The Business School (formerly Cass) will be renamed as ‘Bayes Business School’ from September 2021.
In July 2020, the Business School committed to changing its name after it was found that some of Sir John Cass’s wealth was obtained through his links to the slave trade.
The decision to select Bayes Business School was based on a comprehensive and transparent consultation process with relevant stakeholders. We invited the City community to suggest names through an online platform, generating more than 150 potential names. Over 8,000 members of staff and current and prospective Business School students and alumni gave us feedback on the shortlisted names. Bayes Business School emerged as the clear favourite.
Thomas Bayes (1702-1761) was a nonconformist theologian and mathematician best known for his foundational work on conditional probability. His grave is in Bunhill Fields, opposite the Business School. Bayes’ theorem suggests that we get closer to the truth by constantly updating our beliefs in proportion to the weight of new evidence. It is this idea – not only the person – that is the motivation behind adopting this name.
Bayes’ ideas are central to Finance, Actuarial Science and many branches of Management, the core disciplines of the Business School. They are also the foundation of artificial intelligence and machine learning.
The new name will formally launch on Monday 6th September 2021 – the beginning of the 2021/22 academic year. Until this point, the School will continue to be referred to as ‘The Business School (formerly Cass)’.
Reminder the deadline for this year’s applications for four Stelios Scholarships is 10 May. Apply here.