Call for Abstracts & YPP Papers – ORSNZ 2023 Annual Conference

Kia ora koutou,

We invite you to submit an abstract for the ORSNZ 2023 Annual Conference (23-24 November 2023) by Monday 6 November 2023. For those eligible for the Young Practitioners’ Prize (YPP), you also need to submit a short paper (at most 12 pages) by Monday 13 November 2023.

We hope to see you there! Noho ora mai, Tom & Mike (Conference Organisers)

APORS Young Researcher Best Paper Award

Kia ora koutou,

Please see the APORS announcement below. ORSNZ has the opportunity to nominate up to 3 papers for these awards. Please email me president AT THE orsnz.org.nz if you would like to put a paper forward for consideration.

Noho ora mai, Mike (ORSNZ President)

Call for Nominations

for

APORS Young Researcher Best Paper Award

The APORS Young Researcher Best Paper Award will be set up in 2023 and is presented to young scholar(s) “In recognition of the outstanding research in the Operations Research and related areas in either theories and/or applications”.

The Young Researcher Best Papers awarded by the APORS will definitely help the recognition and exchange among the member societies and facilitate the communication of young operations research researchers within the region. The award will offer an opportunity for young researchers in Asia and Pacific region to present their latest achievements and we hope, to foster collaborative exchanges and create new academic connections among the member societies of APORS.

The APORS Young Researcher Best Paper awards are categorized into three types: Theoretical Research Award, Applied Practice Award, and Collaborative Progress Award, to encourage academic researches among young researchers in the theoretical and applied aspects, and to encourage collaboration between different APORS member societies.

Now we call for nominations from our 12 APORS member societies for the 2023 APORS Young Researcher Best Paper Awards. Attached is the guidelines for the awards, eligibility, and nomination requirements.

Deadline of the nomination for the 2023 Awards is set to October 22, 2023.

Thank you for your cooperation!

Yu-Hong Dai

President of the APORS

Date: September 21, 2023

Join the Scaling RAI Solutions 2023 Challenge

Dear ORSNZ,

I am an expert member of the Global Partnership on AI (GPAI). I am now actively involved in a program titled “Scaling RAI solutions.” This project aims at providing opportunities to deploy and scale Responsible AI solutions, showcasing results, encouraging cross-functional collaboration, and helping adopt performance metrics. Our intention is to contribute to tangible outcomes that can help operationalize the RAI framework within GPAI and beyond.

We just launched a call for participation addressed to organizations/AI initiatives that are facing challenges in either scaling or in implementing responsible AI. Upon selection, teams will be provided with mentorship and guidance from GPAI expertise and support to help with reaching sustainable deployment of such AI solutions over a period of three months (June 2023 to August 2023). Teams interested in this program can apply and find more information on our application platform. The application period closes on May 27, 2023, giving teams one month to submit their applications.

We would like to know more about your current projects and explore your potential interest in the Scaling RAI Solutions 2023 program. If you and your team are interested in applying to our Scaling RAI Solutions 2023 Challenge, please visit our website for more information and to fill out an application. Additionally, as we continue to build the community around this initiative, we are welcoming assistance with outreach efforts. If you know of any teams that may be interested in this opportunity, we encourage you to spread the word and share our call for participation. We would greatly appreciate your support.

You can also find out initiative on social media:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/CEIMIA_mtl/status/1653041925799260163
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7058807287800328192

Let me know if you are interested in continuing this discussion. I would be pleased to arrange a call to delve deeper into the matter. We are hosting two webinars in May aimed at presenting this initiative and addressing any queries you may have.

Ngā manaakitanga,
Mike O’Sullivan on behalf of the Scaling RAI Solutions 2023 Project team

ORSNZ Annual Conference

Kia ora koutou!

November 28 & 29 saw the return of the ORSNZ Annual Conference, very well organised by Tony Downward (ORSNZ Secretary) and Tom Adams (ORSNZ Treasurer). It was very nice to see people kanohe ki te kanohe (eye to eye), both those I know and those I met at the conference.

The conference began with a ½ day Healthcare Modelling cluster organised by the ORSNZ SIG on Healthcare Analytics (OSHA) with talks bookended by an excellent plenary address by Dr Melanie Reuter-Oppermann and a discussion panel with experts from academia and industry (Melanie, Ms Pieta Brown, Dr Isaac Cleland, Dr Tom Adams, Assoc Prof Ilze Ziedins, Assoc Prof Cameron Walker).

The sessions that followed included talks by both young and experienced practitioners covering topics from finding missing people with integer programming to teaching the next generation of OR students.

There were two prize highlights during the conference. First, Associate Professor Andrew Mason was awarded the Hans Daellenbach Prize, the ORSNZ prize awarded for a body of work in OR/MS that combines strong innovative methodology with a practical impact which has made a significant contribution and received international recognition. Second, the Young Practitioners’ Prize – sponsored by Optimity and the Supply Chain Company – was awarded for presentations and papers as follows:

  • Paper
    • 1st place: Christina Lin – Modelling housing feature impacts on sale price in newly developed suburbs relative to a standard house. (Department of Engineering Science and Biomedical Engineering, University of Auckland)
    • 2nd place: Dominic Keehan – Certainty equivalent model predictive control and distributionally robust stochastic dynamic programming. (Department of Engineering Science and Biomedical Engineering, University of Auckland)
  • Presentation
    • 1st place: Karl Zhu – Finding the missing with integer programming. (Department of Engineering Science and Biomedical Engineering, University of Auckland)
    • 2nd place: Uwe Langenmayr – Calculation of synthetic energy carrier production costs with high temporal and geographical resolution. (Institute for Industrial Production, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology)

The AGM saw the addition of one of the YPP people, Karl Zhu, in the Communications role. Your ORSNZ Council is as follows:

President
Mike O’Sullivan
presidentATTHEorsnz.org.nz

Vice President
Andrea Raith
vicepresidentATTHEorsnz.org.nz

Secretary
Tony Downward
secretaryATTHEorsnz.org.nz

Treasurer
Tom Adams
treasurerATTHEorsnz.org.nz

Council (APORS/IFORS Representative)
Andy Philpott
liaisonATTHEorsnz.org.nz

Council (Communications)
Karl Zhu
communicationsATTHEorsnz.org.nz

Council (Industry Representative)
Cam Bradley

Council
Sarah Marshall

Council (WebMaster)
Andrew Mason
webmasterATTHEorsnz.org.nz

Auckland Region Contact
aucklandATTHEorsnz.org.nz
Paul Rouse

Christchurch Region Contact
christchurchATTHEorsnz.org.nz
Grant Read
Wellington Region Contact
wellingtonATTHEorsnz.org.nz
Robyn Moore / Yi Mei
Waikato/Bay of Plenty Contact
waikatoATTHEorsnz.org.nz

One of Karl’s first tasks might be introducing you to your Council members.

One of my colleagues remarked that this year’s conference was one of the best ORSNZ conferences he had been to. Ngā mihi nui to those who could attend the conference this year and a special thanks to those that presented. Ngā mihi to Optimity and the Supply Chain Company for sponsoring the YPP. I hope to see you some time soon at an ORSNZ event.

Noho ora mai, Mike (ORSNZ President)

Reminder: Submit by Aug 15 to APORS 2022

Kia ora koutou,

There is an opportunity to submit abstracts for a dedicated session on operational research for public health emergencies. Selected abstracts will be supported by WHO/WHE/SEARO for oral presentations at the conference.

Details:

  1. Submission site: all abstracts must be sent to: Log in to EasyChair for APORS 2022. You will have to create an account and then follow the clear steps on the site.
  2. Deadline extended
    15 July 2022, 23.59 Manila time
  3. Abstracts format
    1. Abstracts should be in English, should not include mathematical notations, not exceed 500 words (the main text) and must contain the following:
      1. Paper/proposal title
      2. Author(s) name (s), affiliation, full mailing address, email address, with an indication of author(s) presenting the paper if accepted.
      3. One of the keywords must be “Public health emergencies”.
    2. Please see further details here: http://apors.org/13th-triennial-international-conference-of-the-association-of-asia-pacific-operational-research-societies-apors/

Noho ora mai, Mike (ORSNZ President)

Call for Interest: APORS Special Interest Groups

Kia ora koutou, I hope the weather is not adversely affecting you and you are avoiding the seasonal colds and flu.

APORS has asked for nominations to 3 special interest groups:

  1. Public Heath Emergencies – this group will be meeting with the World Health Organisation’s Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network (GOARN) soon;
  2. Optimisation;
  3. Youth Activity.

These groups are envisaged to work like SIAM activity groups:

“SIAM Activity Groups provide an intellectual forum for SIAM members interested in exploring a particular area of applied mathematics, computational science, or cross-disciplinary application. The subject of the SIAM Activity Group should be of current importance, broad enough to generate significant participation, yet focused enough to assure that the Activity Group’s goals are achieved.” – from https://www.siam.org/membership/activity-groups/related/start-an-activity-group.

This is a good opportunity for those looking to engage with global communities of researchers. If you would like to be nominated please email me by the end of day on August 12, 2022, at

michael DOT osullivan AT auckland DOT ac DOT nz

If I get a lot of nominations then I will run a selection process.

Noho ora mai, Mike (ORSNZ President)

Call for Abstracts: ORSNZ Conference 2022

ORSNZ is holding its usually-annual conference for 2022 at the University of Auckland on the 28th and 29th of November 2022.

More details about this conference will be made available at the beginning of September. However, the conference website is online, and registrations and abstract submissions are now open.

We welcome presentations on any aspect of operations research, analytics, management science or data science, especially practical applications. We are planning to run specific sessions on digital twin systems, energy & emissions policy as well as healthcare modelling.

If you wish to be a session chair and can organise 4 presentations along a common theme, please email [email protected], and we can ensure the presentations are scheduled appropriately.

In Memoriam: Dr Raymond Jonathan Lermit

Jonathan should be remembered as the original pioneer of OR applications in the New Zealand electricity sector, not just in demand forecasting, but optimisation and market issues, publishing in NZOR on using network flow models (first in 1977 then again in 1990), and optimal pricing (1983).

Subsequently he worked at Transpower and collaborated with colleagues at Massey, publishing extensively on topics related to biofuel developments. He was a friend, supervisor, and mentor to many who went on to establish national and international careers in the field of electricity sector optimisation and economics. He also served the Society long and well, as a Wellington Committee Member, National Council Member, Newsletter Editor, Vice-President, and President.

Noho ora mai, ORSNZ (posted on behalf of ORSNZ by Mike O’Sullivan with remembrance from Prof Grant Read)