OR63 - The OR Society - The OR Society

Our biggest event of the year OR63 will explore how operational research can help society and organisations move towards a post-COVID-19 world. Whether facilitating improved sustainable solutions, transforming the opportunity that digitalisation brings to society or developing data-driven support tools, operational research has a tremendous impact on the world in 2021. We would like you to share your experience and impact.

At our annual conference, we want you to address your achievements and:

1. Explore a wide range of OR topics related to "creating a better future"
2. Connect OR professionals from across the world for presentations, posters,
keynote talks and much more
3. Facilitate a week of knowledge sharing, debate and discussion
4. Provide delegates with a unique chance to network online with the wider OR community.

Early bird closes: 22 August 2021

BOOK YOUR PLACE NOW

Until the conference starts: 14 September 2021

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Meet our plenary speakers

Our plenary speakers are world-renowned experts, speaking about a variety of key topics that are important to operational researchers, data scientists, engineers, etc., today. Don't miss hearing from Dr Christina Pagel, Dr Ariella Helfgott, Tony O'Connor and Anna Moss as they deliver talks and sustainability, COVID-19 and more.

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Dr Christina Pagel

UCL Member of Independant SAGE

Title “The Intersection of Operational Research and Public Communication during the Covid-19 Pandemic”

In May 2020 I joined the group Independent SAGE. At the time, I thought I was signing up to one or two public meetings on YouTube, but instead our profile grew and we discovered there was a large public appetite for more information about Covid and its spread in the UK. From the summer onwards, I have been giving regular updates on the latest Covid situation in the UK during Independent SAGE weekly briefings and have been invited regularly on the media fielding questions about various aspects of the Covid pandemic.

In this talk, I will reflect on how my experience of working in Operational Research applied to health care has shaped how I have understood and communicated the Covid pandemic over the past year. I will also look ahead to how Operational Research should shape approaches as we recover from the impacts of Covid and reconsider pandemic planning.

About Dr Christina Pagell

Christina Pagel is Professor of Operational Research at University College London (UCL) and Director of the UCL Clinical Operational Research Unit. Her main research area is using ORto support delivery of health services. This includes combining statistical models, OR techniquesand analysis of routinely collected national and local datasets to support service delivery and design both locally and nationally. She runs a large programme of work in understanding and communicating outcomes for peopleborn with congenital heart disease, which has included the development and implementation of the method used nationally for 30-day survival following paediatric heart surgery.

She is co-director of the new UCL CHIMERA hub where researchers will examine anonymised data from 40,000 patients at University College London Hospital (UCLH) and Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH), to develop a better understanding using mathematical modelling of how people’s physiology changes during ill health and recovery.

Since May 2020, she has been a member of IndependentSAGE, a group of scientists who are working together to provide independent scientific advice to the UK government and public on how to minimise deaths and support Britain’s recovery from the COVID-19 crisis.

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Anna Moss

Principal Data Scientist at Ocado Technology

Title “OR at Ocado: Where Efficiency Meets Social Responsibility”

This talk covers some examples of such challenges, e.g. delivery route optimisation, staff rostering, and the most recent example of Covid-19 test scheduling for frontline colleagues. The talk describes how Ocado applies OR methods to achieve highly efficient solutions to these problems that at the same time do not compromise on the standards of ethics and social responsibility.

Ocado Group is a UK based technology company that provides end-to-end online grocery solutions to some of the world’s largest grocery retailers through its technology division, Ocado Technology. These solutions are delivered as Ocado Smart Platform (OSP), an end-to-end eCommerce, fulfilment and logistics platform. OSP is driven by a wide range of advanced technologies that includes robotics, AI & machine learning, optimisation, simulation, and forecasting.

Ocado Group also holds 50% of Ocado Retail Ltd (ORL) in the UK in a Joint Venture with Marks & Spencer. ORL is the world’s biggest online-only grocery retail business which is also powered by Ocado Technology solutions.

Operations Research methods play an important role in addressing multiple optimisation challenges faced by Ocado Technology in its mission to transform online grocery retail and enable its clients to do grocery online in a profitable, scalable and sustainable way. While optimising for business goals like improving efficiency and reducing operational costs, Ocado adheres to high ethical standards with optimisation objectives and constraints also reflecting convenience of customers, wellbeing of employees, environmental considerations and more. This results in complex multi criteria optimisation problems.

About Anna Moss

Anna Moss obtained a PhD in Computer Science from Technion − Israel Institute of Technology, specialising in Combinatorial Optimisation. Her research interests and academic papers focus on Combinatorial Approximation Algorithms, Constraint Programming, and metaheuristic and mathematical methods for Combinatorial Optimisation.

She is co-director of the new UCL CHIMERA hub where researchers will examine anonymised data from 40,000 patients at University College London Hospital (UCLH) and Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH), to develop a better understanding using mathematical modelling of how people’s physiology changes during ill health and recovery.

During the past fifteen years, Anna has worked in industry, applying optimisation techniques to real world applications. Over this time she successfully performed multiple challenging optimisation projects. Her most recent projects at Ocado Technology include delivery route optimisation, staff rostering and Covid-19 test scheduling.