University of Padua, Department of Statistical Sciences

The Department of Statistical Sciences of the University of Padua was founded in 1984. With the implementation of Law 240/2010, which instated a new organisational scheme for the University of Padua's Department of Statistical Sciences remained essentially unchanged in its definition of disciplinary and institutional headquarters. However, in addition to the already attributed functions of scientific research and external activities, the department has taken on new teaching and training functions, collecting the legacy of the Faculty of Statistics, which, similar to all the Faculties of the University, ceased its functions in December 2011.

The Department of Statistical Sciences of the University of Padua (www.stat.unipd.it) was founded in 1984. With the implementation of Law 240/2010, which dictated a new organisational scheme for the University of Padua's Department of Statistical Sciences remained essentially unchanged in its disciplinary definition and institutional location. However, in addition to the already attributed functions of scientific research and external activities, the department has taken on new teaching and training functions, collecting the legacy of the Faculty of Statistics, which, similar to all the Faculties of the University, ceased its functions in December 2011. The statistical science study programmes organised by the department have been coordinated by the School of Sciences, since January 2013.

As of today, the department has 48 professors, of which 16 full professors, 25 associate professors, 3 RTDb and 4 RTDa.

Additionally, 17 PTA units are assigned to the department, of which 11 are dedicated to administrative services, and 6 deal with technical services and computer labs, in addition to the Department Secretary. There are also 3 contracts with external personnel to deal with activities not carried out by structured personnel. All departmental activities take place at the Santa Caterina Complex headquarters (Via Cesare Battisti 241) which is also the seat of the “Bernardo Colombo” Library of Statistics.

The department's research activities of the Department concern the following broad thematic areas: I) Statistical methodology and its applications. The methodological themes range from the specification of models, to inferential analysis, and computational aspects. The applications concern, for example, the technological, production, financial, environmental, biological and medical fields. II) Economic statistics; particularly, models for the analysis of time series, forecasting methods, and statistical methods for labor economics and policy evaluation. III) Social statistics; particularly, survey design methodologies and analyses of sample survey results, statistical models for individual and aggregate data, segmentation techniques, and data analysis with a multilevel structure. IV) Demographics; particularly, population structure and dynamics, analyses and evaluations of demographic behaviours and policies.

Since May 2012, the department has been the reference for the study courses in statistical sciences (two 3 -year degrees of class L41: "Statistics for Economy and Business" - 277 enrolled in 2021/22 - and "Statistics for Technologies and Sciences " (86 enrolled in 2021/22) and a master's degree in class LM82:"Statistical Sciences" (99 enrolled in 2021/22). These courses of study are coordinated by the School of Sciences. The teaching commitment of the department's faculty members is also important in many other study activated programmes at the university and, in particular, the department is configured as a multi-school, additionally being grouped in the Schools of Economics and Political Sciences.

Since 1984, the department has been the administrative headquarters of the PhD in Statistics, in which 41 students are currently enrolled (from the 34th to the 37th cycle, including 2 visiting students), originating from Italian and, to a large extent, foreign universities. The PhD programme is conducted entirely in English.

The Department of Statistical Sciences was one of 180 departments of excellence selected by the Italian Ministry for Education and University Research  for the quality of their research. “Statistical methods and models for complex data” is the title of a project of excellence for which the Department has been awarded funding to develop its research and innovative teaching activities, and knowledge transfer between the business and academic worlds (2018-2022).