UKCOTS 2024: Teaching Statistics in HE, across all disciplines

The RSS Teaching Statistics Section are delighted to announce that the first UK Conference on Teaching Statistics (UKCOTS) will be held at the University of Manchester, 13-14 June, 2024. The 2024 UKCOTS conference will also host the Annual Conference for Teachers of Statistics in Medicine and Allied Health Sciences (known as ‘Burwalls’).

UKCOTS is for everyone with an interest in the teaching of statistics in higher education in whatever department or discipline. While the primary intended audience is statistics educators working in higher education, the conference is open to all, including those interested in pre-18 statistics education, or in professional training.

Delegate information

If you have not already done so, please sign up to the conference mailing list at https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/ukcots (click Subscribe or Unsubscribe under Options). If we need to pass on important information in advance of or during the conference, we will do so using this mailing list.

Getting to Manchester

Manchester is well served by public transport. The closest train stations to the UKCOTS venue are Manchester Piccadilly and Manchester Oxford Road.

Getting to the UKCOTS venue

UKCOTS is being hosted by the University of Manchester and is taking place in the Alan Turing Building, Upper Brook Street, Manchester, M13 9PL ( interactive map). You can also access the building from Oxford Road, which runs parallel to Upper Brook Street. Citymapper Manchester provides an excellent real-time route mapper, wherever you land initially in Manchester.

To get to the venue from Manchester Piccadilly station, you can:

Walk: about 15-20 minutes
Take a bus: the 147 takes you from Piccadilly station (Stop D - use the Fairfield Street exit) to the University Shopping Centre stop on Oxford Road, which is then a 3-minute walk to the Alan Turing Building [note that the 147 bus only runs every 30 minutes]
Take a taxi: there is a taxi rank of black cabs at the Fairfield Street exit from the station (cost: likely to be less than £10)

From Manchester Oxford Road station, you can:

Walk: about 15 minutes
Take a bus: travel south down Oxford Road to the University Shopping Centre stop

From Manchester Victoria station, you can:

Walk: about 35-40 minutes
Take the tram and walk/bus: travel to St Peter’s Square on the tram, then either walk or take a bus south down Oxford Road to the University Shopping Centre stop.

During the conference

The conference takes place on 13 and 14 June. All sessions and refreshments will be on the ground floor of the Alan Turing Building. The registration desk will be in the foyer of the building. If you have any questions or concerns, please head to the registration desk which will be staffed during the conference. Additionally, you will be able to identify members of the conference organising committee as this will be marked on their name badges. Specific instructions for presenters and session chairs have been sent out.

Please note that at the conference there will be no welcome packs, no printed abstract booklets and no printed timetables. To help keep costs to a minimum, and to manage our environmental impact, we ask delegates to access all conference materials online.

All supplied information on dietary requirements has been passed to the conference caterers. Please only take food provided for those with dietary requirements (vegan, gluten free etc.) if you have specifically requested it. Room G109 in the Alan Turing Building is a designated quiet room. Please reserve this room as a retreat for those wishing to escape noise, interaction and stimulation.

Conference programme and abstracts

The conference programme is available here: Conference Programme.

Abstracts for conference sessions are available here: Conference Abstracts.

Two social events are planned:

Pre-conference social on Wednesday 12 June, from 19:00, at Kro Bar, 325 Oxford Rd, Manchester M13 9PG (5-minute walk from the Alan Turing Building). You will be able to purchase drinks and food, and we will be running an informal pub quiz for those who would like to take part. The venue will have a space reserved for UKCOTS delegates.
Not-conference-dinner on Thursday 13 June, from 19:00, at Mackie Mayor, Eagle Street, Manchester, M4 5BU. This is a food court in an 1858 Grade II listed market building. Please feel free to buy your own drinks/food at the venue. We will have a reserved space.
- Note that Mackie Mayor is on the northern edge of the city centre, about a 35-minute walk from the Alan Turing Building
- We expect that most delegates who are going to Mackie Mayor will want to do so directly from their accommodation
- For anyone wishing to travel directly from the University of Manchester campus to Mackie Mayor, a group of us will be meeting outside the Alan Turing Building at 18:15
- There is an option to take a bus from Oxford Road: the 18 or 41 will take you to near Oak Street/High Street and from there it’s a 3-minute walk
- Another option is to share an Uber/black cab: that would be in the region of £8 - £12 and take around 15 minutes.

Coffee shops

There are several coffee shops around University Green on Oxford Road, should you wish to grab a coffee at any point during the conference. A few of the places you can find are:

Wi-Fi

Wi-Fi is available on the University of Manchester campus via eduroam or UoM_Guest networks. See https://www.itservices.manchester.ac.uk/wireless/ if further details are required.

Speed Networking with the RoSE Network

Please note the following updates to Thursday lunchtime’s speed networking session:

The session will now begin at 13:20 (to allow you time to grab some lunch).

If you’re planning on coming along, please let us know via this link: https://bit.ly/ukcots_speed_networking (to help the hosts prepare).

For general information about the session, please see the conference abstract.

Any Questions?

If you have any questions about the conference, please contact us at ukcots24@gmail.com.