Sir Bernard Walter Silverman, (born 22 February 1952) is a British statistician and former Anglican clergyman. He was

Master Master, master's or masters may refer to: Ranks or titles In education: *Master (college), head of a college *Master's degree, a postgraduate or sometimes undergraduate degree in the specified discipline *Schoolmaster or master, presiding office ...

St Peter's College, Oxford St Peter's College is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford. Located on New Inn Hall Street, Oxford, United Kingdom, it occupies the site of two of the university's academic halls of the Univers ...

, from 1 October 2003 to 31 December 2009. He is a member of the Statistics Department at the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

, and has also been attached to the

Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics The Centre for Human Genetics (CHG) is a human genetics research centre of the Nuffield Department of Medicine in the Medical Sciences Division, University of Oxford, funded by the Wellcome Trust among others. Facilities & resources The cent ...

, the Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment, and the Oxford-Man Institute of Quantitative Finance. He has been a member of the Council of the University of Oxford and of the Council of the

Royal Society The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...

.Council for 2008/9
of the

He was briefly president of the

Royal Statistical Society The Royal Statistical Society (RSS) is an established statistical society. It has three main roles: a British learned society for statistics, a professional body for statisticians and a charity which promotes statistics for the public good. ...

in January 2010, a position from which he stood down upon announcement of his appointment as Chief Scientific Adviser to the

Home Office The Home Office (HO), also known (especially in official papers and when referred to in Parliament) as the Home Department, is the United Kingdom's interior ministry. It is responsible for public safety and policing, border security, immigr ...

. He was awarded a knighthood in the 2018 New Years Honours List, "For public service and services to Science".

Education

Silverman was educated at the

City of London School The City of London School, also known as CLS and City, is a Private schools in the United Kingdom, private day school for Single-sex education, boys in the City of London, England, on the banks of the River Thames next to the Millennium Bridge, ...

, an independent day school in Central London, from 1961 to 1969, on a Carpenter Scholarship (similar to today's full bursary), followed by Jesus College at the

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

Career

* 1970–73 Undergraduate, Jesus College, Cambridge. * 1973–74 Graduate Student, Jesus College, Cambridge. * 1974–75 Research Student, Statistical Laboratory, Cambridge. * 1975–77 Research Fellow of Jesus College, Cambridge. * 1976–77 Calculator Development Manager,

Sinclair Radionics Sinclair Radionics Ltd was a company founded by Sir Clive Sinclair in Cambridge, England which developed hi-fi products, radios, calculators and scientific instruments. History After raising funds to start the business by writing articles ...

Ltd. * 1977–78 Junior Lecturer in Statistics, University of Oxford, and Weir Junior Research Fellow of

University College, Oxford University College, formally The Master and Fellows of the College of the Great Hall of the University commonly called University College in the University of Oxford and colloquially referred to as "Univ", is a Colleges of the University of Oxf ...

. * 1978–80 Lecturer in Statistics,

University of Bath The University of Bath is a public research university in Bath, England. Bath received its royal charter in 1966 as Bath University of Technology, along with a number of other institutions following the Robbins Report. Like the University ...

. * 1981–84 Reader in Statistics, University of Bath. * 1984 and 1992–93 Head of Statistics Group, University of Bath. * 1984–93 Professor of Statistics, University of Bath. * 1988–91 Head of School of Mathematical Sciences, University of Bath. * 1993–2003 Professor of Statistics,

University of Bristol The University of Bristol is a public university, public research university in Bristol, England. It received its royal charter in 1909, although it can trace its roots to a Merchant Venturers' school founded in 1595 and University College, Br ...

* 1993–97 and 1998–99 Head of Statistics Group, University of Bristol * 1999–2003 Henry Overton Wills Professor of Mathematics, University of Bristol * 2000–03 Provost of the Institute for Advanced Studies, University of Bristol * 2003–09 Master of St Peter's College, Oxford * 2010– Senior Research Fellow,

Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment The Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment (also known as the Oxford Smith School) is an interdisciplinary research centre of the University of Oxford that focuses on teaching research, and engagement with businesses and enterprises f ...

, Oxford (part-time) * 2010– Professorial Research Associate,

Wellcome Trust The Wellcome Trust is a charitable foundation focused on health research based in London, United Kingdom. It was established in 1936 with legacies from the pharmaceutical magnate Henry Wellcome (founder of Burroughs Wellcome, one of the predec ...

Centre for Human Genetics, Oxford (part-time) * 2010–17 Chief Scientific Adviser, Home Office * 2018–22 Professor of Modern Slavery Statistics, Rights Lab,

University of Nottingham The University of Nottingham is a public research university in Nottingham, England. It was founded as University College Nottingham in 1881, and was granted a royal charter in 1948. Nottingham's main campus (University Park Campus, Nottingh ...

Degrees and qualifications

* 1973 Bachelor of Arts, Cambridge. ( Wrangler) * 1974 Part III of Mathematical Tripos, Cambridge (with Distinction) * 1977 Doctor of Philosophy, Cambridge * 1989 Doctor of Science, Cambridge * 1993 Chartered Statistician,

* 2000 Bachelor of Theology, Southampton (First Class Honours) through STETS

Awards and honours

* 1970 Gold Medal,

International Mathematical Olympiad The International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO) is a mathematical olympiad for pre-university students, and is the oldest of the International Science Olympiads. It is widely regarded as the most prestigious mathematical competition in the wor ...

* 1974 Mayhew Prize for Mathematical Tripos Part III,

* 1976

Smith's Prize Smith's Prize was the name of each of two prizes awarded annually to two research students in mathematics and theoretical physics at the University of Cambridge from 1769. Following the reorganization in 1998, they are now awarded under the names ...

* 1984

Guy Medal The Guy Medals are awarded by the Royal Statistical Society in three categories; Gold, Silver and Bronze. The Silver and Bronze medals are awarded annually. The Gold Medal was awarded every three years between 1987 and 2011, but is awarded bienni ...

in Bronze * 1985 Special Invited Paper,

Institute of Mathematical Statistics The Institute of Mathematical Statistics is an international professional and scholarly society devoted to the development, dissemination, and application of statistics and probability. The Institute currently has about 4,000 members in all parts ...

* 1988 Technometrics Special Discussion Paper,

American Statistical Association The American Statistical Association (ASA) is the main professional organization for statisticians and related professionals in the United States. It was founded in Boston, Massachusetts, on November 27, 1839, and is the second-oldest continuous ...

* 1991 Presidents' Award of the Committee of Presidents of Statistical Societies * 1993 Fulkerson Lecturer,

Cornell University Cornell University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university based in Ithaca, New York, United States. The university was co-founded by American philanthropist Ezra Cornell and historian and educator Andrew Dickson W ...

* 1995

Guy Medal in Silver * 1997 Fellow of the

* 1999 Special Invited Paper,

* 1999 Henri Willem Methorst Medal,

International Statistical Institute The International Statistical Institute (ISI) is a professional association of statisticians. At a meeting of the Jubilee Meeting of the Royal Statistical Society, statisticians met and formed the agreed statues of the International Statistical ...

* 2000 Corcoran Lecturer, University of Oxford * 2001 Member of

Academia Europaea The Academia Europaea is a pan-European Academy of humanities, letters, law, and sciences. The Academia was founded in 1988 as a functioning Europe-wide Academy that encompasses all fields of scholarly inquiry. It acts as co-ordinator of Europe ...

* 2002 Original Member, Highly Cited Researchers database, ISI * 2003 Honorary Fellow,

Jesus College, Cambridge Jesus College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Jesus College was established in 1496 on the site of the twelfth-century Benedictine nunnery of St Radegund's Priory, Cambridge, St ...

* 2018

Knight Bachelor The title of Knight Bachelor is the basic rank granted to a man who has been knighted by the monarch but not inducted as a member of one of the organised Order of chivalry, orders of chivalry; it is a part of the Orders, decorations, and medals ...

in the

2018 New Year Honours The 2018 New Year Honours are appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms to Orders and decorations of the Commonwealth realms, various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The New Year Hono ...

for public service and services to Science.

Ecclesiastical career

Silverman was

ordained Ordination is the process by which individuals are Consecration in Christianity, consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the religious denomination, denominationa ...

in the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...

as a

deacon A deacon is a member of the diaconate, an office in Christian churches that is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions. Major Christian denominations, such as the Cathol ...

in 1999 and as a

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deity, deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in parti ...

in 2000. From 1999 to 2005, he was an honorary

assistant curate A curate () is a person who is invested with the ''care'' or ''cure'' () of souls of a parish. In this sense, ''curate'' means a parish priest; but in English-speaking countries the term ''curate'' is commonly used to describe clergy who are ass ...

of Cotham Parish Church in the

Diocese of Bristol The Diocese of Bristol is an ecclesiastical jurisdiction or diocese of the Church of England in the Province of Canterbury, England. It is based in the city of Bristol and covers South Gloucestershire and parts of north Wiltshire, as far east ...

. Between 2005 and 2009, he held

Permission to Officiate A permission to officiate (PTO), also known as a licence to officiate, is a concessionary ministry licence granted by an Anglican bishop. It is most commonly issued to a retired deacon, priest, or lay reader over the age of 70 years. It allows the ...

in the

Diocese of Oxford The Diocese of Oxford is a Church of England diocese that forms part of the Province of Canterbury. The diocese is led by the Bishop of Oxford (currently Steven Croft (bishop), Steven Croft), and the bishop's seat is at Christ Church Cathedral, ...

. Then, from 2009 to 2015, he was an honorary assistant curate of St Giles' Church and St Margaret's Church, Oxford. From 2015 to 2022, he held Permission to Officiate in both the Diocese of Oxford and in the

Diocese of London The Diocese of London forms part of the Church of England's Province of Canterbury in England. It lies directly north of the Thames, covering and all or part of 17 London boroughs. This corresponds almost exactly to the historic county of ...

. He renounced his orders in 2022.

Books

* * * * *

References

Sources and links

Bernard Silverman's CV

Bernard Silverman home page
*
Prof Bernard Silverman, FRS
at Debrett's ''People of Today'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Silverman, Bernard 1952 births Living people Alumni of Jesus College, Cambridge Fellows of the Royal Society 21st-century English Anglican priests English statisticians Fellows of University College, Oxford Academics of the University of Bath Academics of the University of Bristol Masters of St Peter's College, Oxford People educated at the City of London School Presidents of the Institute of Mathematical Statistics Presidents of the Royal Statistical Society Members of Academia Europaea Fellows of Jesus College, Cambridge International Mathematical Olympiad participants Civil servants in the Home Office Annals of Statistics editors British mathematical statisticians