Distinguished Lecture Series

Purpose & Plan

The primary purpose of the series is to reach out to, encourage and inspire young professionals globally. The IBS Education Committee is charged with selecting presenters whose research and work in the field highlight an interesting application, or a new methodology or development in biometrics, biostatistics or biomathematics. The committee seeks presenters of wide interest among members and, though not required, it is ideal when early career professionals working in the field (within 10 years of PhD completion) can be featured. 

IBS members may register for each Distinguished Lecture Series webinar free of charge. They may also view previous sessions online. To see previously-recorded Distinguished Lecture Series sessions, visit the Video Sessions page. 

If you would like to join the IBS, please click here and identify your local affiliated IBS Region. If a local Region cannot be found, please contact the International Biometric Office to join the IBS directly. 

You must be logged in as an IBS member to register for these sessions. To login, click "Sign In" at the top right corner of this page. Then click on "Register Now", and choose R.S.V.P. to confirm your registration.

If you need help with your username/password, contact us at ibs@biometricsociety.org.

Upcoming Lecture: 18 November 2025

Event Information

  • Date: 18 November 2025
  • Time: 8:00 a.m. EST | 1:00 p.m. UTC | 19 November 12:00 a.m. AEDT
  • Title: "From Inference to Intelligence: The Evolving Role of Statistics in the Age of AI"

Register Today!


Abstract

Artificial Intelligence is changing the way we analyze and use data. But behind most AI methods are core ideas from statistics: uncertainty, estimation, and learning from data. In this lecture, I will show how modern AI systems, from machine learning to generative models, build upon and sometimes challenge traditional statistical thinking. We will revisit concepts such as inference, prediction, and interpretability, and see how they appear in today’s neural networks and large language models. I will also discuss why statistical reasoning is essential to make AI reliable, transparent, and fair. The goal is to open a conversation about how statistics and AI can grow together, and how statisticians can shape the future of data-driven science.

Biography

Paulo Canas Rodrigues is a Professor of Statistics and Data Science at the Federal University of Bahia and the Director of the Statistical Learning Laboratory (SaLLy; www.SaLLy.ufba.br). Paulo completed his Ph.D. in Statistics at the Nova University of Lisbon, Portugal (2012), and his Habilitation in Mathematics, with a specialization in Statistics and Stochastic Processes, at the Lisbon University, Portugal (2019). His research in time series forecasting, statistical learning, artificial intelligence, statistics, and data science resulted in more than 120 scientific papers in collaboration with more than 180 co-authors from 86 universities in 31 countries and delivered more than 180 invited talks at conferences and scientific seminars. He was President of the International Society for Business and Industrial Statistics (ISBIS; 2013-2015), President of the Brazilian Region of the International Biometric Society (RBras; 2018-2020; 2020-2022), and the Chair of the Special Interest Group on Data Science of the International Statistical Institute (2021-2023). Among other activities, he is the current President of the International Association for Statistical Computing, a Member of the Representative Council of the International Biometric Society, and a Council Member of the International Statistical Institute. 

The IBS Distinguished Lecture Series is open to all IBS members worldwide.

Future Sessions

Do you have suggestions for an upcoming session? Let us know! Please email your recommendations to the IBO staff. The IBS Education Committee will carefully review all submissions, contact potential speakers to confirm their availability, and announce the selected presenters on the IBS website. We appreciate your input!

Distinguished Lecture Series

For more information about the Distinguished Lecture Series contact:

Peter Doherty, IBO, Staff Liaison

The Distinguished Lecture Series is a members-only service of the IBS.

Registration Fees

IBS Member – Free

Non-member – N/A

Audience

The IBS Distinguished Lecture Series is open to all IBS members worldwide (not limited to English-speaking natives).

At this time, the Distinguished Lecture Series is only available to IBS members. We plan to evaluate our policy from time to time and may consider access by non-members in the future. 

Venue

Sessions are presented online using Zoom webinar services and will include both audio and video content.

Instructions for access are made available to all confirmed participants.

You will receive a unique email from our Zoom conference email.