BIPM Workshop on Measurement Uncertainty

15-16 June 2015 (at the BIPM)

Organizing Committee

Introduction

The Guide to the Expression of Uncertainty in Measurement (GUM) is an international document that presents recommendations in order to unify the understanding and evaluation of measurement uncertainty particularly in metrology. The revision of the twenty-year-old GUM, currently under way, motivates a workshop having various objectives.

The workshop will bring together experts with perhaps differing views on measurement uncertainty in order to allow an open debate. Merits and deficiencies of the present GUM and its Supplements will be discussed and illustrated by examples, with emphasis given to the GUM revision and its impact on various metrological aspects, such as calibration procedures and Calibration and Measurement Capabilities.

A spectrum of applications will be presented where uncertainty needs to be evaluated and different tools, not necessarily GUM-related, are required, according to the application. How are uncertainties characterized and then interpreted and used, not only in classical metrology but also in other fields such as biochemistry, laboratory medicine and so on? Does the GUM meet the needs for uncertainty characterization in these fields, or is it insufficient in some situations and other guidance documents are then used?

Challenges of uncertainty characterization beyond the GUM, for example in applications to ordinal quantities, nominal properties, signal processing and big data, are also within scope.

Attendance

In addition to over 100 attendees from more than 40 countries, a number of other registered participants were able to see and hear the presentations at the BIPM Workshop on Measurement Uncertainty live over the internet, thanks to the first ever webcast transmitted by the BIPM.