How to be ready for accreditation

If you're a young, ambitious operational researcher who's aiming to achieve FORS in due course, here are some tips which can help you. Remember, these are for the long term and you don't necessarily have to do all of this, but it does all help.

• Aim to get a balance of experience. If you're an academic, aim to engage in industry-based projects or research; and if you're a practitioner, engage in training (whether by training colleagues, ensuring that staff are well-trained, or getting well-trained yourself).
    
• Take opportunities to put your work in the public domain, whether by giving conference presentations, putting papers or presentations into the Document Repository, writing articles for Inside OR or OR Insight, or papers for publication in OR journals. It will strengthen your case if you have exposed your work to judgement by peers, as well as colleagues, in this way.
    
• If you want to become a Fellow, take responsibility and aim for a managerial role.
    
• Get involved in the life of the profession by participating actively in regional societies and study groups, or helping in the running of The OR Society or similar bodies.