CONCEPT

For the next five years (2019-2024), SanDAL aims to create at the University of Luxembourg (UL) a high-level research group in Mathematical Statistics and Data Science (MS&DS). This will fill an identified gap between UL’s current research activity in mathematics (including probability theory but also geometry and mathematical physics), which developed well in recent years, and a number of applications of particular importance both for other academic research fields and for Luxembourg’s economic development. The ERA Chair will be offered a permanent full professorship at UL to ensure a sustainable structural change and improvement of Luxembourg’s Research and Innovation landscape. The project will also fund two postdoctoral positions for its full duration, and three PhD positions will be UL-funded. The main scientific directions of the project will be High-Dimensional Data Analysis (including Probabilistic Aspects of High-Dimensional Data and Topological Data Analysis) and New Mathematical Tools for Contemporary Statistics (including Signal Reconstruction and the Mathematics of Sparsity, and Non-Parametric Bayesian Methods).

In addition to the development of a strong and sustainable new direction of research at UL, SanDAL will permit the development of new teaching programs at MSc and PhD levels in MS&DS, ensuring a steady flow of MS&DS graduates that will be of value not only for mathematics but also for academic and non-academic research in other fields and in other economic areas. SanDAL will build on the existing expertise in mathematics (in particular probability theory, but also discrete geometry and topology) at UL.

The contribution of an external Scientific Steering Committee, made of top experts in MS&DS, will be essential to its scientific success, while a National Advisory Board, comprised of several main users of MS&DS at the Luxembourg level, will ensure that it is relevant to the economy and other academic fields.

sandal-concept

ADVISORY BODIES

National Advisory Board

  • Sergio Scandizzo, Head of Risk Model Validation, European Investment Bank, Luxembourg
  • Noah Spivak, Amazon Web Services, Luxembourg
  • Christian Strasser, Managing Director, LALUX Assurances, Luxembourg
  • Conchita D’Ambrosio, FNR PEARL Chair of Economics, University of Luxembourg
  • Michel Vaillant, Competence Center for Methodology and Statistics, Luxembourg Institute of Health
  • Thomas Sauter, Systems Biology, University of Luxembourg
  • Chiara Peroni, Head of Research, STATEC, Luxembourg

Scientific Steering Committee

  • Gabor Lugosi, ICREA, Barcelona
  • Sara van de Geer, ETH Zurich
  • Domenico Marinucci, ERC Starting Grant Holder, University of Rome “Tor Vergata”
  • Chiara Sabatti, Biomedical Data Science, Stanford