Amarjot Kaur, Carolina Franco, Christopher McMahan, Mark Otto, Alexandra M. Schmidt, and Hamasaki Toshimitsu

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused disruptions around the world, including within the statistical community. To understand the unique effects the pandemic has had on the academic, professional, and personal lives of statisticians in various countries, we interviewed several recent ASA Educational Ambassadors (EAs) from Mexico, Nepal, Thailand, Pakistan, Nigeria, Bangladesh, Costa Rica, and Colombia. Educational Ambassadors are scholars selected yearly based on a competitive application process administered by the ASA Committee on International Relations in Statistics.

All EAs were asked the same set of questions, and the responses were consolidated and slightly edited—with their permission—for length.

Academic Work, Collaboration, and Funding

There were diverse experiences while everyone quickly adapted to new ways of teaching, working, and collaborating due to the pandemic. Teaching became virtual nearly everywhere and had its pros and cons. Many experienced enhanced collaborations due to virtual outreach, while others experienced the opposite due to a hiatus in research projects and funding.

Carlos A. Diaz-Tufinio | Mexico “As around the world, the forced social distancing has been a breaking point in all activities. My institution was efficient and quick to respond partly because of learnings from the prior earthquake in Mexico City. Collaborations were enhanced using virtual tools, and so did the participation in international meetings.”

Juan Carlos Salzar | Colombia “Although virtual classes were carried out regularly and without interruption, they represented significant challenges, especially for students who did not have the resources and a good internet connection. Not being able to go regularly to my work office caused limitations in consulting books and papers. Collaboration increased with an increase in COVID-19-related research and demand for data analysis.”

Adedayo Adepoju | Nigeria “Nigeria was hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic, and it was even worse for the lecturers in the public universities across the nation, as the Academic Staff Union of Universities had embarked on an industrial strike shortly before the lockdown. My research projects and funding were adversely impacted, but I was able to participate in several virtual conferences, meetings, and seminars.”

Mohammad Shafiqur Rahman | Bangladesh “We have been taking classes online since and doing all meetings online; however, I have to go to the office twice a week. The funding reduced somewhat, but the collaboration increased.”

Seksan Kiatsupaibul | Thailand “My academic activities have moved to online platforms that have both pros and cons. Thai statisticians are mostly users of statistical methods. We did not observe significant changes in methodological research funding.”

Vikash R. Satyal | Nepal “The pandemic significantly changed my daily routine with all classes going virtual. It was a new experience for me as, in Nepal, we had no virtual class before the pandemic. We visited our institutes for attendance once a day. Academic funding was weak in the past and no big impact was seen, though funding granted for training in Basic R and a conference got canceled.”

Eiliana Montero | Costa Rica “The lockdown may be inconvenient for me and my colleagues, but, for many others in this country, it’s a matter of life or death—not only health wise but also economic wise. I teach all my classes virtually. Many students are missing classes due to difficulties related to internet access. Teaching virtually poses special challenges to track students’ engagement and evaluation.”

Saleha Habibullah | Pakistan “The lockdown brought with it a huge change in our daily routines in that we were working from our homes, teaching our students online for the first time in our lives. For me, the forum that provided opportunities for collaborations with national and international colleagues was the PISTAR Online Workshop Series, initiated by me on June 27, 2020.”

Global Communities

People’s lives throughout the world were affected due to public health measures instituted to contain the spread of the virus. Although health measures helped control the spread of the virus, they resulted in other effects.

Juan Carlos Salzar | Colombia “During the first COVID-19 wave, Colombia was in lockdown for 165 days, which greatly affected small businesses and left many bankrupt. This resulted in an increase in the rate of unemployment, which in turn led to an increase in the number of robberies.”

Adedayo Adepoju | Nigeria “Nigeria was in lockdown for three months, and small businesses were going bankrupt, with unemployment increasing. There also was an increase in violence, including rape and domestic violence. Colleagues were frustrated by the financial hardships, resulting in many dealing with depression.”

Mohammad Shafiqur Rahman | Bangladesh “In Bangladesh, people with low incomes are struggling to manage daily meals, and many lost their jobs.”

Vikash R. Satyal | Nepal “There were two lockdowns in Nepal lasting several weeks. The greatest impact was on the rate of unemployment. In Kathmandu, hundreds of people were supported by public charities.”

Seksan Kiatsupaibul | Thailand “Bangkok was slow in adapting online capabilities in the past, and the biggest impact of the lockdown was that we have to speed up online capabilities.”

Eiliana Montero | Costa Rica “Many students dropped classes because they could not afford internet access. At the community level, many citizens don’t have the funds to stay home without working. At the university, we were lucky since most of us can work virtually with guaranteed salaries. The unemployment rate has rounded 25 percent, and there have been protests against the government.”

Saleha N. Habibullah | Pakistan “In developing countries, many people below the poverty line earn their livelihood on a daily basis. For them, things were difficult during the lockdown, and this was exactly the reason why the prime minister of Pakistan advocated smart lockdown, not complete lockdown.”

Carlos A. Diaz-Tufinio | Mexico “The quarantine has lasted over a year, and it seriously affected many businesses. Its impact has been reflected in the slowness in economic recovery and increase in robberies and insecurity.”

Challenges Faced by the Statistical Community

The statistical communities experienced unprecedented and unique challenges due to the protective measures put in place to address the pandemic.

Juan Carlos Salzar | Colombia “One problem was not being able to invite foreign statisticians to teach us about the latest trends in statistics, causing—in the medium term—a stalemate in the statistical discipline.”

Mohammad Shafiqur Rahman | Bangladesh “We need experts to speak among the students and young faculties of the statistics community on some topics in emerging area[s] of statistics. Graduating students faced difficulties in managing admission and funding for higher studies (e.g., PhD) abroad that used to be easier for them earlier.”

Adedayo Adepoju | Nigeria “The key challenges are in the areas of training, statistical literacy, advocacy, and collaboration. The social distancing restrictions changed the way statistical activities are undertaken. It has become inevitable to utilize virtual platforms. Unfortunately, the infrastructure such as internet, power, etc., are awfully poor and, when available, very expensive.”

Seksan Kiatsupaibul | Thailand “We observed increases in graduate student enrollment, and that strains our workforce.”

Eiliana Montero | Costa Rica “We, as teachers, didn’t know how to teach virtually. It was a very violent change. Then, we had to teach classes of 50 students! We couldn’t tell at first if they were paying attention or not. We are learning now and getting training. How to administer tests is still a big problem, for security concerns and the possibility of cheating.”

Saleha N. Habibullah | Pakistan “Faculty and students need to cope with frequent internet disconnectivity problem[s]. In order to avoid [the] use of unfair means in online examinations, students are required to keep their cameras on, but we cannot be sure that this is an effective deterrent.”

Carlos A. Diaz-Tufinio | Mexico “Statisticians had [an] important role in transmitting accurate information, in educating [the] general population, and in combating infodemics—another pandemic that we are facing.”

Lessons Learned from COVID-19

With the pandemic taking the forefront in many aspects of life, so did the role of technology and the internet in education and communications. Although technology made virtual learning more accessible, it also revealed gaps in the infrastructure across countries.

Adedayo Adepoju | Nigeria “Nigeria is one of the countries mostly hit by this outbreak, and it is unfortunate that people were unable to connect with their loved ones, particularly those in the rural/remote areas. Therefore, internet access should be considered a human right and should be made available and affordable for everyone.”

Juan Carlos Salzar Uribe | Colombia “An important lesson is that it is possible to do things differently and maybe more effectively using virtual platforms.”

Seksan Kiatsupaibul | Thailand “Online teaching can create unthinkable opportunities. For example, in term[s] of teaching and evaluation, I relied less on in-person exams (not allowed during the lockdown) and focused more on smaller online assignments over the period of the course. I feel that I better understand the individual development of my students.”

Vikash R. Satyal | Nepal “Virtual technology can reach communities that have less access to education due to distance and economical barriers. The only bottleneck is that governments should provide very cheap internet. The other advantage of being virtual is that you can offer many different choices of subjects.”

Mohammad Shafiqur Rahman | Bangladesh “I realized that we need to think for others, particularly vulnerable populations such as the elderly. Our elderly people are more vulnerable here. There are limited funds from the government for them.”

Carlos A. Diaz-Tufinio | Mexico “Life and our lifestyle are such fragile things, and even though we think we are achieving a stable way of life, this might change from one second to the next one. So, for that, flexibility and adaptability are essential abilities that we, as college professors, need to reinforce in the next generations of professionals in all areas.”

Eiliana Montero | Costa Rica “Now some of us are more aware of the importance of showing solidarity and empathy with people who have been suffering the economic effects of the pandemic. We are also learning the opportunities of virtual education, but also its pitfalls, in a context of high inequality.”

Saleha N. Habibullah | Pakistan “Two benefits of COVID are an increased awareness regarding hygiene for health and an increased awareness of the problems faced by people below the poverty line.”

Our EAs reflected on various aspects of the pandemic and shared the impact to their statistical communities, including the vulnerability of certain populations within their countries. The role of technology and the internet in education and communications took the forefront. While the reliance in e-learning created new opportunities to unify statisticians around the world, it also created new hardships in areas where internet availability is scarce. Professional organizations, including the ASA, shifted statistical conferences to an all-virtual format, which helped break down some barriers created by the pandemic and offered a continued sense of academic community. The shift toward virtual conferences in 2020 allowed participation around the globe in a cost-effective way, which otherwise would not have been possible. Nonetheless, the in-person human connection was missed.