Author: Michael O'Sullivan

ORSNZ AGM: Wednesday 28 November 2018

ORSNZ is holding its Annual General Meeting during the upcoming ORSNZ conference on Wednesday the 28th of November from 12:20pm.

The agenda for the meeting is:

  1. Apologies (to secretary@orsnz.org.nz);
  2. Minutes of the previous AGM;
  3. Matters arising from the minutes;
  4. President’s report;
  5. Honorary Treasurer’s report and financial statements;
  6. Update on Special Interest Groups;
  7. Update on Website / Communications;
  8. Sponsorship of Prizes;
  9. Future Conferences;
  10. Election of officers and auditor;
  11. Other business.

If you cannot attend the meeting, you can assign a proxy to vote on your behalf using the 2nd page of this form. (So long as the form is emailed to secretary@orsnz.org.nz by Wednesday morning, that is fine.)

Hans Daellenbach Prize Event for Prof Vicky Mabin

By Mike O’Sullivan, ORSNZ President:

It was my pleasure to fly to Wellington to present Prof Vicky Mabin with her Hans Daellenbach Prize. A/Prof Bob Cavana organised an excellent event at which Vicky’s colleagues and students, alongside the Victoria University of Wellington Provost Professor Wendy Larner and local ORSNZ members, honoured Vicky’s distinguished and pioneering career. Special thanks to Bob, Tony Downward (who was responsible for the framed prize in the photos), Andrea Raith, Rosie Read (the ORSNZ Wellington Region contact) and other members of the prize panel (Grant Read and Golbon Zakeri).

My initial impression of Vicky was of a (slightly intimidating) leader of OR in New Zealand. Any discussion of OR in New Zealand at Auckland would inevitably end with “we should talk to Grant (Read at Canterbury), Vicky (at VUW), and Les (Foulds at Waikato)”. I was fortunate at the ORSNZ conference in Christchurch in 2015 to get stuck looking for a taxi with Vicky and Sarah Marshall. In the ensuing conversation I got to know Vicky a little and gained an increased understanding and appreciation of her work. Since then I have enjoyed our discussions on OR and the Theory of Constraints and my experience in OR consultancy over the past 5+ years has convinced me that Vicky’s “soft OR” has a vital part to play if we, as OR practitioners, are successful in embedding best-practice decision making in organisations throughout NZ and worldwide.

Vicky’s colleagues and students were generous in their praise and admiration of Vicky, who responded with an engaging, illuminating acceptance speech (that only increased my interest in collecting stories about the history of the ORSNZ!). Congratulations and well done Prof Vicky Mabin, Hans Daellenbach Prize recipient for 2017!

The full citation for Vicky’s prize is here: https://orsnz2023.oomph.co.nz/Prizes/VickyMabin2017/Prof%20Vicky%20Mabin%20-%20Citation%20for%20Hans%20Daellenbach%20Award.pdf

The Victoria University of Wellington article on the event is here: https://www.victoria.ac.nz/vbs/about/news/1715544-professor-vicky-mabin-receives-orsnz-hans-daellenbach-prize

ORSNZ Annual General Meeting 2018

ORSNZ is holding its Annual General Meeting during the upcoming ORSNZ conference on Wednesday the 28th of November from 12:30pm.

The tentative agenda for the meeting is:

  1. Apologies (to secretary@orsnz.org.nz);
  2. Minutes of the previous AGM;
  3. Matters arising from the minutes;
  4. President’s report;
  5. Honorary Treasurer’s report and financial statements;
  6. Update on Special Interest Groups;
  7. Update on Website / Communications;
  8. Sponsorship of Prizes;
  9. Future Conferences;
  10. Election of officers and auditor;
  11. Other business.

Please send any additional items through to secretary@orsnz.org.nz by Monday 19 November, along any documentation that you would like to have circulated to members.

2018 ORSNZ Conference Prizes

Abstract Submission

The deadline for abstracts for the upcoming 2018 Joint NZSA + ORSNZ conference (27-29 November at Massey University, Palmerston North) must be submitted by Monday October 1, 2018. The submission details and formatting requirements can be found here.

NZSA is managing the submission process, and there will be no extension to this deadline.

Young Practitioners’ Prize

OR practitioners and students who are within 5 years of graduation on the first day of the conference (27 November) are invited to compete for $1000 of prizes in the ORSNZ Young Practitioners’ Prize competition. When registering for the conference, competitors should request that their paper be entered for the YPP. Note that a full paper, following these guidelines, must be submitted to ORSNZ by November 15 in order enter the YPP. For further details about the YPP, see here.

The 2018 Young Practitioners’ Prize is sponsored by Suez Smart Solutions. Anyone who enters the YPP is also eligible to attend the conference dinner free-of-charge (you do not need to purchase a dinner ticket). The conference dinner has been sponsored by Harmonic Analytics & Engineering Science.

John A. George Memorial Prize (JAG)

JAG PrizeYoung Practitioners may also optionally submit your paper / presentation for consideration for the JAG prize. This prize is awarded annually for the best application of OR for improving lives. Entries are particularly sought in areas such as health, education, social welfare, economic development, or environmental protection, but may be in any application area.

Entrants should explain how their work could contribute to improving the quality of people’s lives, particularly those who may otherwise be vulnerable or disadvantaged, now, or in the future?

2018 Joint NZSA / ORSNZ Conference – deadlines

This is a reminder that the abstract submission deadline for the 2018 Joint NZSA / ORSNZ Conference is Monday 1 October 2018. The guidelines for the submission process are available here.

This conference is being held at Massey University’s Manawatu Campus from Tuesday 27 – Friday 30 November (note that the ORSNZ sessions will finish on Thursday).

We are particularly keen for presentations on agritech, health and energy; however invite abstracts from any field of Operations Research or Analytics. If your abstract is accepted you need to register for the conference by Thursday November 1.

 

Survey: Special sessions in the upcoming conference

We are considering running several sessions on specific topics at the upcoming conference (being held at Massey University in Palmerston North from midday Tuesday 27 November to Thursday 29 November 2018). The topics that we are thinking about are:

  • energy and natural resources;
  • agri-tech and primary industries; and
  • healthcare.

In order to assist with our planning, both in terms of whether people can contribute presentations or simply wish to attend such a session, we would appreciate it if you could complete this short survey.

2018 Joint NZSA and ORSNZ Conference

The New Zealand Statistical Association (NZSA) and the Operations Research Society of New Zealand (ORSNZ) are holding a joint conference hosted by Massey University at their Manawatu campus in 2018. This conference incorporates both the 69th Annual NZSA Conference and the 52nd annual ORSNZ Conference.

The conference presentations and other events will be held from midday Tuesday 27th November to Friday 30th November 2018. However, the ORSNZ sessions will be completed by midday Thursday, followed by an Analytics Forum event on Thursday afternoon (details to be confirmed).

Plenary Speakers

The following plenary speakers have been confirmed for the conference:

Stefan Nickel –  Karlsruhe Institute of Technology;
Ilze Ziedins – University of Auckland;
Alan Welsh – Australian National University; and
Jean Yang – University of Sydney.

You can find additional details here.

Call for Papers

On August 1 2018, you will be able to register and submit an abstract for the 2018 Joint NZSA and ORSNZ Conference. We welcome presentations on any aspect of operations research, analytics or management science, especially practical applications.

Submissions from students and practitioners are greatly encouraged. Abstracts should be submitted using the format outlined here.

Oral presentations will be 20 minutes in length with additional time for questions. All abstracts will be considered by the conference committee, and the authors notified of their acceptance or otherwise.

Note that the abstract submission deadline is October 1. You may additionally submit a full paper to ORSNZ, by November 15, to have it included in the online proceedings; please follow these guidelines.

Registration

Early bird registration closes on November 1. Please see this page for details about the registration fees.

Note that the ORSNZ and NZSA are hosting separate dinners, and there is a separate (additional) fee for each.

ORSNZ Young Practitioners’ Prize (YPP)

OR practitioners and students who are within 5 years of graduation on the first day of the conference (27 November) are invited to compete for $1000 of prizes in the ORSNZ Young Practitioners’ Prize competition. When registering for the conference, competitors should request that their paper be entered for the YPP. Note that a full paper, following these guidelines, must be submitted to ORSNZ by November 15 in order enter the YPP. For further details about the YPP, see here.

Amino – utilising blockchain to provide a global, decentralised infrastructure for sharing computing resources

Amino is a blockchain application that connects idle computers together in order to utilize their computing resources. We are setting up research lab in partnership with the University of Auckland and will provide opportunities for both employment and funded research in the following areas:

  • Artificial intelligence for trading cryptocurrencies, i.e., using BigData and AI technologies to develop an approach for trading in cryptocurrencies;
  • Internet security;
  • Blockchain;
  • Distributed cloud computing, in particular methods for the “logistics” behind distributed cloud computing aka cloud orchestration.

In this seminar we will present the ideas behind Amino as well as answer questions about employment and research opportunities.

Presenters: Felix Xia (Amino) and Dr Michael O’Sullivan (Department of Engineering Science, University of Auckland)
When: TOMORROW, Thursday 7 June 2018, 1-2pm
Where: Rooom 201, 70 Syomnds St

ORSNZ Special Interest Groups

At the ORSNZ AGM in December Special Interest Groups (SIGs) were approved. The following SIGs have been established:

Each of these SIGs has its own website, and you can opt-in to receiving news and information about upcoming events. (Generally, all news and events from ORSNZ and the SIGs that you subscribe to will be integrated into a single email.)

Signing up for News and Events

To sign up for the ORSNZ mailing list click here; however, if you’re already signed up, you can ‘update your preferences’ by clicking the link at the bottom of any email you’ve received from ORSNZ. (By checking ‘ORSNZ’ you will receive notifications of news and events posted on the main ORSNZ website, and you can select to receive news from as many SIGs as you like.)

Upcoming events

Note that the ENR SIG is supporting an event with a seminar by Prof. Michael Ferris in Wellington on March 21. You can find more detail about the event here.

Also there are two seminars in Auckland next week, the first on March 7: Queueing Models for Healthcare Capacity Planning by Peter T. Vanberkel, and the second on March 9: Computational Modelling and Data Science by Simon Dunstall.

Applied Math Practices (AMP21) Events

Prof. Kenneth Chelst and Prof. Thomas G. Edwards from Wayne State University in Detroit Michigan are hosting a series of free professional development workshops for high school teachers on mathematical modelling and algebra.

You can find out more details about, and register for the events at the links below. The final date for registrations differ for each event.

Auckland
Mathematical Modelling – 22 February
Percentages and Algebra – 23 February

Wellington
Mathematical Modelling – 28 February
Percentages and Algebra – 2 March

Christchurch
Percentages and Algebra – 8 March

You can also find out more about Kenneth and Thomas here.