The 10th European Master in Official Statistics (EMOS) Workshop, organised by Eurostat, was held on 14 and 15 November 2024 in Wiesbaden, Germany, at the premises of the workshop host Destatis, the Federal Statistical Office of Germany.
Around 90 participants came together at the workshop, including representatives of EMOS-labelled master’s programmes, organisations producing official statistics across Europe, EMOS Board members, EMOS students and graduates, Eurostat, and other partners who gathered at the workshop to share their experiences and ideas for the future development of EMOS.
In her opening speech, Sophie Limpach, Director of Resources at Eurostat, emphasised the role of the EMOS network in strengthening the European Statistical System, and highlighted its importance in fostering a skilled workforce and enhancing the capacity of official statistics across Europe.
The workshop participants were welcomed by Ruth Brand, President of the German Federal Statistical Office, who shared her thoughts on EMOS from the perspective of a national statistical office, emphasising the importance of having well-educated professionals in the field.
The keynote speech “Unlocking the Future of EMOS” was delivered by Pedro Campos, Director of Methodology at Statistics Portugal. In his inspiring speech, he presented some thoughts on how the main objective of EMOS to strengthen students' ability to understand and analyse European official data in various aspects is conveyed across the EMOS network. To illustrate his reflections, Mr Campos presented results of a cluster analysis of the EMOS-labelled programmes based on their webpage presentations. His main suggestions were that EMOS should further invest on industry collaboration and project development, academic development and knowledge transfer, and skill development for the future workforce.
Albrecht Wirthmann, Head of the unit Methodology and Innovation in official statistics at Eurostat and Chair of the EMOS Board, provided an overview of the current state of the EMOS network and presented some key elements of recently enhanced communication activities. He also outlined ongoing work on the revision of EMOS in follow-up of the study on the future development of EMOS whose results had been published in early 2024. Taking into consideration the outcomes of the European Statistical System Committee’s related discussions in May 2024, the work on the revision of EMOS in collaboration with the members of the EMOS Board is structured around three main topics: (1) revision of objectives, mission and value statement, (2) revision of EMOS label requirements and learning outcomes, and (3) future development opportunities. These topics were explained to be subject of the group discussions on the second workshop day.
The first workshop day concluded with a panel discussion on EMOS Learning Materials & Opportunities, moderated by Carola Carstens, EMOS project manager at Eurostat. Panelists shared insights on teaching materials available on the EMOS website. Participants were also invited to a series of webinars for young statisticians open to EMOS and had the opportunity to hear a student’s perspective on collaborating with other students and Eurostat in the EMOS Coding lab.
The second workshop day began with a roundtable discussion on collaboration between Academia and the European Statistical System, moderated by Sophie Limpach. In the discussion, roundtable speakers emphasised that national statistical offices are interested in collaborating with the scientific community to drive innovation and to solve real-world problems. It was explained that in today´s environment, strong networks between academia and producers of official statistics are more essential than ever, as there are also other competitors producing statistics on the market. As important contributions of Academia, educating students and conveying the value of official statistics were highlighted. The roundtable moderator concluded that based on the many illustrative examples by the speakers, a deep common motivation of universities and NSIs to collaborate could be identified, and that the collaboration should further be strengthened.
The workshop concluded with a group work session on the future of EMOS. As a basis for the group discussions, participants had received prior to the workshop concept papers (on the revision of the EMOS objectives, the mission and value statement; on the revision of EMOS label requirements and learning outcomes; and on future development opportunities) that had been drafted by members of the EMOS Board and the EMOS secretariat. During the collaborative group work session, EMOS network members were consulted on the drafts and actively used the opportunity to contribute to the discussions for further shaping the future of EMOS. Results of the group discussions are planned to feed into further reflections for the preparation of a document on the future development of EMOS that is planned to be submitted to the ESSC in May 2025.
The 10th EMOS Workshop also offered plenty of opportunities for participants to informally exchange their views, experiences and ideas, as well as to strengthen relationships as a basis for enhanced collaborations among the members of the EMOS Network.