Conference – Page 3 – Operations Research Society of New Zealand

2018 Joint NZSA/ORSNZ Conference Information

The 2018 Joint NZSA/ORSNZ Conference will be held at Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand from Tuesday 27th November – Friday 30th November 2018. General conference information, registration information and an overview of the schedule are available via the conference website.

Conference Programme: The conference programme is available here. Use the left hand menu to browse different days or search for a particular speaker.

Conference Dinner: The ORSNZ conference dinner will be held on Wednesday 28 November from 6:30pm. If you forgot to request a dinner ticket when you registered for the conference, please contact the ORSNZ conference team at [email protected] (Note the two societies are holding separate dinners).

NZ Analytics Forum: An NZ Analytics Forum event will be held on Thursday 29th November 3:30pm – 5:10pm. For further information and to register refer to this post.

NZ Analytics Forum at ORSNZ and NZSA Conference – Analytics in Agriculture

The NZ Analytics Forum invites you to their event on Analytics in Agriculture, in partnership with the joint ORSNZ and NZSA Conference @ Massey University, Palmerston North. It is free to attend whether you are at the conference or not, but please register at the link below if you plan to attend.

The event is free of charge and is kindly sponsored by Fonterra.
When: Thursday 29th November 3:30pm – 5:10pm, followed by drinks and nibbles until 6pm
Where: Massey University, Palmerston North in the AgHort lecture block

Registration: Please register via this link

Mark Piper, Director Group Research & Development, Fonterra
At the age of 19 Mark joined the New Zealand Dairy Group (which later became part of Fonterra). In the 24 years Mark has been with Fonterra he has worked in the manufacture of casein and cheese, coordinated supply chain activities for sales into Japan and Korea, managed a technical team for Fonterra Japan and was a Product Group Manager for Fonterra’s global cheese business. Mark moved to Chicago in 2010 and was the Regional Director Ingredients Americas for Fonterra before relocating back to New Zealand in January 2016 to head up the Transformation Office for Fonterra. In February 2017, Mark relocated to Palmerston North to head up Fonterra’s Global Research & Development teams.

Mark will talk about his role inside Fonterra as the head of our Research and Development function, how Analytics is used inside Fonterra to assist in the development of new products, improvement of existing formulations and to improve the food quality standards too.

Vanessa Cave, Team Leader of Statistics in the Bioinformatics and Statistics Group, AgResearch
Vanessa has more than 10 years’ experience collaborating with scientists in the agricultural and environmental sciences, using statistics to solve real-world problems. As a biometrician, Vanessa provides expertise on experiment and survey design, data collection and management, statistical analysis, and the interpretation of statistical findings. Her interests include data visualisation, analysis and integration of high-dimensional datasets, and the statistical challenges related to digital agriculture. Vanessa is also a developer of the Genstat statistical package, a data analysis tool particularly suited to applications in agri-science.

Vanessa’s Talk: Digital Agriculture at AgResearch
Agriculture is one of New Zealand’s largest export income earners. However, digital technologies and analytics are transforming the agricultural industry. AgResearch, a Crown Research Institute that exists to provide science and technology for the benefit of the New Zealand’s agricultural sector, is involved in a number of scientific research projects aimed at preparing New Zealand for the era of “Digital agriculture”. Digital agriculture refers to the use of new and advanced technologies, integrated into one system, to help make farming (more) profitable and sustainable. It offers the potential to provide solutions for the challenges facing New Zealand agriculture. In this presentation, we will describe a suite of recent research projects that can be loosely grouped under the Digital Agriculture umbrella.

Kim Frew, Strategic Delivery Partner, Advanced Analytics Strategy Lead, Fonterra
Kim is a Strategic Delivery Partner in VelocityNXT, Fonterra’s innovation and transformation programme and a key member of the Fonterra Advanced Analytics Community of Expertise. She has held a number of roles over the last four years at Fonterra in the Office of the CFO, NZMP (Fonterra’s Ingredient business) and in Velocity & Innovation. Her focus is cross-functional problem solving using the technical, human and business aspects of creating sustainable value through analytics, where she acts as an agent of change. Kim has also previously worked across multiple industries as an analytics consultant.
Kim will speak to the use cases Fonterra is exploring to create new value, how we ensure people are empowered at the centre of analytics design and delivery and the potential for analytics in our ecosystem for innovation.

We look forward to seeing you at this exciting event,
The NZ Analytics Forum Steering Committee

NZ Analytics Forum at 2018 Joint NZSA/ORSNZ Conference

During the upcoming joint NZSA/ORSNZ conference in Palmerston North, there will be a NZ Analytics Forum event on Analytics in Agriculture.

When: Thursday 29th November: 3:30pm – 6pm
Where: Massey University, Palmerston North in the AgHort lecture block

The event is free of charge, but registration is required. Note that NZSA/ORSNZ conference delegates must register separately for the NZ Analytics Forum event.

Further information is available here.

NZ Analytics Forum | ORSNZ and NZSA Conference Palmerston North | Analytics in Agriculture

2018 Joint NZSA / ORSNZ Conference – registration closing soon

Tēnā koutou katoa!

Time is flying and the joint NZSA/ORSNZ Conference being held from 27-30 November in Palmerston North draws ever closer!

Just a reminder that the closing date for registrations is in less than two weeks from now! That is, need to register BEFORE the 1st November 2018, otherwise a late fee will apply.

Please register via our conference webpage at: http://www.massey.ac.nz/nzsa2018

We also have an awesome feature that allows you to take a peek at the abstracts as they are being processed at: https://R-Resources.massey.ac.nz/NZSA2018

This includes the abstracts for our keynote speakers. Alan Welsh, Ilze Ziedins, Stefan Nickel, Geoff Jones, and Jean Yang, as well as the ANZJS Discussion Paper to be presented by Francis Hui.

We’re looking forward to seeing you in November!

Ngā mihi,
Jonathan and Rina

2018 ORSNZ Conference Prizes

Abstract Submission

The deadline for abstracts for the upcoming 2018 Joint NZSA + ORSNZ conference (27-29 November at Massey University, Palmerston North) must be submitted by Monday October 1, 2018. The submission details and formatting requirements can be found here.

NZSA is managing the submission process, and there will be no extension to this deadline.

Young Practitioners’ Prize

OR practitioners and students who are within 5 years of graduation on the first day of the conference (27 November) are invited to compete for $1000 of prizes in the ORSNZ Young Practitioners’ Prize competition. When registering for the conference, competitors should request that their paper be entered for the YPP. Note that a full paper, following these guidelines, must be submitted to ORSNZ by November 15 in order enter the YPP. For further details about the YPP, see here.

The 2018 Young Practitioners’ Prize is sponsored by Suez Smart Solutions. Anyone who enters the YPP is also eligible to attend the conference dinner free-of-charge (you do not need to purchase a dinner ticket). The conference dinner has been sponsored by Harmonic Analytics & Engineering Science.

John A. George Memorial Prize (JAG)

Young Practitioners may also optionally submit your paper / presentation for consideration for the JAG prize. This prize is awarded annually for the best application of OR for improving lives. Entries are particularly sought in areas such as health, education, social welfare, economic development, or environmental protection, but may be in any application area.

Entrants should explain how their work could contribute to improving the quality of people’s lives, particularly those who may otherwise be vulnerable or disadvantaged, now, or in the future?

2018 Joint NZSA / ORSNZ Conference – deadlines

This is a reminder that the abstract submission deadline for the 2018 Joint NZSA / ORSNZ Conference is Monday 1 October 2018. The guidelines for the submission process are available here.

This conference is being held at Massey University’s Manawatu Campus from Tuesday 27 – Friday 30 November (note that the ORSNZ sessions will finish on Thursday).

We are particularly keen for presentations on agritech, health and energy; however invite abstracts from any field of Operations Research or Analytics. If your abstract is accepted you need to register for the conference by Thursday November 1.

Survey: Special sessions in the upcoming conference

We are considering running several sessions on specific topics at the upcoming conference (being held at Massey University in Palmerston North from midday Tuesday 27 November to Thursday 29 November 2018). The topics that we are thinking about are:

energy and natural resources;
agri-tech and primary industries; and
healthcare.

In order to assist with our planning, both in terms of whether people can contribute presentations or simply wish to attend such a session, we would appreciate it if you could complete this short survey.

2018 Joint NZSA and ORSNZ Conference

The New Zealand Statistical Association (NZSA) and the Operations Research Society of New Zealand (ORSNZ) are holding a joint conference hosted by Massey University at their Manawatu campus in 2018. This conference incorporates both the 69th Annual NZSA Conference and the 52nd annual ORSNZ Conference.

The conference presentations and other events will be held from midday Tuesday 27th November to Friday 30th November 2018. However, the ORSNZ sessions will be completed by midday Thursday, followed by an Analytics Forum event on Thursday afternoon (details to be confirmed).

Plenary Speakers

The following plenary speakers have been confirmed for the conference:

Stefan Nickel – Karlsruhe Institute of Technology;
Ilze Ziedins – University of Auckland;
Alan Welsh – Australian National University; and
Jean Yang – University of Sydney.

You can find additional details here.

Call for Papers

On August 1 2018, you will be able to register and submit an abstract for the 2018 Joint NZSA and ORSNZ Conference. We welcome presentations on any aspect of operations research, analytics or management science, especially practical applications.

Submissions from students and practitioners are greatly encouraged. Abstracts should be submitted using the format outlined here.

Oral presentations will be 20 minutes in length with additional time for questions. All abstracts will be considered by the conference committee, and the authors notified of their acceptance or otherwise.

Note that the abstract submission deadline is October 1. You may additionally submit a full paper to ORSNZ, by November 15, to have it included in the online proceedings; please follow these guidelines.

Registration

Early bird registration closes on November 1. Please see this page for details about the registration fees.

Note that the ORSNZ and NZSA are hosting separate dinners, and there is a separate (additional) fee for each.

ORSNZ Young Practitioners’ Prize (YPP)

Winners of the Inaugural John Andrew George Memorial Prize

At the 2017 ORSNZ the first John Andrew George Memorial Prizes were awarded. This prize was established by Grant Read, Vicky Mabin, Bob Cavana, and John Buchanan in memory of former ORSNZ Vice President John George, who passed away in November last year.

While most OR projects are expected to deliver “benefits” of various kinds, the emphasis here is not on purely economic, or even purely environmental, benefits, but on efforts to better the lives of others. It is thus about the motivation, heart and soul of the project. So the key consideration was be the following question:

“How will this work contribute to improving the quality of people’s lives, particularly those who may otherwise be vulnerable or disadvantaged, now, or in future?”

This prize was open to all papers presented for the YPP, and was awarded jointly to:

Samuel Ridler – Ambulance simulation and optimisation; and
Samin Aref – Computing the frustration index in signed graphs using binary programming.

Left to right: Samuel Riddler (JAG Award Winner), Grant Read, Vicky Mabin, Bob Cavana (judges), and Michael O’Sullivan (ORSNZ President).

Young Practitioner’s Prize Winners 2017

At the 51st ORSNZ Conference held in December 2017, we had 14 entries into the Young Practitioner’s Prize, which was sponsored by Trustpower. There were three prizes awarded:

1st Place: Oscar Dowson – SDDP.jl: a Julia package for Stochastic Dual Dynamic Programming
2nd Place: Thomas Adams – Balancing Physician Workloads Under Uncertain Admissions
3rd Place: Isaac Cleland – Solving a Generalised Staff Rostering Problem

Dr Michael J O’Sullivan (ORSNZ President) and Mr Danny Tsai (Trustpower) present YPP certificates to Oscar Dowson (left), Thomas Adams (middle), and Isaac Cleland (right)