The Key Laboratory of Advanced Theory and Application in Statistics and Data Science,Ministry of Education was approved in November 2017. The laboratory leverages the discipline advantages of East China Normal University, integrates superior statistics, data science and pedagogy resources, boosts theoretical and methodological innovation in statistics and Big Data science, facilitates application and practice of statistical analysis methods for Big Data in various fields including finance and pedagogy, and offers technical support for national economic and scientific development. In light of international research frontiers of related disciplines, the laboratory has established four research directions—statistical machine learning, Big Data statistical calculation, Big Data knowledge engineering, and intelligent decision application, under the guiding principle of integrating statistics and data science and combining theoretical research and practical application.

At present, the laboratory has 33 full-time researchers, including 17 professors, 6 associate professors, 4 lecturers, 3 researchers and 3 associate researchers, all of whom have doctoral degrees. Furthermore, the laboratory also employs well-known Chinese and international experts and scholars as guest personnel to participate in project application and personnel training, as well as some of the laboratory's research work.

The laboratory’s overall goal is to focus on major theoretical problems in statistics and data science, and issues that need to be urgently resolved in practical application. The laboratory has launched in-depth theoretical and applied basic research in statistics and data science, established and developed new theories and methods in statistics and data science, and enabled application and transformation of research results in education, finance and other fields. The aim is to build a research team with continuous innovation capabilities, to make the laboratory into a first-class research center in China and a renowned global research center that integrates statistics and data science. The laboratory aims to become a think tank that supports decision-making of governments and enterprises at all levels, and a training center for Big Data analysis in China.