Claudia Kirch, professor of Mathematical Stochastics at Otto-von-Guericke University Magdeburg, Germany, is the 2023–25 chair of the steering committee for Fachgruppe Stochastik, the Probability and Statistics Group of the German Mathematical Society. After Claudia spoke at the opening ceremony of the World Congress [see the meeting report here], we invited her to explain a little more about the group and its activities. She writes:

In Germany, probability theory and mathematical statistics are commonly referred to as the field of stochastics, originating from the Greek word for ‘to aim at a mark, to guess’—which explains the German name of the group: Fachgruppe Stochastik. After WWII, the German stochastics community was still small enough to meet at the prestigious Oberwolfach Research Institute for Mathematics in the German Black Forest. These annual meetings provided a platform for evolving the slowly growing community of researchers in the field of stochastics. At the beginning of the 1990s, the community had clearly outgrown the location in Oberwolfach, in particular given the goal of providing a platform not only for established researchers but also for junior scientists. Because most researchers of the group at the time belonged to mathematics departments, the new organization was to be a subject group of the German Mathematical Society. In 1993, the group was officially founded at the Philipps University in Marburg, one of the oldest universities in Germany. Today, more than 30 years later, the group counts more than 500 members, has an official status as a non-profit association in Germany, and maintains strong ties to the German Mathematical Society despite the legal independence of the two associations. Additionally, the group aims at having an active collaboration and exchange with other related scientific societies, for example, it is an active member of the Deutsche Arbeitsgemeinschaft Statistik (DAGStat), a consortium of statistical scientific societies and professional associations in Germany.

The group organizes a biennial conference, the German Probability and Statistics Days (GPSD) that takes place at a different German university each time. The conference not only brings together the German stochastics community, providing a platform for senior and junior researchers alike, it also enjoys an increasing international popularity. The last conference, in March 2023, took place in Essen with 547 participants from more than 20 countries, five plenary talks, 13 keynote talks in 13 sections and more than 350 contributed talks plus a well-attended poster session. The next conference will take place in Dresden, March 11–14, 2025. It will feature five plenary talks (Nina Gantert, Takashi Kumagai, Jonas Peters, Mathieu Rosenbaum, and Judith Rousseau) in addition to 14 keynote talks in 14 different sections covering the full spectrum of probability, statistics and their applications in physics, biology, finance and insurance. See https://www.gpsd-2025.de/

Promoting young scientists and providing a platform for their scientific exchange and networking activities was and still is a major concern for the group: At the GPSD conference, the Probability and Statistics Group awards the prestigious prize for the best dissertation in Germany in the field of probability and statistics within the last two years. To date, 20 scientists have received the award, well more than half of whom now hold a professorship. Starting with next year’s award, there will be two prizes: one for the best dissertation in probability and one for the best dissertation in statistical theory.

On a broader scale, the group also supports annual meetings of PhD students organized by the students themselves, each year at a different German university. Those meetings have taking place since 2005, providing great networking opportunities for the next generation of probabilists and statisticians in Germany. Indeed, advisors are often surprised to discover just how many acquaintances their students talk to when they all meet again at the next GPSD conference. Furthermore, it is possible for young scientists to apply for some support from the group in organizing smaller scientific events such as a specialized workshop.

The group also runs the moderated mailing list ST-NET dedicated to serving the stochastics community with roughly 500 postings mainly on job openings and conferences each year and more than 2000 subscribers. Should you wish to send a posting or subscribe to the list, please contact the webpage: http://www.fg-stochastik.de/moderation.html.

At the webpage, you also find information on how to become a member of the group, if you have been tempted to do so by now!