseda University, Japan will take place on Wednesday April 17 at 6.30pm at the University of Luxembourg on the Kirchberg Campus (6, Rue Richard Coudenhove-Kalergi) in the main building, room D10F. The talk will be followed by a drink.

Abstract

This talk delves into the transformative and innovative potential of two cutting-edge technologies – Large Language Models (LLMs) and blockchain – for the field of statistics, and in particular, Official Statistics.

In this talk, topics from the elementary statistics to modern new one will be delivered. First, we explain the meaning of mean, variance, deviation, of statistical data. As the theoretical aspect, we introduce mathematical statistics, mentioning estimator, unbiasedness, sufficiency etc. For goodness of estimator, Rao-Blackwell theorem is stated with an interesting episode of C.R.Rao.

Then we explain the elements of time series, feature of financial data, and nonlinear time series models. Their optimal inference is discussed based on LAN structure, and as an optimal estimator, MLE is given. We apply time series analysis for medical data e.g., ECoG, EMG data to illuminate diseases.

Actual data are essentially non-stationary. For such time series, the optimal inference is established. Classification problems are addressed for such data.

We also deal with the problem of portfolio. For this the optimal portfolio coefficients are given by our modern statistical methods.

As an interesting episode, Nightingale’s life will be mentioned. We explain her relationship to statistics and graphical method in statistics.

Finally, Granger causality will be introduced two time series, and we apply this concept for tourism statistics.

The Luxembourg Statistical Society would like to invite you to the talk by Cristiano Tessitore on “Large Language Models and Blockchain in Statistics: Innovations and Use Cases”. The talk will take place on Thursday 7^th March at 12:00 PM.

Raul Ian Sosa is from Eurostat

Abstract

This talk delves into the transformative and innovative potential of two cutting-edge technologies – Large Language Models (LLMs) and blockchain – for the field of statistics, and in particular, Official Statistics.
LLMs, with their enormous data processing and natural language understanding capabilities, have gained increasing popularity since the launch of OpenAI’s ChatGPT in November 2022. This development has made the generative AI sector increasingly competitive, with new breakthroughs emerging daily, making LLMs a perfect “teammate” for scientists.
Blockchain technology, thanks to its innovative features like immutability, transparency, and decentralization, can strengthen trust in official statistical results.
By combining LLMs and blockchain, this speech aims at showcasing a future where statistical analysis is more efficient, accurate, and trustworthy. Attendees will gain insights into practical applications and the potential of these technologies to transform the statistical landscape

Practical information

Date: 7 March 2024
Time: 12:00-13:00
Place: Webinaire
Fee: free
Registration: please register by sending an email to Christophe Ley (Société Statistique Luxembourgeoise)

The Luxembourg Statistical Society would like to invite you to the talk by Raul Ian Sosa on “Understanding the Potentials and Pitfalls of ChatGPT and AI Language Models”. The talk will take place on Wednesday 13^th September at 6:00 PM.

Raul Ian Sosa is doctoral researcher at Department of Physics and Materials Science of University du Luxembourg

Abstract

In recent months, AI language models have skyrocketed in popularity among both companies and end users. ChatGPT, in particular, has become the fastest-growing web platform of all time and serves as a formidable tool for tasks ranging from simple text summarization to complex ones such as writing entire emails and generating pieces of software. In this talk, we will delve into the creation and evolution of this revolutionary technology, demystifying what these AI models are and envisioning the future they might shape. Despite these new solutions offering immense possibilities, they also pose challenges such as the risk of generating misleading information and perpetuating societal biases. We will dissect these issues, understand their roots, and explore strategies that we, as users, can employ to mitigate them, ensuring the responsible use of these sophisticated tools.

Practical information

Date: 13 September 2023
Time: 18:00-19:00
Place: Metz Room, ground floor of the SnT Building (29, av, JF Kennedy, Luxembourg)
Fee: free
Registration: please register by sending an email to Christophe Ley (Société Statistique Luxembourgeoise)

The Luxembourg Statistical Society would like to invite you to the talk by Monica Pratesi on “Towards a framework to harness data by citizens: the Istat experience”. The talk will take place on Monday 17^th April at 12:00 PM in virtual mode.

Monica Pratesi is Director of the Department for Statistical Production, Istat, Italian National Institute of Statistics

Abstract

Big data, smart statistics, digital administrative data, and citizens are inseparable: from smartphones, meters, fridges and cars to internet platforms, the data of most digital technologies is citizen data, that is the data of the citizens and on citizens.

Their importance and their involvement ask for a thorough rethinking of the relations between the citizens and the production of official statistics. In the session we will focus on examples of the reuse of data generated by citizens on themselves (in processes like using services, making telephone calls or when they populate administrative archives during their lives as students, workers, retired persons etc.) to produce Official Statistics. Examples will use the statistical production process from the Permanent Population and Households Census, from the integration process of utility data files (e.g. electricity, gas) in the design of different activities, like for instance the Household Energy Consumption Survey or data collection on violence against women and on discrimination (LGBTQ+ population, Roma and homeless) conducted in cooperation with civil society organizations, also touching upon the issue of the reuse of privately-held-data in official statistics.

Practical information

Date: 17 April 2023
Time: 12:00-13:00
Place: online
Fee: free
Registration: please register by sending an email to Christophe Ley (Société Statistique Luxembourgeoise)