School of Mathematics

People A-Z



Prof. Ruth King

Photo of Ruth King

Contact details

Research Interests

Capture-recapture; Bayesian inference; hidden (semi-)Markov models; state-space models; missing data; multiple systems estimation; individual heterogeneity; integrated models; applications in ecology and epidemiology.

Research Groups

Recent Conference and Workshop Involvement

Selected conference presentations/organisation:

2022 Barnett Lecture at Royal Statistical Society Conference (Aberdeen)

2021 Invited Rob Kempton memorial lecture (virtual; BioSS)

2020 Invited keynote speaker at the Royal Statistical Society Conference (virtual).

2020 Presidential address for the International Biometrics Society: British and Irish Region (virtual)

2020 Invited inaugural speaker at Canadian Statistical Science Institute (CASSI) National Seminar Series (virtual).

2019 Co-organiser of ICMS workshop on "Addressing Statistical Challenges of Modern Technological Advances" (Edinburgh);

2019 Invited speaker at Conference of Applied Statistics Ireland (Dundalk; Ireland);

2019 Co-organiser of "Global Expert Working Group on Multiple Systems Estimation of Modern Slavery" (Edinburgh);

2019 ICMS Public lecture - "The Rise and Fall and Rise of Bayesian Statistics" (Edinburgh);

2018 Invited speaker at Welsh Mathematical Colloquium (Gregynog; Wales);

2018 Invited speaker at Research Students' Conference (Sheffield);

2017 Invited speaker at Advances in Data Science (Manchester);

2016 Invited speaker at CMStatistics (Seville; Spain);

2016 Coulter McDowell lecture (Holloway; London);

2016 Invited speaker at the Young Statisticians Meeting (London);

2016 Invited speaker at International Statistical Ecology Conference (Seattle);

2015 150th LMS Popular Lecturer (London and Glasgow).

Biographical Statement

I joined the University of Edinburgh in 2015 to take up the position of the Thomas Bayes' Chair of Statistics. Prior to my appointment I was a lecturer and reader in Statistics at the University of St Andrews (2003-15) and previously held an EPSRC post-doctoral fellowship (2003-5).

In 2022 I was awarded the Royal Statistical Society Barnett Award for outstanding contributions to the field of environmental statistics.

In 2022 I was elected a Fellow of the Institute of Mathematical Statistics (IMS).

In 2017 I was elected a Fellow of the Learned Society of Wales (FLSW); and in 2018 a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE).

From 2016-20 I am a Turing Fellow; in 2020-21 I was a Leverhulme research fellow.

Professional Activities

- Guest Editor for Methods in Ecology and Evolution Special Issue on “Realising the Promise of Large Data and Complex Models”, 2022;

- Member of the virtual Expert Group Meeting (EGM) for the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) for the manual on the application of the Multiple System Estimate (MSE) methodology to estimate the number of victims of Trafficking in Persons, 2021;

- Elected President of the International Biometrics Society: British and Irish Region, 2019-20 (incoming president, 2018; outgoing president, 2021);

- Deputy Director of the National Centre for Statistical Ecology, 2019+;

- Elected Royal Statistical Society Council Member, 2018-22;

- Associate Editor for Biometrics, 2017-19;

- Associate Editor for Royal Society Open Science, 2016-19;

- Turing fellow of the Alan Turing Institute, 2016-20;

- Programme committee member of the Alan Turing Institute, 2016-18;

- Royal Statistical Society Research Section Committee member, 2016-19;

- International Biometrics Society Editorial Advisory Committee Member, 2016-19;

- Royal Statistical Society Honours Committee Member, 2016-18;

- Invited author of newspaper article "How to count invisible people", The Guardian, 2015;

- Associate Editor for Journal of Agricultural, Biological and Ecological Statistics, 2012+;

Education Background

PhD University of Bristol, 2001;

BSc Mathematics and Statistics (First class), University of Bristol, 1998.

Previous Employment

- Reader in Statistics, University of St Andrews, 2010-15;

- Lecturer in Statistics, University of St Andrews, 2003-10;

- EPSRC post-doctoral fellow, 2003-5;

- Research associate, University of Cambridge, 2001-3

Education

PhD University of Bristol (2001)

BSc University of Bristol (1998)