Data and Decision Sciences in Action : Proceedings of the Asor/Dors Conference 2018

This book constitutes the proceedings of the Joint 2018 National Conferences of the Australian Society for Operations Research (ASOR) and the Defence Operations Research Symposium (DORS). Offering a fascinating insight into the state of the art in Australian operations research, this book is of great interest to academics and other professional researchers working in operations research and analytics, as well as practitioners addressing strategic planning, operations management, and other data-driven decision-making challenges in the domains of commerce, industry, defence, the environment, humanitarianism, and agriculture. The book comprises 21 papers on topics ranging from methodological advances to case studies, and addresses application domains including supply chains, government services, defence, cybersecurity, healthcare, mining and material processing, agriculture, natural hazards, telecommunications and transportation.

ASOR is the premier professional organization forAustralian academics and practitioners working in optimization and other disciplines related to operations research. The conference was held in Melbourne, Australia, in December 2018.

Prof. Andreas Ernst completed his PhD in network optimisation at the University of Western Australia. He spent two decades working on applied operations research at CSIRO, before becoming a Professor of Operations Research in the School of Mathematics at Monash University and the director of MAXIMA, the Monash Academy for Cross- and Interdisciplinary Mathematical Applications.  His research interests include integer programming, scheduling, meta-heuristics, and hub location, together with applications of these in logistics, mining, and supply chains. He has published over 100 papers in Operations Research and related areas.

Dr. Simon Dunstall is a Principal Research Scientist and a Deputy Research Director at CSIRO Data61, and the current national president of ASOR. Dr. Dunstall is a researcher in risk analytics and optimisation: his most recent work includes the development of infrastructure network planning systems for transport and electricity systems, the application of real options methods to decisions in ecology and energy management, and the development and application of methods for quantifying and managing bushfire/wildfire risks.

Dr. Rodolfo García-Flores is a Research Scientist in CSIRO Data61 and has over 15 years of experience in Operations Research, especially in mathematical programming, data mining, simulation, and multi-agent systems. Since joining CSIRO in 2006, he has participated in various commercial projects, e.g., software development for minimisation of waste in dairy production, the design of beef supply chains, and maximisation of productivity for a multinational tyre manufacturer. Before joining CSIRO, he received his Ph.D. from the University of Leeds in 2003, joined the company Vickers Laboratories, England, as Data Analyst and was an Associate Professor at Autonomous University of Nuevo León, Mexico.

Dr. Marthie Grobler leads the Human Centric Security team in CSIRO’s Data61. Her research, management and consulting experience span multiple continents, national and state government departments, and a variety of domains linked with the digital domain. As a research scientist, her work focuses on applying governance models in the digital space, increasing online risk resilience to increase national level digital literacy, and educating end users about technology and digital empowerment. She is passionate about enhancing people’s ability to use connected technology more powerfully in an ever-connected world. Her focus is on translating cybersecurity skills to a more digestible format that can easily be adopted by technology users. Dr. Grobler is currently appointed Professor of Practice at the Faculty of Science at the University of Johannesburg, South Africa.

Dr. David Marlow is a Science Team Leader and Discipline Leader-Optimisation within the Aerospace Capability Analysis branch of the Joint and Operational Analysis Division in DST Group. He is also the former Vice-President of the Melbourne chapter of ASOR. Dr. Marlow has over 20 years of experience in defence operational analysis and operations research with particular focus on aerospace applications. He has published in the fields of maritime surveillance modelling, aircraft fleet sizing, and fleet management. His current interest is in applying simulation and optimisation techniques to aircraft fleet management and sustainment problems.