I am a freelance chartered statistician based in Hampshire, UK. Since 2017, I have been providing training, coaching and consultancy. My expertise focuses on evidence synthesis, data visualisation, Bayesian statistical models, health service evaluation, and communication to policy makers.

My clients have included the Cabinet Office, Harvard Medical School, the World Bank, The Economist, and the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health. I was also a part-time Senior Lecturer on Kingston University's MSc course in Data Science until December 2024.

You can read some vignettes of the freelance work I have done here. You will find my contact details via the menu above, but please note I have no availability for new freelance work.

Going backwards in time, I was previously senior lecturer in health and social care statistics at Kingston University, senior research fellow in quantitative methods at St George's, University of London, medical statistician (earlier, project manager) at the Royal College of Physicians (Clinical Effectiveness & Evaluation Unit), senior project manager (earlier, project manager) at NICE's National Collaborating Centre for Chronic Conditions. More details are given below.


Photo of Robert RSS register of Chartered Statisticians

My first book, "Data Visualization: charts, maps and interactive graphics" was published by CRC Press and the American Statistical Society in 2018.

The next is "Bayesian Meta-Analysis: a practical introduction", co-written with Professor Gian Luca Di Tanna, scheduled to be published by CRC Press in June 2025.


I programmed the StataStan interface to Stan software for Bayesian inference, and the kudzu package in R and Stata.

I use a wide range of analytical methods: Bayesian, frequentist, likelihood, and machine learning. I think that the right tool should be used for each job. My personal philosophical standpoint, which emphasises justified eclecticism, is here.

A list of publications — peer-reviewed papers, commissioned articles, posters, talks, reports — is available via the link above.


Cover of data visualisation and Bayesian meta-analysis books

Cover art by Jill Pelto (data visualisation) and me (BMA)

Previous work

I started my company, BayesCamp, in 2017. Prior to that, I worked on:

  • analysis of clinical audit and hospital performance indicators at the Royal College of Physicians (1998 - 2010) (statistical analysis, project management, committee work, stakeholder engagement, writing, data quality control)
    • National Sentinel Stroke Audit
    • Falls and Fragility Fracture Audit Project
    • Carotid endarterectomy audit
    • Familial hypercholesterolaemia audit pilot study
    • Occupational health pilot audits of back pain and depression screening
  • project management, meta-analysis and statistical advice on clinical guidelines commissioned by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (2000 - 2006) (writing, project management, committee work, stakeholder engagement, critical appraisal and meta-analysis)
    • NICE Guideline on chronic kidney disease (2008)
    • NICE Guideline on osteoarthritis (2008)
    • NICE Guideline on hypertension (pharmacological treatment) (2006)
    • NICE Guideline on tuberculosis (2006)
    • NICE Guideline on anaemia management in chronic kidney disease (2006)
    • NICE Guideline on Type 1 diabetes in adults (2004)
  • health services research, clincial trials, epidemiological studies and mixed-methods research at St George's, University of London and Kingston University (2010-2017) (consulting, collaboration, writing, supervising students, teaching, bidding for research funding, presenting findings, methodology, programming, building networks)

I was a member of the Royal Statistical Society's statistical computing committee, and NHS England's National Advisory Group for Clinical Audit and Confidential Enquiries.

Degrees: BSc mathematical sciences (first class honours), diploma in statistics, MSc in medical statistics, PhD "Applications of Bayesian latent variable models to challenges in health and social care data".

Photograph of Robert teaching

Photo by Jasmin Mehovic

Coming soon

  • Talk at StanBio Connect, 30 May 2025: "Bayesian meta-analysis can solve many problems in evidence synthesis, and is easier than you think" (with focus on Stan and brms)
  • Talk at Royal Statistical Society conference, 1-4 September 2025: "Bayesian meta-analysis can solve many problems in evidence synthesis, and is easier than you think" (overview of concepts and software)
  • "Introduction to Bayesian Analysis Using Stan": two-day course online, hosted by the Royal Statistical Society, 23-24 September 2025
  • "Bayesian Meta-Analysis": two-day course online, using R and Stan, hosted by the Royal Statistical Society, 14-15 October 2025

Watch this space for more talks about Bayesian meta-analysis, once the book comes out in June 2025.