Professor Christl Donnelly has been awarded the Royal Statistical Society (RSS) Guy Medal in Silver for outstanding contributions to the development and application of statistical and biomathematical methods to analyse infectious diseases.
Prof Christl Donnelly CBE is Professorial Fellow in Statistics at St Peter’s College and Professor of Applied Statistics at the University of Oxford’s Department of Statistics, and is affiliated with the Pandemic Sciences Institute and the Oxford Martin School Programme on Digital Pandemic Preparedness. She also holds the post of Professor of Statistical Epidemiology at Imperial College London.
A statistician and epidemiologist studying the spread and control of infectious diseases, Prof Donnelly’s work has been central to improving understanding of disease transmission, including COVID-19, and has informed public health policy responses. She has also contributed to modelling a range of infectious diseases including Zika virus, Ebola and Foot & Mouth Disease.
She said,
‘It means a great deal to me to receive such an honour from my statistical colleagues. Medical statistics and epidemiology are team sports rather than solo endeavours and I have been so fortunate to work with amazing people: statisticians as well as epidemiologists, ecologists, medics and veterinarians. William Guy, for whom the medal is named, was an outstanding medical statistician and advocate for public health, and I am really pleased to have followed in his footsteps of providing statistical evidence to policymakers.’
Each year, the RSS awards medals and prizes to individuals who have made outstanding contributions to statistics and data science. The 2026 honours recognise five leading figures whose work has advanced both the discipline and its application across society.
Sir John Aston, RSS President, said,
‘Each year, our honours recognise the depth, diversity and real-world impact of statistics and data science. This year’s recipients have made exceptional contributions across theory, application and service to the profession. Their work demonstrates the vital role statistics plays in addressing some of the most important challenges facing society today.’
You can learn more about Prof Donnelly’s research here.