Beale Lecture 2026: How we Develop Models: Reflecting on 40 Years (nearly) of Modelling

 Developing models is at the core of Operational Research and Data Science. While we have well-established techniques for representing and improving the world, little is known about how we actually go about creating an appropriate model when presented with a problem situation.

 Reflecting on nearly 40 years of simulation modelling, Stewart will explore how modellers model and how we decide what to model. 

 You do not need to know anything about simulation or operational research to understand this lecture.

 Stewart Robinson 

Dean and Professor of Operational Research

Newcastle University Business School

Stewart Robinson holds an honours degree in Management Science (Operational Research) (1985) and a PhD in Management Science (1998), both from Lancaster University. He is a Fellow and former President of the Operational Research Society (2014-15) and Chair of the Chartered Association of Business Schools (2024-).

Stewart started his career as a business analyst for a shoe retailing company and then as aconsultant with ISTEL (now Royal HaskoningDHV). During this time, he gained much experience in performing and supporting simulation studies with a wide range of organisations. As a result of this experience, Stewart’s academic research focuses on the practice of simulation and modelling.

 In 1992, Stewart moved to Aston Business School where he lectured in Operations and Information Management. Stewart then spent 13 years at Warwick Business School (1998-2011), from 2005 as Professor of Operational Research. He held various roles during his time at Warwick including Director of the Executive MBA Programme, Associate Dean for Specialist Masters Programmes, and Head of the Operational Research and Management Sciences Group.

 Stewart joined Loughborough University in July 2011 as Professor of Management Science and Associate Dean Research (2012-2015), subsequently becoming Dean of the School of Business and Economics in 2015. He completed his term as Dean in 2021 and in July 2022 Stewart joined Newcastle University Business School as Dean and Professor of Operational Research.

Stewart’s research interests are in the practice and use of simulation models. He has published seven books and over 200 refereed journal and conference articles making contributions to our understanding and the practice of conceptual modelling, model validation, output analysis, participatory modelling, behavioural OR and the comparison of simulation methods. Stewart is cofounder of the UK OR Society Simulation Workshop conference series and the Journal of Simulation.

Doctoral Winner Lecture: Faster Optimization, Earlier Evaluation: Lessons from Integrating Operational Research and Machine Learning in a Hospital Blood Bank 

Joseph’s doctoral research focused on improving decision-making in a hospital blood bank, a classic perishable inventory problem in which the blood bank must keep sufficient stock to serve patients while minimising wastage. In this talk, he will discuss two generalizable ideas at the intersection of OR and machine learning (ML) that arose from this work.

 Joseph will first explain how high-level software tools developed by the ML community enable operational researchers to take advantage of modern graphics processing units. This makes it possible to compute exact solutions for larger, more realistic perishable inventory problems that are often described as infeasible or impractical in the literature.

 He will then describe the simulation-first approach to ML model development he used in his work to reduce platelet wastage. By using OR-based workflow simulations to investigate how predictive model performance would translate into KPIs before model development, this approach enables early evaluation of practical utility and helps to focus ML modelling effort on prediction tasks most likely to deliver impact in the real world.

Dr Joseph Farrington 

Data Scientist at RLDatix

Dr Joseph Farrington is a Data Scientist at RLDatix, specialising in the application of machine learning to healthcare operations. He earned his PhD from University College London in 2025 as part of the UKRI CDT in AI-enabled Healthcare Systems. His doctoral research focused on optimising replenishment and issuing policies in a hospital blood bank. Earlier in his career, Joseph qualified as a chartered accountant, working in external audit and forensic accounting, after completing a BA in Natural Sciences at the University of Cambridge.

Event Agenda: 

1:30pm: Event introduction/housekeeping from the ORS President

1:35pm: Doctoral winner introduction- Dr Joseph Farrington

1:40pm: Doctoral winner Lecture: Faster Optimization, Earlier Evaluation 

2:10pm: Q & A 

2:25pm: Beale winner introduction- Professor Stewart Robinson

2:30pm: Beale winner Lecture: How We Develop Models

3:10pm: Q & A 

3:25pm: Event Close

 Please note that attendees have the option of attending in-person at Newcastle University or online over Zoom. 

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