Dr Roger Stern is a Lecturer at the Statistical Services Centre University of Reading. He obtained an MSc in Statistics at the University of Sussex and a PhD in Statistics from the University of Reading. Prior to his current position, he lectured for 10 years overseas, particularly in Sri Lanka, Nigeria and Niger, both in Universities and in Agricultural Research institutes. His research interests are: Statistical climatology; Analysis of historical climatic data, particularly rainfall data. He is also particularly concerned with the development of effective methods for training in applied statistical methods in general. His current role in the Statistical Services Centre is largely that of offering support to research activities in many fields, but particularly in agricultural research and in issues concerning climate variability and climate change.