New insights and tools for Measurement Uncertainty training
Since 2021, the European Metrology Network for Mathematics and Statistics (EMN Mathmet) activity on Measurement Uncertainty (MU) training has been strengthening education and resources across Europe. It supports practitioners, teachers, and institutions in improving knowledge on uncertainty – a cornerstone of reliable measurements.
“In recent years, the activity has developed into a reference point for uncertainty training in Europe. With our latest output we are on track to becoming the reference point. I would like to thank all partners for their valuable contributions, and the EMN for hosting and promoting the activity.”
Study on training needs published
Partners of the activity have published the first cross-sectoral study on the current status and needs of training in measurement uncertainty.
The study highlights three key needs across disciplines:
Addressing the general lack of training opportunities.
Providing a better overview of existing training within different communities.
Offering more specialised courses on technical topics, such as propagation of probability distributions and multivariate models to handle correlations.
This open-access publication serves as a guide for course development, training materials, and teaching approaches. It also raises awareness among communities and supports those who deliver training. The publication will be available soon in the journal Measurement Science Review. A preprint is also available.
Searchable database for courses
To make training more accessible, the activity has also developed a freely available online database of courses on measurement uncertainty.
Users can filter courses by:
Organising institute or country
Language
Technical content (e.g. specific GUM concepts)
Target audience, prerequisites, and application area
The database currently lists around 40 courses provided by partners and stakeholders across Europe, including CEM (Spain), DAM (Germany), GUM (Poland), IMS SAS (Slovakia), INRIM (Italy), IPQ (Portugal), LNE (France), METAS (Switzerland), NPL (UK), NSAI (Ireland), Politecnico di Torino (Italy), PTB (Germany), SMD (Belgium) and University of Konstanz (Germany).
By helping practitioners find courses tailored to their needs, the database contributes to broader understanding of measurement uncertainty – and ultimately to more reliable measurements.
Future expansions may also cover software, reference data, and guidelines supporting mathematics and statistics in metrology.
