One of the outcomes that emerged from ISCB-ASC2018 held in Melbourne in August 2018 was a Statement of Action on Statistics in Health and Medical Research.

This statement identifies urgent priority areas for action by relevant stakeholders (funding agencies, academic sector, biostatistics research community and professional societies) to protect and grow Australia’s capacity and leadership in the critical field of biostatistics. The statement emerged from a meeting of conference delegates held on Thursday 30 August 2018 to discuss the importance of biostatistical methodology to ensuring the value of health and medical research, and our national capacity and needs in this area. The background to these discussions is summarised and the action points identified here.