Swiss Society of Economics and Statistics (Geneva) Statistics is a growing area of research and its fields of application are also on the rise. Public, private and academic sectors alike are constantly seeking data, methods and models which will allow them to make more informed decisions or draw conclusions in uncertain scenarios. On the one side, there is a need to aggregate and understand the data, thereby selecting the most appropriate techniques for their analysis. On the other side, it is of increasing importance for these techniques to be as accurate as possible so as to reduce risks in the decision-making procedure or in research-based conclusions.