The Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Mathematical and Statistical Frontiers (ACEMS) created The Random Sample in 2018 as a way of spotlighting some of the researchers and research in the Centre and in the mathematical sciences, more broadly.

Now, in 2026, the podcast is under the umbrella of another ARC Centre of Excellence:  MACSYS.   In addition, the podcast is proud to partner with these supporting organisations:  Australian Data Science Network (ADSN), Australian Mathematical Society (AustMS), the Statistical Society of Australia (SSA), the ARC Training Centre in Optimisation Technologies, Integrated Methodologies, and Applications (OPTIMA), and MATRIX.

Together, these groups all hope to show you – through this podcast – why the mathematical and data sciences are so important to solving so many of the challenges, issues, and problems facing the world today. We also want to show you why the knowledge and skills that these scientists have are more important than ever and why this is such a great space to be studying, researching and working in.

We hope you enjoy exploring with us as we all uncover some of what’s going on all around us and didn’t realise!