Reinvigorating Soft OR 2022

Abstract

This survey was originally requested by the Heads of OR and Analytics Forum (HORAF) Forum, against a backdrop of Covid 19 interrupting historical data trends, in turn leading to a greater use of Soft OR. The aims were: 1. Understand the current Soft OR landscape 2. Publicise education and training opportunities, 3. Find recent successful case studies for promotional purposes 4. Create awareness of existing Soft OR community groups and 5. Advise HORAF members on how they can get (more) involved. Subsequently the survey was extended to provide a comprehensive guide for anyone in the OR, Analytics and Data Science communities who wishes to get involved, or more involved, in applying Soft OR approaches. The main body of the report lists those individuals known to be currently researching and/or applying Soft OR in the UK; the Community groups supporting and promoting various Soft OR approaches; current training opportunities and ten fairly recent case studies. The Annexes provide more detail, particularly definitions of just about all of the approaches coming under the umbrella of Soft OR. (We are indebted to Giles Hindle for providing these).