The Regional Societies aim to give people a chance to share and engage with OR professionals locally. WORAN aims to make the work of women more visible, and enable them to network widely. Together, this event gives you a chance to discover what some OR and analytics women are doing in your region and around the UK. Hear from women in different parts of the country about the variety of inspiring and exciting work that makes up the fabric of OR and analytics. WORAN's lightning talks sessions have always had hugely positive feedback from audience and speakers alike, as a truly enjoyable and eye-opening way of sharing the diversity of OR/analytics work and workers, and we are sure this will be no exception. Watch this space for details of speakers and topics.
We will be running this event as a 'hub and spoke' - if you would like to arrange a physical meeting with colleagues in your workplace, or locally or regionally, and log in collectively to the main online zoom presentations, that is strongly encouraged.
Meet the Speakers
Annabelle Burns (London & South East) From theory to practice: learning, understanding and using System Thinking methodology within neighbourhood healthcare
Academic study of Systems Thinking can transform the ways in which we understand, articulate and conceptualise problem situations in the workplace, but application in a real-world setting is challenging. What can we do to encourage, enable and facilitate the use of Systems Thinking and other Operational Research tools in order to make a real difference? Annabelle will discuss how working towards a Systems Thinking Apprenticeship, building strong networks and taking a curious and reflective approach can bridge the gap between academic theory, strategic intentions and front-line practice and have a tangible impact on patients, residents and the community.
Annabelle is Head of Integration, responsible for integrating services across neighbourhoods, at Homerton Healthcare, a community and acute NHS Trust in East London. . She is currently undertaking an MSc and Apprenticeship in Systems Thinking and Leadership at Birmingham University.
Laura Cole (North East) Behind the Numbers: How the NAO Assures Financial Modelling in Government
Financial models underpin some of the most critical decisions in government. But how can we be confident in the numbers when the stakes are so high?
This talk explores how the NAO’s modelling team assures the outputs of over 45 business critical models, covering more than £300 billion of government spending. It outlines the NAO’s approach to validating model logic, testing assumptions, and working collaboratively with departments to improve modelling practices.
By sharing practical insights, this session will highlight the role of independent assurance in strengthening trust in government analysis and supporting better informed decision making.
Laura is Head of Modelling at the UK National Audit Office, leading assurance work on government financial models. She specialises in model review, risk assessment, and improving modelling standards across government departments to support better public decision making.
Banafsheh Khosravi (Southern) Undersea Infrastructure Safety and Security
This talk looks into surveillance scheduling algorithms and research methods for protection of critical undersea infrastructure. The problem addresses the vulnerability of electricity, internet, oil and gas undersea cables to interferences, attacks, and environmental factors. There is a need for an integrated risk-based surveillance strategy that combines information obtained from UAVs, AUVs, surface vessels and satellites. The problem is multi-objective in nature as there is a trade-off between resource cost and incident detection probability and other performance measures such as surveillance coverage. Our case studies include gas and oil pipelines, offshore wind farm and electricity interconnectors.
Banafsheh is a Senior Lecturer in Operational Research at the School of Mathematics and Physics, University of Portsmouth. Her research focuses on mathematical modelling and heuristics/metaheuristics for scheduling and routing problems, with applications in transportation, healthcare and safety.
Belen Martin-Barragan (Scotland) On the intersection of Operational Research and Machine Learning: prescriptive for better predictive, and beyond.
In this research, we develop and explore a modified version of the smart predict-then-optimize (SPO) strategy, which considers uncertainties in data prediction and inputs when optimizing. Building on the fundamental principles of the SPO model, our method focuses on refining predictions to reduce regret when those predictions shape the parameters of an optimization problem. We shift from a fixed, deterministic approach to one where data inaccuracies introduce uncertainty, and we apply robust optimization methods to address these uncertainties. Specifically, we study different types of robustness that tolerate varying levels of suboptimality and thus replicate different robustness-enforcing strategies.
Belen is Reader in Management Science at The University of Edinburgh. Her research lies at the interface between Data Science and Mathematical Programming, with a special interest on explainable artificial intelligence and, more recently, integrated prediction and optimization.
Sheeba Pathak (London & South East) OR ensures sustainable development
Examples of OR in business applications shall be briefly shared to strengthen the benefit of using OR methods not only for profitability improvement and ensuring lean but also assuring sustainable development.
Sheeba is a practitioner, entrepreneur and present 4th year doctoral researcher with the ambition to make OR understood, cool and mainstream in business applications.
Jo Smedley (South Wales): Successful projects: efficient practice or lucky juggling?
Managing a successful project to achieve optimal outcomes is influenced by factors such as scope, budget, interpersonal skills, senior management support, and an organisation's specific project methodology. Achieving a project's time, cost, and quality goals (the "iron triangle") is essential, but successful outcomes are further influenced by strategic alignment, effective communication, and efficient risk management. This 5 minute insight will include tips based on decades of experience of working in project management with an operational research background, achieving efficient outcomes in various contexts, while highlighting the importance of effective communication, positive team-working and shared risk ownership.
Jo has designed, developed and managed small, medium and large-scale projects during her career in academic and business contexts in the UK and Europe influenced by her academic background in operational research. Further details are available at http://www.josmedley.com.
Session chaired by Xiaochen Feng, WORAN Events Committee member and Research Associate, Cambridge University Institute for Manufacturing
CPD Hours: 1 Hour
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