{ "type": "Article", "authors": [ { "type": "Person", "familyNames": [ "Rand" ], "givenNames": [ "Graham" ] } ], "description": "The origins and subsequent history of the European Conferences of\nOperational Research are presented.", "identifiers": [], "references": [ { "type": "Article", "id": "bib-bib1", "authors": [], "title": "\nE. Balas, Will to freedom: A perilous journey through fascism and communism.\nSyracuse University Press, Syracuse, NY (2000) " }, { "type": "Article", "id": "bib-bib2", "authors": [], "title": "\nE. Balas, Some thoughts on the development of integer programming during my\nresearch career – lecture delivered upon receiving the EURO Gold Medal, July 9, 2001, Rotterdam.\nEur. J. Oper. Res. 141, 1–7 (2002)\n", "url": "https://doi.org/10.1016/s0377-2217(02)00172-8" }, { "type": "Article", "id": "bib-bib3", "authors": [], "title": "\nC. Berge, Optimisation and hypergraph theory.\nEur. J. Oper. Res. 46, 297–303 (1990) ", "url": "https://doi.org/10.1016/0377-2217(90)90004-u" }, { "type": "Article", "id": "bib-bib4", "authors": [], "title": "\nJ. P. Brans, EURO bulletin 6.\nEur. J. Oper. Res. 1,\n69–71 (1977) ", "url": "https://doi.org/10.1016/s0377-2217(77)81018-7" }, { "type": "Article", "id": "bib-bib5", "authors": [], "title": "\nG. K. Rand, Forty years of IFORS.\nInt. Trans. Oper. Res.\n8, 611–633 (2001) ", "url": "https://doi.org/10.1111/1475-3995.t01-1-00327" }, { "type": "Article", "id": "bib-bib6", "authors": [], "title": "\nG. K. Rand, IFORS’ operational research hall of fame: Egon Balas.\nInt. Trans. Oper. Res. 13, 169–174 (2006) ", "url": "https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1475-3995.2006.00541.x" }, { "type": "Article", "id": "bib-bib7", "authors": [], "title": "\nM. F. Shutler, The fifth EURO Gold Medal 1989.\nEur. J. Oper. Res. 46, 295–296 (1990) ", "url": "https://doi.org/10.1016/0377-2217(90)90003-t" }, { "type": "Article", "id": "bib-bib8", "authors": [], "title": "\nH.-J. Zimmermann, The founding of EURO, the Association of European Operational\nResearch Societies within IFORS.\nEur. J. Oper. Res. 87,\n404–407 (1995) ", "url": "https://doi.org/10.1016/0377-2217(95)00209-x" } ], "title": "EURO conferences", "meta": {}, "content": [ { "type": "Paragraph", "id": "p1", "content": [ "Later\nthis year,\nfrom 30 June to 3 July, the\n33rd European\nConference of Operational Research\nwill\nbe hosted in Copenhagen, Denmark\nat the Technical University of Denmark (DTU) on behalf of\nEURO.", { "type": "Note", "id": "idm9", "noteType": "Footnote", "content": [ { "type": "Paragraph", "id": "footnote1", "content": [ { "type": "Link", "target": "https://euro2024cph.dk", "content": [ "https://euro2024cph.dk" ] } ] } ] }, "\nThat straightforward statement begs, for many readers, at least two questions:\nWhat is operational research?\nAnd what is EURO?\nMaybe there is a third:\nWhy is this being included in\nthe Magazine\nof the European Mathematical Society?\nI hope the answer to the first question will also answer the third." ] }, { "type": "Figure", "id": "fig1", "caption": [ { "type": "Paragraph", "content": [ "Nyhavn, Copenhagen." ] } ], "licenses": [ { "type": "CreativeWork", "content": [ { "type": "Paragraph", "content": [ "DIS Congress Service, Copenhagen / All rights reserved." ] } ] } ], "content": [ { "type": "ImageObject", "contentUrl": "Nyhavn_small.jpg", "mediaType": "image/jpeg", "meta": { "inline": false } } ] }, { "type": "Heading", "id": "Sx1", "depth": 1, "content": [ "Operational\nresearch" ] }, { "type": "Paragraph", "id": "Sx1.p1", "content": [ "The term\n", { "type": "Emphasis", "content": [ "operational research" ] }, " (OR) was first coined in the late 1930s in\nthe UK, as preparation was made for war. Many scientists had been called\nfrom their university laboratories to aid the war effort. Amongst these\nwas Patrick Blackett,\nprofessor of physics at the University of\nManchester, known for his work on cloud chambers and cosmic rays, who\nwas to be awarded the Nobel Prize\nin Physics in 1948. During\nthe Second World War he\nmade a major contribution advising on military strategy using a\nscientific approach to the solution of problems that were faced. He was\ndirector of Operational Research within the Admiralty from 1942 to 1945\nand is known, certainly in the UK, as the\nfather of\noperational research." ] }, { "type": "Paragraph", "id": "Sx1.p2", "content": [ "The scientists used no formal OR methodology during the war, as none\nexisted. Their approach involved collecting real data about operations\nand analysing it using statistical and mathematical methods, simply\napplying their scientific approach. After the war new analytical areas\nevolved within OR, most notably linear programming, which developed into\nvarious forms of mathematical programming. Other approaches now in the\nOR analysts’ tool bag include simulation, game theory, queueing theory,\nnetwork analysis, decision analysis, and multicriteria analysis. All\nthese have powerful application to practical problems with the\nappropriate logical structure. However, it is not only mathematical,\nanalytical, methods that are in the tool bag. Most of the problems\ntackled by OR are messy and complex, so a systems approach is frequently\nrequired, and methods of problem structuring, such as soft systems\nmethodology, are often used." ] }, { "type": "Paragraph", "id": "Sx1.p3", "content": [ "Operational researchers are concerned to enable\ndecision-makers to make\nbetter decisions. OR is used by organisations of all sizes, including\nbusinesses across all industry sectors, government and other public\nsector bodies, charities, communities and even individuals. OR helps\ninform strategic, tactical, and operational decisions as well as\nassisting in the design of public policy." ] }, { "type": "Paragraph", "id": "Sx1.p4", "content": [ "An idea of the range of problems that are tackled by OR can be found by\nconsidering the six finalist presentations of the 2021 EURO Excellence\nin Practice Award at EURO 31 in Athens, a hybrid conference, the last\ntime the award was made. Two, both from the UK, concerned health. The\nwinning project investigated emerging health threats, such as the\ncoronavirus global pandemic, which create extensive health, economic and\nsocial problems. A key challenge for health experts and\npolicy-makers is\ndeciding how to balance and reduce the risk of these threats. The use of\nOR models and processes by health experts and\npolicy-makers enhanced the\nquality of health experts’ recommendations to the leadership of the UK\nDepartment for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs in the prioritisation\nof animal and human emerging health threats and informed new\ninternational standards for the Food Standards joint programmes of the\nFood and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and the World\nHealth Organization. The second concerned shaping demand for urgent\ncare, via an app to inform patients of alternative facilities for care." ] }, { "type": "Paragraph", "id": "Sx1.p5", "content": [ "Three finalist entries concerned a variety of transport applications:\nairport staff scheduling at Swissport International, truck drayage\ndispatching and appointment booking in the Port of Hamburg, and the\ntransformation of Italmondo’s cargo loading operations. The sixth\nfinalist sought to increase safety during the Hajj." ] }, { "type": "Heading", "id": "Sx2", "depth": 1, "content": [ "Euro" ] }, { "type": "Paragraph", "id": "Sx2.p1", "content": [ "After\nthe Second World War, many of the scientists in the UK, including Blackett,\nreturned to their university laboratories. Others, however, stayed in\nthe defence sector, or went into private or nationalised industries to\npractice OR. An OR Club was formed in 1948, which later became the\nOperational Research Society (ORS). OR\nsocieties were also formed in\nother countries. In 1957, an international conference was held in\nOxford, England, following which the International Federation of OR\nSocieties (IFORS) came into existence in 1959. The immediate main\nactivity of IFORS was the\norganisation of triennial international\nconferences for the world community of operational researchers.\nFollowing Oxford, the next two were held in Europe: in 1960 in\nAix-en-Provence, France, and in 1963 in Oslo, Norway.\n" ] }, { "type": "Paragraph", "id": "Sx2.p2", "content": [ "Understandably, the IFORS conferences moved out of Europe – firstly to\nthe USA in 1966. At the 6th IFORS conference (Dublin, 1972), the\nparticipating presidents of European OR societies realised that there\nwould not be a conference in Europe for a further nine years and, having\ndiscussed the situation, agreed to consider setting up a European\ncoordinating body [", { "type": "Cite", "target": "bib-bib8", "content": [ "8" ] }, "]. At a meeting of representatives of European\nOR societies, held in Amsterdam on\n3–4 May 1974, two major decisions\nwere made: to\nformalise and institutionalise increased European\ncooperation, drafting an agreement between the European OR societies,\nand that there should soon be a European Conference on Operational\nResearch." ] }, { "type": "Paragraph", "id": "Sx2.p3", "content": [ "This conference was held in January 1975 in Brussels, Belgium, hosted by the\nBelgian OR\nSociety, with the OR societies of Denmark, Germany, United\nKingdom, Norway,\nthe Netherlands, and Sweden helping with finance. The\nobjective of formalising closer cooperation\namongst the European\noperational researchers was achieved at the conference: ten European OR\nsocieties (of Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Great Britain, Greece,\nIreland,\nthe Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland) gave birth to EURO, The\nAssociation of European Operational Research Societies within IFORS, by\nsigning an agreement." ] }, { "type": "Figure", "id": "Sx2-fig1", "caption": [ { "type": "Paragraph", "content": [ "Signing EURO into existence at\nEURO I, Brussels 1975." ] } ], "licenses": [ { "type": "CreativeWork", "content": [ { "type": "Paragraph", "content": [ "EURO / All rights reserved." ] } ] } ], "content": [ { "type": "ImageObject", "contentUrl": "image002.jpg", "mediaType": "image/jpeg", "meta": { "inline": false } } ] }, { "type": "Paragraph", "id": "Sx2.p4", "content": [ "On 8 March 1976, in a circular letter to all European OR societies, the\nhonorary secretary announced:\n“I hereby declare that EURO, The\nAssociation of European Operational Research Societies within IFORS, is\nnow formally constituted with effect from 5 March\n1976” [", { "type": "Cite", "target": "bib-bib5", "content": [ "5" ] }, "]. By\n18\nJune 1976\n“the definitive statutes and by-laws of EURO were ratified in\ntotal by the OR societies of: Belgium, Denmark,\nFrance, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy,\nThe\nNetherlands, Spain,\nSwitzerland and the United\nKingdom” [", { "type": "Cite", "target": "bib-bib4", "content": [ "4" ] }, "]." ] }, { "type": "Figure", "id": "Sx2-fig2", "licenses": [ { "type": "CreativeWork", "content": [ { "type": "Paragraph", "content": [ "EURO / All rights reserved." ] } ] } ], "content": [ { "type": "ImageObject", "contentUrl": "EURO_logo_big_cropped.png", "mediaType": "image/png", "meta": { "inline": false } } ] }, { "type": "Paragraph", "id": "Sx2.p5", "content": [ "The membership of EURO has increased as more European national societies\njoined IFORS and countries outside Europe which joined IFORS, but where\nthere was no regional grouping, also became part of EURO. There are now\n31 member societies within EURO, including Israel, South Africa, and\nTunisia.", { "type": "Note", "id": "idm64", "noteType": "Footnote", "content": [ { "type": "Paragraph", "id": "footnote2", "content": [ { "type": "Link", "target": "https://www.euro-online.org/web/pages/1457/current-member-societies", "content": [ "https://www.euro-online.org/web/pages/1457/current-member-societies" ] } ] } ] } ] }, { "type": "Paragraph", "id": "Sx2.p6", "content": [ "The idea of starting a European journal was raised in the first meeting\nin Amsterdam in 1974. The first\nissue\nof the ", { "type": "Emphasis", "content": [ "European Journal of\nOperational Research" ] }, " (EJOR) appeared in 1977,\na month after\nthe second\nEURO conference. Since then, it has continuously grown in terms of\nreputation and quality (through measures such as the impact factor) to\nbe one of leading journals of the international OR community." ] }, { "type": "Heading", "id": "Sx3", "depth": 1, "content": [ "EURO\nconferences" ] }, { "type": "Paragraph", "id": "Sx3.p1", "content": [ "As mentioned previously, the first European Conference on Operational\nResearch (EURO I) was held in Brussels in January 1975, only nine months\nafter the 1974 Amsterdam meeting. That there were 506 participants is a\ntribute to the commitment of all those who participated in the\npreparatory work." ] }, { "type": "Paragraph", "id": "Sx3.p2", "content": [ "Following the success of EURO I, a second conference was held in\nStockholm in 1976. In 1977, EURO co-sponsored an Institute of Management\nScience (TIMS) international meeting, held in Athens, Greece. Other\nconferences have been held jointly with TIMS: in 1982 (Lausanne), 1988\n(Paris), 1992 (Helsinki) and with INFORMS (created by the merger of TIMS\nand the Operations Research Society of America) in 1997 (Barcelona),\n2003 (Istanbul), and 2013 (Rome). The last-mentioned conference\nattracted over 3500 participants, but before the coronavirus pandemic,\nthere were\ntypically\n2500 participants." ] }, { "type": "Paragraph", "id": "Sx3.p3", "content": [ "Observant mathematicians will have noticed the contradiction between\nEURO I in 1975, the first annual conference, and the fact that the\nconference in 2024, some 49 years later, is the 33rd. IFORS hold a\nconference every three years. EURO, as a regional grouping of IFORS’\nmember societies, does not hold a conference in that year, hence the\ndiscrepancy. I have been privileged to attend 24 EURO conferences:\nCopenhagen will be my 25th." ] }, { "type": "Figure", "id": "Sx3-fig1", "licenses": [ { "type": "CreativeWork", "content": [ { "type": "Paragraph", "content": [ "EURO / All rights reserved." ] } ] } ], "content": [ { "type": "ImageObject", "contentUrl": "euro-2024-cph.png", "mediaType": "image/png", "meta": { "inline": false } } ] }, { "type": "Paragraph", "id": "Sx3.p4", "content": [ "22 member societies have hosted the conference. The UK Operational\nResearch Society has hosted the conference three times, twice in\nGlasgow, and is due to host it a fourth time in 2025, in Leeds, when the\n50th anniversary of EURO will be celebrated. In\naddition to Glasgow, the conference has been held twice in Brussels,\nLisbon, and Helsinki. Other societies to host the conference twice are\nthose of Greece (in Rhodes and Athens), Spain (in Barcelona and\nValencia), Italy (in Bologna and Rome),\nGermany (in Aachen and Bonn), and the Netherlands (in Amsterdam and Rotterdam). Surprisingly, of the\ntwelve societies ratifying the statutes and by-laws of EURO in 1976, one\nhas never hosted a conference: Denmark. That anomaly is being corrected\nthis year. It may be confusing that the conference logo refers to the\nyear and not the sequence number of the conference." ] }, { "type": "Figure", "id": "Sx3-fig2", "caption": [ { "type": "Paragraph", "content": [ "EURO 27 Glasgow 2015." ] } ], "licenses": [ { "type": "CreativeWork", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode", "content": [ { "type": "Paragraph", "content": [] } ] } ], "content": [ { "type": "ImageObject", "contentUrl": "P1020615_small.jpg", "mediaType": "image/jpeg", "meta": { "inline": false } } ] }, { "type": "Heading", "id": "Sx4", "depth": 1, "content": [ "EURO Gold Medallists" ] }, { "type": "Paragraph", "id": "Sx4.p1", "content": [ "One of the features of the conferences is the award of the EURO Gold\nMedal, the highest recognition in Europe for scientific activity in OR,\nwhich is followed by a lecture from the laureate. Typically, the Gold\nMedallists are acknowledged for their contribution within the OR\nprofession, but there have been some notable exceptions. In 1989 in\nBelgrade, for instance, the Gold Medallist was Claude Berge, a French\nmathematician,\nrecognised for his contributions to combinatorics and\ngraph theory. The chair of the jury introduced his lecture [", { "type": "Cite", "target": "bib-bib3", "content": [ "3" ] }, "] by\nstating:\n“It is difficult to overestimate the influence which his work\nhas had on the corpus of theory which is used by\nOperational Research\nworkers. His books are\namong\nthe most often quoted in OR, as OR workers\napply graphical techniques to network flows, to methods for scheduling\nand timetabling and to combinatorial optimisation. His skill has been to\ndemonstrate how graph theory and hypergraph theory can solve widely\ndisparate and well-known problems such as the schoolgirl problem, the\nproblem of joining three houses by pipelines to three utility companies\nand the map colouring problem, to mention but a few” [", { "type": "Cite", "target": "bib-bib7", "content": [ "7" ] }, "]." ] }, { "type": "Paragraph", "id": "Sx4.p2", "content": [ "In 2001 the award was made to Egon\nBalas [", { "type": "Cite", "target": "bib-bib6", "content": [ "6" ] }, "].", { "type": "Note", "id": "idm107", "noteType": "Footnote", "content": [ { "type": "Paragraph", "id": "footnote3", "content": [ "His lecture [", { "type": "Cite", "target": "bib-bib2", "content": [ "2" ] }, "]\ncan be seen at\n", { "type": "Link", "target": "https://www.euro-online.org/web/pages/1665/2001-rotterdam-euro-k", "content": [ "https://www.euro-online.org/web/pages/1665/2001-rotterdam-euro-k" ] }, "." ] } ] }, "\nHe was a pioneer in the study of the structure of\ninteger polytopes, and in the development of enumerative and cutting\nplane algorithms for the solution of NP-hard\nzero–one programming\nproblems. With his co-workers, he developed the “lift-and-project”\napproach, which plays a key role in the improvement of the performance\nof the Branch-and-Cut algorithms, and which is included in the most\neffective packages designed for the solution of\ninteger programming\nproblems. But perhaps even more impressive than his scientific\ncontributions is the story of a remarkable life, told in his\nautobiography [", { "type": "Cite", "target": "bib-bib1", "content": [ "1" ] }, "]. Egon Balas was born in what is now Romania to a\nHungarian family. In 1942, he joined the underground Hungarian Communist Party.\nTwo years later he was arrested by the Hungarian fascist\nauthorities, escaping after a few months. In 1952, he was again\narrested, this time by the Romanian communist government, and put in\nsolitary confinement for two years. In 1966, after his release, he left\nRomania with his family and\nimmigrated to the United States in 1967,\nwhere he continued his stellar academic career." ] }, { "type": "Heading", "id": "Sx5", "depth": 1, "content": [ "Other memories" ] }, { "type": "Paragraph", "id": "Sx5.p1", "content": [ "Of course, as past EURO conferences are recalled, it is not necessarily\nthe enjoyment of meeting colleagues and learning from presentations and\ndiscussions that\nspring\nfirst to mind. For many, the memories are of\nother activities that form part of the conference experience. On arrival\nat the dinner at the 2001 conference in Rotterdam, for instance, we\nfound a conference T-shirt in distinctive\nDutch orange placed on\nthe back of our chairs. Before we left, we were persuaded to wear them\nand sing the specially composed song “OR Forever” to the tune of “We\nare the Champions.”" ] }, { "type": "Paragraph", "id": "Sx5.p2", "content": [ "Another memorable occasion was the welcome reception at the 2006\nconference in Iceland held at the Blue Lagoon. Swimming together in the\nwarm water gave a different perspective on the other conferees. The\nwelcome event for the EURO 2018 meeting in Valencia featured very loud\nfirecrackers in a display typical of the Valencian community, though\nthese fireworks did not have much visual appeal. However, this was\ncertainly not the case with the firework display following the\nconference dinner: a stunning display lit up the night sky over the\nimpressive architecture\nof Valencia’s City of Arts and Sciences." ] }, { "type": "Paragraph", "id": "Sx5.p3", "content": [ "Great memories. I wonder what EURO 33 will have in store." ] }, { "type": "Paragraph", "id": "authorinfo", "content": [ "\nGraham Rand retired as a senior lecturer in\noperational research\nat Lancaster University, UK in 2016. He has been\ncouncil member and\ntwice\nconference chairman for the British Operational Research Society\nand was editor of the Journal of the Operational Research Society for\nsix years from\n1991 to 1996. He was founding editor of the Society’s\nmagazine, Impact (2014–2022). For the International Federation of\nOperational Research Societies (IFORS) he was\nvice-president (1998–2000)\nand has been editor of both International Abstracts in Operations\nResearch (1980–1991) and International Transactions in Operational\nResearch (2000–2005). He was editor of the proceedings of the IFORS\nConference held in Buenos Aires in 1987, and\nchairman of the Program\nCommittee for the IFORS Conference held in Athens in 1990. For the\nEuropean Association of Operational Research Societies he was chairman\nof the Gold Medal jury in 1995 and member of the Organising Committee\nfor the\n15th conference in Barcelona in 1997. He was\npresident of Omega Rho, the international\nhonour society for\noperational research in 2012–2014.\n", { "type": "Link", "target": "mailto:g.rand@lancaster.ac.uk", "content": [ "g.rand@lancaster.ac.uk" ] } ] } ] }