The “H.O. Lancaster Lecture” commenced in 1979 at a meeting of the SSA NSW Branch. It has become the premier annual event, and it also signalled the start of the branch’s program for the calendar year. 

The lecture series is named in honour of Professor Henry Oliver Lancaster, the Foundation Professor of Mathematical Statistics at the University of Sydney (1959-1978), a role model for many modern statisticians.  

Professor Lancaster had made many contributions to the profession:  

• a founding member of the NSW Branch in 1947, and later served as its President in 1952–1953 and then National President in 1965–1967;
  
• a founding member of the Australian Mathematical Society in 1956–1957, and later (1967–1968) served as its President;
  
• the founding Editor of the monthly bulletin, which later became the first published edition of the Australian Journal of Statistics. Prof Lancaster was the Editor of the journal till 1971.
  

• the recipient of the E.J.G. Pitman Medal, the Society’s highest honour, in 1980;
  
• elected to the Australian Academy of Science (FAA) and awarded its Lyle Medal for Mathematics and Physics, both in 1961;
  
• made Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) in 1992 for services to Science and Education.
  

The choice of lecturer is alternating between the Incoming Branch President and by invitation of the Branch Council.

The H.O. Lancaster Lecture is generally not an academic seminar. It should appeal to a broad range of statisticians and data scientists and be at a level accessible to all. A list of recent Lancaster Lectures follows.

Annual Lecture