Interview with David Spiegelhalter and Saira Shah

On November 11, Saira Shah hosted our risk webinar. In advance of this insightful event on how our human senses assess complex, modern risks, Saira spoke to a man described as ‘probably the greatest living statistical communicator’. Professor, Sir David Spiegelhalter is Chair of the Winton Centre for Risk and Evidence Communication at Cambridge University. Crucially, he is also currently the Joint Chair of the Royal Statistical Society COVID-19 task force. Here, he explains the mathematical and real world underpinnings that inform his work on the pandemic and other statistical risks. He also illustrates why we need to use both our instinctive gut reactions in tandem with slow, methodical thinking to make sense of modern risks. 'I think humans are a wonderful combination between the two,” said Sir David. "People have said that you've got risks as analysis and you've got risk as feeling, and they're both terribly important. This interaction between the two - that's where I work quite a lot - is so riveting, particularly at this time of COVID.'