News

EURO has created several prizes to acknowledge outstanding activities in the development or application of OR, amongst others:

• The EURO Prize for OR for the Common Good shall honor outstanding accomplishments of OR for solving social-oriented problems. The Call and Guidelines can be found on the EURO web pages at https://www.euro-online.org/web/pages/1668/prize-for-or-for-the-common-good-epocg.
• The EURO Doctoral Dissertation Award recognizes the OR contributions of PhD students or scientists having less than two years research experience since completing a PhD. The Call and Guidelines can be found on the EURO web pages at https://www.euro-online.org/web/pages/210/doctoral-dissertation-award-edda.
• The EURO Excellence in Practice Award shall honor outstanding accomplishments in the practice of OR. The Call and Guidelines can be found on the EURO web pages at https://www.euro-online.org/web/pages/209/excellence-in-practice-award-eepa.

For all prizes, the deadline for submitting material online is January 31, 2024

Machine Learning NeEDS Mathematical Optimization is an online seminar series, organized by Emilio Carrizosa (IMUS – Instituto de Matemáticas de la Universidad de Sevilla) and Dolores Romero Morales (CBS – Copenhagen Business School) with the collaboration of PhD Students Nuria Gómez-Vargas (IMUS) and Thomas Halskov (CBS).

Season 7 of this series includes a number of presentations from leading academics in the field of Data Science and Analytics that will cover important topics such as explainability, fairness, fraud, privacy, etc. Mathematical Modeling and Mathematical Optimization will be at the core of their presentations. In addition, the organizers provide a YOUNG Online Seminar Series “Machine Learning NeEDS Mathematical Optimization”. In each YOUNG session, three junior academics will show their latest results in this burgeoning area.

The season starts on February 12, 2024. All talks will take place on a Monday between 16.30 and 17.30 CET. For more information, please visit: https://congreso.us.es/mlneedsmo/.

This 2023 edition of the Jacqueline Bloemhof PhD Thesis Award on Sustainable Supply Chains had two winners, due to the high quality of submissions. The EWG on Sustainable Supply Chains awarded the price for an outstanding PhD Thesis 2023 in the field of Sustainable Supply Chains to

Arne Heinold (University of Kiel, Germany)

for his thesis on

“Emission-oriented management of land-based freight transportation”

and

Lukas Meßmann (University of Augsburg, Germany)

for his thesis on

“Strategic design of environmentally and socially sustainable supply networks”.

We thank the members of the PhD Award Committee:

• Renzo Akkerman (chair, Wageningen University, The Netherlands),
• Özgen Karaer (Middle East Technical University, Turkey), and
• Athanasios Rentizelas (National Technical University of Athens, Greece).

The award is named after Jacqueline Bloemhof, one of the pioneers in the field of sustainable supply chain research and one of the founders of our working group.

The award is announced every second year, the next round will be in 2025.

The 4th Conference on Sustainable Supply Chains (SustSC 2023), organized by the EURO Working Group on Sustainable Supply Chains in cooperation with the Chair of Production and Logistics Management at the FernUniversität in Hagen, took place from June 30 to July 1 at the FernUniversität in Hagen. The event was co-sponsored by EURO and the FernUniversität in Hagen.

SustSC 2023 offered the sustainable supply chain community the opportunity to present state-of-the-art developments and to discuss current research challenges in the area. Overall, 54 participants from 14 countries joined the conference. The program involved 29 talks organized in 8 sessions, two keynotes by Carsten Gerhardt from the Circular Valley Foundation and Athanasios Rentizelas from the National Technical University of Athens, the Jacqueline Bloemhof PhD Thesis Award ceremony, and a social dinner at the Faculty Club of the FernUniversität.

A report with more details on the conference is available in the September 2023 Issue of IFORS News.

From June 25 to June 29, the Chair of Production and Logistics Management at the FernUniversität in Hagen hosted the 2023 EURO PhD School on Sustainable Supply Chains. It was organized as a joint event of the EURO Working Group on Sustainable Supply Chains and the German OR Society (GOR) in cooperation with the Chair of Production and Logistics Management at the FernUniversität in Hagen, and was and co-sponsored by EURO, GOR, and the FernUniversität in Hagen.

The school offered an active forum for 25 PhD students from 10 countries to enhance their knowledge in facilitating Operations Research methods for sustainable supply chain management, especially from a multi-criteria (triple bottom line) and an interdisciplinary (life cycle sustainability assessment, circular economy) perspective.

A report with more details on the PhD school is available in the September 2023 Issue of IFORS News.

Date: July 25−29, 2023

Venue: FernUniversität in Hagen, Germany

The PhD School on Sustainable Supply Chains offers an active forum for PhD students and early career researchers to enhance their knowledge in facilitating Operations Research methods for sustainable supply chain management, especially from a multi-criteria (triple bottom line) and an interdisciplinary (life cycle sustainability assessment, circular economy) perspective. It is organized by the EURO Working Group on Sustainable Supply Chains (EWG-SSC) in cooperation with the Chair of Production and Logistics Management, FernUniversität in Hagen and co-sponsored by the Association of European Operational Research Societies (EURO), the German OR Society (GOR), and FernUniversität in Hagen.

Target Audience: PhD Students striving to enhance their knowledge in sustainable supply chain management; motivated to develop OR tools that support decision making towards sustainable supply; wanting to discuss and present research ideas on the topic. Motivated early career researchers may also be accepted if places are available.

Program Contents: In-class lectures, tutorials, and supervised training on selected topics at the interface of Operations Research and sustainable supply chains; opportunity to discuss own PhD research with peers and expert (guests) lecturers from the field; supervised work on case studies – solutions developed by participants will be presented in front of an expert panel at the end of the summer school.

Poster presentations at the 4th Conference of the Euro Working Group on Sustainable Supply Chains (SustSC 2023) are highly welcome. SustSC2023 will take place from June 30 to July 1, 2023 in Hagen.

Vacancies & Acceptance: There are 25 seats available. Due to the limited capacity, there is an application process for those that would like to participate. Preference will be given to applicants who have not previously received support from EURO for other PhD schools.

Application: To apply to the EURO PhD School on Sustainable Supply Chains, the candidates should be from a EURO member society country, or studying in a EURO member society country, and need to submit the following documents:

1. Application letter, including:

• Name, affiliation, and email-address,
• PhD program you are enrolled in, current stage of studies, as well as your PhD supervisors’ names,
• Background in Sustainability and in Operations Research, and
• Motivation to attend the PhD School.

2. Curriculum Vitae
3. Recommendation letter from the PhD supervisor

Application deadline: January 22, 2023

Notification of acceptance: End of February, 2023

Fees & Rights: The registration fee is 100 EUR per participant. It will cover accommodation, meals (breakfast, coffee break, lunch, and dinner), conference material, travel within the school activities, and social activities.

• Accommodation is provided in single- and two-bedroom apartments.
• Travel costs should be covered by the participants, either by themselves or through external funding.
• The fee does not include insurance for participants.

Scholarships will be available for PhD students accepted at the EURO PhD School on Sustainable Supply Chains to participate in the 4th Conference on Sustainable Supply Chains (SustSC 2023).

Contact: For more information, please visit the website of the Summer School (https://e.feu.de/epsinssc) or send an e-mail to eps-sustsc2023@fernuni-hagen.de.

Date: June 30−July 1, 2023

Venue: FernUniversität in Hagen, Germany

We invite you to submit abstracts for presentations at the 4th Conference on Sustainable Supply Chains (SustSC 2023). It is organized by the EURO Working Group on Sustainable Supply Chains (EWG-SSC) in cooperation with the Chair of Production and Logistics Management, FernUniversität in Hagen and co-sponsored by the Association of European Operational Research Societies (EURO) and FernUniversität in Hagen.

Purpose: SustSC 2023 offers the European and international sustainable supply chains community opportunities to present state-of-the-art developments and to discuss current challenges in sustainable supply chains. Researchers and practitioners interested in the implementation of sustainable supply chains are welcome.

Research: We invite works on the state of the research art and innovative approaches for sustainable supply chain management. Presentations should tackle Operations Research methodologies as well as applications to sustainable supply chains.

Abstract submission deadline: April 15, 2023

Notification of acceptance: May 2, 2023

Contact: For more information, please visit the website of the Summer School (https://e.feu.de/sustsc2023) or send an e-mail to sustsc2023@fernuni-hagen.de.

The EURO Working Group on Sustainable Supply Chains is announcing the call for nominations for the Jacqueline Bloemhof PhD Thesis Award on Sustainable Supply Chains 2023. The PhD thesis should predominantly focus on applications of operational research techniques in the field of sustainable supply chains. The thesis must have been examined and approved by a European university between January 1, 2021 and December 31, 2022.

Application: Candidates must apply via email to the EURO Working Group on Sustainable Supply Chains (SustainableSC@om.rwth-aachen.de) by the deadline of the competition (February 28, 2023) containing the following information:

• An executive summary of the PhD thesis highlighting the relevance of the work for the topics of the EWG-SustSC of not more than 1,000 words,
• an electronic copy of the PhD Thesis,
• a letter from their main PhD supervisor recommending the candidate for consideration for this award and confirming that the candidate meets the criteria for eligibility for the competition, and
• a certificate of the university confirming the final approval of the thesis.

Deadlines:

Examination and acceptance of PhD thesis to apply for the award: Between January 1, 2021 and December 31, 2022

Application deadline: February 28, 2023

Notification of the decision of the award committee: On or before April 30, 2023

Award Committee: The Board of the EWG on Sustainable Supply Chains decides the winner based on a recommendation by the PhD Thesis Award Committee. This decision cannot be challenged.