Blog

Stats4SD in 2021: A Review

After nearly two years of challenging conditions due to the Covid-19 pandemic, we have proven to be adaptable, resilient and ready for 2022.

We are still working from home, but miss working together in a shared physical space. No doubt it has to do with the ease and efficiency of work interactions, but we also miss meeting with each other as friends. At the same time, we must acknowledge that working from home has created opportunities for colleagues based away from Reading to participate on an equal basis with the rest of the team. 

In October, we attempted going back to the office after the Reading-based team was double vaccinated. Adopting a set of stringent rules, some of us gave it a go. It was good to be working together again! As it got colder in early November, we realised that working at a desk with the windows open, while the thermometer registered single digits, was not fun. We finally decided to work from home again. We hope we can use the office in the spring, and with some luck, without the stringent rules.

This year we were unable to go tree planting for the third year. Hopefully, we will be able to get cold, muddy, and energised next year while planting a few more saplings.

The Covid-19 pandemic has affected how we work. For example, we have not travelled for work for nearly two years. What does this teach us about reducing CO2 emissions in the future? We need to draw lessons from this experience to provide support to our partners and clients in the future.

We have explored different ways of working. Can this help us develop a culture of work that supports a better work-life balance? Can we design a way of working that takes the best of what we had before the pandemic and retain the best parts of what we have learnt during it?

Financially, the Covid-19 pandemic reduced our income. We expected to have to use some of our financial reserves to keep going. Eventually, without reducing the size of our team and without putting anyone on furlough, we finished the financial year 2020-2021 with a small positive balance. I want to thank everyone in the team for all their efforts. I think that our financial year 2021-2022 will be better still, but the Covid-19 pandemic conditions still prevail. We need to redouble our efforts to ensure we are successful. After nearly two years of challenging conditions due to the Covid-19 pandemic, we have proven to be adaptable, resilient and ready for 2022.

Image 1: montage of photos contributed by staff as their 'favourite photo ever'

Staff changes in 2021

Roger Stern

At the director's meeting in July, Roger Stern stepped down from his director role at Stats4SD. I want to take this opportunity to thank him for all he has done for us. I thank him for his generosity, friendship, and the way he has influenced the professional development of so many of us. He was among the earliest members of the Department of Applied Statistics at the University of Reading (UoR) in the 1960s. There is a direct line between them and Stats4SD: In the 1980s, together with Ian Wilson, Roger started the Statistical Services Centre of UoR (SSC), the precursor to Stats4SD. At the same time, Ric, a young MSc graduate, started his career working with Roger on statistical climatology and teaching at Applied Stats. In 1989, I sat in an auditorium with some 200 students, paying close attention to Roger's lectures on ‘Experimental Design for Agricultural Research’ and thinking: "Wow, I want to work with this guy!". Roger is a fantastic networker; in the early 1990s, he went to work in West Africa. It was thanks to some of his work there that 15 years later, we made contact with the Collaborative Crop Research Programme of the McKnight Foundation (CCRP). It was from that point our work with CCRP started. In the late 1990s, Roger came back to work at the SSC. When things changed there, he was part of the group that decided to set up Stats4SD in 2016 and even lent us some of his savings to get us started! If this has made you think that he is has left Stats4SD for good, I am sorry to disappoint you. He remains part of our team, working for us from time to time and only when he feels like it. Thank you, Roger!

Image 2: Roger Stern

Farewell to Nico and Lucia, Welcome Dan and Joris

After much practice at drawing and thinking about becoming a full-time artist, Nico took the plunge and left Stats4SD to do what he feels passionate about: bringing together science and drawing. We were sad to see him go but shared the excitement of him fulfilling his dreams with him. A bientot Nico! Buena suerte!

In May 2021, Lucia had an offer that she could not refuse. She joined us as an intern and left us to become a Senior Full Stack Developer with a bigger and wealthier company. Ciao Lucia, buona fortuna, tutto il meglio!

In July, we welcomed Dan Tang as a Full Stack Developer in our team. Dan brings skills and experiences we did not have before. Despite working from home almost all the time since joining Stats4SD, he has formed an effective work relationship with Dave, and the two are achieving a lot together. Dan, it is great to have you on board!

At the start of the year, Nico and Joris De Wolf overlapped supporting our work for CCRP in West Africa. Joris joined our Research Methods Support team and interacted with researchers in the region. He brings many years of experience in research, research support, and working in West Africa. The conditions in the area are challenging, and distance working is not easy, but we are fortunate to have Joris as part of our team.

Image 3: Photos from left to right, by row: Nicolas Greliche (Nico), Lucia Falcinelli, Dan Tang, Joris De Wolf

Donations to good causes

The unique conditions of the pandemic made it even more critical for us to maintain our contribution to some of the good causes we have chosen to support. This year we made donations to:

• Medecins Sans Frontieres UK  
• LaunchPad in Reading 
• Liana
• Get1Give1 Worldwide campaign 

Image 4: Logos of the four organisations we have made donations to

Things to think about in 2022 

Here are some questions that some of us have raised during 2021:

• Will the Reading-based team be able to work from the office in 2022? If so, can we bring some of the learnings from the last two years to ensure we improve working conditions, quality of our service to partners and clients as well as lower CO2 emissions?
• Do we need to start thinking about the succession plan for managing Stats4SD? No need to rush, but is it worth beginning some more careful planning? 
• How do we ensure that we provide value through our inputs to the Collaborative Crop Research Programme of the McKnight Foundation? How can we support our team's evolution to meet the future requirements from CCRP? 
• Can we increase the diversity of our offer as a company and social enterprise to continue building resilience and ensure the long-term future of Stats4SD? 
• We have talked about increasing the number of staff to get more skills and some level of redundancy in our capacity. Are we ready to take the risk? How can we step up capacity development in our existing team? 

 
So many exciting things to consider!
 
We finish 2021 in good shape; I am confident that we will continue to succeed in 2022. Let's hope and work so that all of us, the wider world community together, see the end of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Image 5: montage of photos contributed by staff as their 'favourite photo ever'

Author: Tina Bhati

Tina joined our team in October 2017 and takes care of our social media and communications. Responsible for the social strategy and content across all platforms, as well our blog, Tina has a passion for communicating project initiatives in the development sector.