Emma Joan McCoy is the Vice President and Pro-Vice Chancellor for Education and a Professor of Statistics at the London School of Economics and Political Science. She has acted as a mathematics subject expert for discussions on reform of the

National Curriculum A national curriculum is a common programme of study in schools that is designed to ensure nationwide uniformity of content and standards in education. It is usually legislated by the national government, possibly in consultation with state or other ...

, and is a member of the

Royal Statistical Society The Royal Statistical Society (RSS) is an established statistical society. It has three main roles: a British learned society for statistics, a professional body for statisticians and a charity which promotes statistics for the public good. ...

council.

Education

McCoy completed a PhD at

Imperial College London Imperial College London (legally Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine) is a public research university in London, United Kingdom. Its history began with Prince Albert, consort of Queen Victoria, who developed his vision for a cu ...

in 1995 and a

Master of Science A Master of Science ( la, Magisterii Scientiae; abbreviated MS, M.S., MSc, M.Sc., SM, S.M., ScM or Sc.M.) is a master's degree in the field of science awarded by universities in many countries or a person holding such a degree. In contrast t ...

degree in

Computational Statistics Computational statistics, or statistical computing, is the bond between statistics and computer science. It means statistical methods that are enabled by using computational methods. It is the area of computational science (or scientific computin ...

in 1991 at the

University of Bath (Virgil, Georgics II) , mottoeng = Learn the culture proper to each after its kind , established = 1886 (Merchant Venturers Technical College) 1960 (Bristol College of Science and Technology) 1966 (Bath University of Technology) 1971 (univ ...

. McCoy's PhD focused on the analysis and synthesis of long-memory processes. In particular, she investigated the use of the discrete wavelet transform and multitaper spectral estimation. She completed her thesis, ''Some New Statistical Approaches to the Analysis of Long Memory Processes'', under the supervision of Andrew Walden.

Research and career

McCoy is interested in time series analysis and causal inference, with a particular focus on transport. Prior to joining LSE in October 2022, she was the Vice-Provost (Education and Student Experience) at Imperial College London, where she was appointed Professor of Statistics in 2014. McCoy previously taught several undergraduate courses at Imperial, as well as being an advisor for the

EPSRC The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) is a British Research Council that provides government funding for grants to undertake research and postgraduate degrees in engineering and the physical sciences, mainly to univers ...

funded Mathematics of Planet Earth doctoral training centre. She has given several public talks related to her research, and real world applications, like ''Inference Challenges in Transportation''. In 2006 she delivered the London Mathematical Society popular lecture, ''From Magic Squares to Sudoku''. She has been involved with the Royal Institution mathematics masterclasses since they started being held at Imperial College London. She is concerned about the future of mathematics education in the UK, and is a member of the

Royal Society The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...

Advisory Committee of Mathematics Education. McCoy established a joint ''Mathematics with Education'' BSc at Imperial College, which was delivered jointly by

and Canterbury Christ Church University. McCoy is a Fellow of the Institute of Mathematics and its Applications and the

. She has also been a member of the Royal Statistical Society's Council and the Academic Affairs Advisory group. In 2017 she was appointed Vice-Dean for Education for the Faculty of Natural Sciences at Imperial College London. She is on the Council of the Royal Statistical Society. McCoy was the first female professor of maths at Imperial College London. She was the mathematical advisor to the maths and computing section of the Suffrage Science scheme, which celebrates women in science for their scientific achievement and for their ability to inspire others. Suffrage Science was established in 2011 by the MRC Clinical Sciences Centre. In 2017 she received an award from the London Institute of Medical Sciences for establishing a Maths and Computing Group.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McCoy, Emma Joan Living people Academics of Imperial College London Alumni of the University of Bath 21st-century British women mathematicians British statisticians Fellows of the Institute of Mathematics and its Applications Fellows of the Royal Statistical Society Mathematics education in the United Kingdom Year of birth missing (living people)