I am honoured to serve as Chair for the department starting from 1 August 2024 and look forward to working closely with faculty, staff, students and alumni to lead the department towards continued success and achievement of its academic and research goals. I would like to take this opportunity to express my heartfelt gratitude to Prof. Song Xinyuan for her exceptional leadership and dedication to the department over the past few years. Now, please allow me to extend my greetings to readers of Issue 19 of the Department of Statistics Newsletter, which highlights the department’s events, activities and achievements from 2023–24 onwards.