Host of ICOTS-8, International Conference on Teaching Statistics

Andrej Blejec, Chair of ICOTS-8, President of Statistical Society of Slovenia

Conferences of the International Conference on Teaching Statistics (ICOTS) are flagship meetings of International Association for Statistics Education (IASE), organized every four years in different parts of the world. This year, ICOTS is held in Slovenia and is locally coordinated by Statistical Society of Slovenia. The conference will begin July 11, followed with five days of presentations, each starting with interesting plenary lectures given by Hans Rosling, Jessica Utts, Cliff Konold, Gerd Gigerenzer, and Anuska Ferligoj.

The international program committee is working on an attractive program with more than 350 invited papers, about 150 contributed papers, and 50 posters. Among the teachers workshops, the ASA will provide a Meeting Within Meeting workshop. For details and abstracts see the ICOTS web page, here.

Slovenia is an interesting country to visit. Formerly part of Yugoslavia, it has been a sovereign country since 1991. It joined the European Union in 2004 and Euro zone in 2007. It is a small country of 20,000 square kilometers and about 2 million inhabitants. Slovenia and its capital city, Ljubljana (ICOTS host town), are known as among the safest places in the world. The native language is unique in the family of Slavic languages because it is spoken only by Slovenians. English is spoken by the majority of people, especially the young ones.

The landscape of Slovenia is very diverse: Due to the smallness of the country, you can be either between the mountain peaks or at the seaside within an hour or so. The most eastern part of the Alps, the so-called Julian Alps, made of white limestone, ends in the northwestern part of Slovenia. The highest peak, Triglav (“three heads”), was the inspiration for the ICOTS logo. The mountain chain, suitable for hiking, borders the northern part of the country.

In the heart of the country lies Ljubljana. The medieval city—guarded by a dragon—narrows between the castle hill and river. Now it is a pedestrian area, with the modern part emanating from there. The city was already there in Roman times, located on the crossing of roads connecting west and east, north and south. Many interesting cities—including Venice, Vienna, Salzburg, and Budapest—are only few hundred kilometers away.

You are warmly invited to attend ICOTS, not only to be part of an inspiring meeting but also to enjoy the relaxed atmosphere of evening gatherings in numerous cafés along the riverbank.

To learn more about Slovenia, visit the official web site, here. For information about ICOTS–8, visit the conference web site, here.