Selected Webinars for Young Statisticians 2nd batch

Course Leader

Ana Carmen Saura Vinuesa (INE Spain)

Ildiko Ritzl (Independent expert)

Jean-Michel Durr (Independent expert)

Edwin de Jonge (CBS Netherlands) 

Luis Sanguiao Sande (INE Spain)

Young Statisticians

• Solid command of English. Participants should be able to make short interventions and to actively participate in discussions.

This webinar series aims to strengthen participants’ understanding of the European Statistical System (ESS) and key developments in official statistics. Through five modules, participants will:

Understand the roles and responsibilities of main ESS actors and how coordination and decision-making function within the system.

Gain insight into the production of statistics by central banks, including the ECB, and their role within the broader statistical framework.

Become familiar with the European Statistics Code of Practice, with a focus on professional independence and its importance for democracy, transparency, and public trust.

Explore innovative methodologies such as whole population networks, including their applications, benefits, and limitations in producing official statistics.

Develop a basic understanding of artificial intelligence and large language models (LLMs), including their use cases, opportunities, and challenges in official statistics.

The course is split in 5 modules of 2h each, each one focusing on a different topic. 

1. Who does what in the European Statistical System 
2. Statistics produced by the ECB and other Central Banks 
3. Code of Practice principle number 1 - independence: 

focus on Democracy and Official Statistics as a public good 

4. Presentation of use cases from the ESS: Whole population network 
5. Presentation of use cases from the ESS: AI & LLMs for         Official Statistics 

The expected outcome of the webinar series is that participants will:

Topic 1: Gain a clear understanding of the roles and responsibilities of key actors within the European Statistical System (ESS).

Distinguish between the functions of Eurostat, National Statistical Institutes, and other national authorities.

Improved awareness of how coordination, governance, and decision-making work within the ESS.

Enhanced ability to navigate ESS structures and identify appropriate counterparts for collaboration.

Strengthened capacity for effective cooperation and communication within the European statistical framework.

Topic 2: Gain a clear understanding of the roles and responsibilities of key actors within the European Statistical System (ESS).

Distinguish between the functions of Eurostat, National Statistical Institutes, and other national authorities.

Improved awareness of how coordination, governance, and decision-making work within the ESS.

Enhanced ability to navigate ESS structures and identify appropriate counterparts for collaboration.

Strengthened capacity for effective cooperation and communication within the European statistical framework.

Topic 3: Understand the European Statistics Code of Practice, with a focus on Principle 1 on professional independence.

Recognise the importance of statistical independence for democracy, transparency, and public trust.

Understand official statistics as a public good and their role in informed decision-making.

Become aware of risks to independence and the safeguards in place within the European Statistical System.

Develop a basic understanding of how independence is applied in practice in the production of official statistics.

Topic 4: Understand what population scale networks are and how they can be constructed. 

Have seen how combining data from different data sources can lead to new data sets transcending 

Understand the advantages and limitations of these networks. 

Have seen how these networks can be used to produce official statistics.

Topic 5: Gain an introductory understanding of artificial intelligence (AI) and large language models (LLMs) in the context of official statistics.

Become familiar with selected ESS use cases applying AI and LLMs in the production and dissemination of official statistics.

Understand the potential benefits and limitations of using AI and LLMs for official statistics.

Develop awareness of ethical, quality, transparency, and governance considerations related to AI use in official statistics.

Understand how innovation and new technologies are being explored and governed within the European Statistical System.

Required Reading 

None

Topic 1, 2 and 5: None

Topic 3: European Statistics Code of Practice

Topic 4: On the Dutch network: Van der Laan, J., De Jonge, E., Das, M., Te Riele, S., & Emery, T. (2023). A whole population network and its application for the social sciences. European sociological review, 39(1), 145-160.

On the Danish network: Cremers, J., Kohler, B., Maier, B. F., Eriksen, S. N., Einsiedler, J., Christensen, F. K., ... & Bjerre-Nielsen, A. (2025). Unveiling the social fabric through a temporal, nation-scale social network and its characteristics. Scientific Reports, 15(1), 18383.

On the Swedish network: Panayiotou, G., Wohlert, I. K., Bask, M., Bask, M., Magnani, M., & Mäkinen, I. H. (2025). Anatomy of a Swedish population-scale network: G. Panayiotou et al. Scientific Reports, 15(1), 30300.

Topic 1, 2, 3 and 5: None

Topic 4: The participants are asked to investigate what information is available in their country/at their institute on family relations and determine to what extent that information is linkable. For example, birth certificates typically register the parents of persons. Is this information available at the statistical agency and can this information be linked. For example, can we determine that two persons share one or more parents?

Topic 1 (trainers from INE Spain): Ana Carmen Saura Vinuesa, Ana Cánovas Zapata and  

Yolanda Gómez Menchón 

Topic 2: Ildiko Ritzl (Independent expert)

Topic 3: Jean-Michel Durr (Independent expert)

Topic 4 (trainers from Statistics Netherlands): Edwin de Jonge and Jan van der Laan

Topic 5 (trainers from INE Spain): Luis Sanguiao Sande, Carlos Sáez Calvo, Sandra Barragán Andrés and Adrián Pérez Bote.