Scholarship Guidelines


1) Introduction

IFORS Conferences include national contributions from member Societies. It is the practice of The OR Society to support distinguished scholars selected to present National Contributions on behalf of the United Kingdom.

2) Eligibility

Persons who have at least ten years’ working experience, based in the United Kingdom, of operational research in industry, commerce, government, or in a University teaching or research post at the time of application are eligible for consideration. Members of the Awards Panel may apply, but must withdraw from any discussion concerning the award. No person may win more than one Distinguished Scholars Award.

3) Value

The OR Society will pay reasonable costs of travel, subsistence, and conference fees up to a maximum of £3000 in total, to be shared between a maximum of three authors (one author per National Contribution), selected to present the papers representing the National Contributions from the UK.

4) Entry

Applicants wishing to be considered for this award are required to submit an extended abstract of a paper which they intend to present at the conference.

Applications should be sent to [email protected].

5) Selection

The award will be made to the author(s) of up to three extended abstract(s) which, in the judgement of the Awards Panel, will lead to the paper(s) of the highest merit. The Awards Panel may make no award if none of the abstracts submitted is of sufficient merit. Merit will be assessed on the basis of both a contribution to the development of the subject, and a proper representation of good OR in the UK.

6) Conditions

Conditions of the award are that:

  • the author(s) of each National Contribution will prepare a paper, based on the submitted abstract, and present it at the Conference
  • for each National Contribution the paper will be submitted for publication in the official proceedings of the Conference.

All claims for reimbursement of conference fees, and reasonable travel and subsistence costs incurred in attending the IFORS Triennial conference must be fully substantiated by receipts and accompanied by appropriate documentation to show that the above conditions have been fully complied with.

7) Procedures

Upon receipt from IFORS of the invitation to submit National Contributions, the Research & Publications Coordinator shall place an announcement in Inside OR inviting submissions. The closing date for abstracts is to be set so that the Awards Panel can make its choice and inform the successful candidate(s) in time for the nomination to be submitted to the conference organisation.

At the closing date the complete set of extracts will be forwarded to all members of the Awards Panel for consideration and decision. The Awards Panel shall report their decision to the Research & Publications Coordinator at least two weeks before the deadline set by IFORS. The Research & Publications Coordinator shall inform the candidate(s) and the conference organisers by the due deadline, and shall arrange for the result to be announced in Inside OR.