Operational Research Society
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The Operational Research Society (ORS), also known as The OR Society, is an international
learned society A learned society (; also learned academy, scholarly society, or academic association) is an organization that exists to promote an discipline (academia), academic discipline, profession, or a group of related disciplines such as the arts and s ...
in the field of
operational research Operations research ( en-GB, operational research) (U.S. Air Force Specialty Code: Operations Analysis), often shortened to the initialism OR, is a discipline that deals with the development and application of analytical methods to improve decis ...
(OR), with more than 3,100 members (2021). It has its headquarters in
Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...
,
England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
.


History

The OR Society was created in April 1948 as the Operational Research Club, becoming the OR Society in 1953. It is the world's oldest-established learned society catering to the OR profession and one of the largest in the world, with members in 53 countries. A full history of the OR Society can be found on the OR Society website.OR Society_History: http://www.theorsociety.com/Pages/Society/SocietyHistory.aspx Founding members of the OR society included:
Charles F. Goodeve Sir Charles Frederick Goodeve (21 February 1904 – 7 April 1980) was a Canadian chemist and pioneer in operations research. During World War II, he was instrumental in developing the hedgehog (weapon), "hedgehog" antisubmarine warfare weapon and ...
,
Patrick Blackett Patrick Maynard Stuart Blackett, Baron Blackett (18 November 1897 – 13 July 1974) was a British experimental physicist known for his work on cloud chambers, cosmic rays, and paleomagnetism, winning the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1948. ...
, and Charles Tizard.


Governance

The OR Society is
registered charity A charitable organization or charity is an organization whose primary objectives are philanthropy and social well-being (e.g. educational, religious or other activities serving the public interest or common good). The legal definition of a ch ...
number 313713 and also a company limited by guarantee (Company number 00663819). Its charitable objectives are: *the advancement of knowledge and interest in OR. *the advancement of education in OR. The management of the society is overseen by a General Council, consisting of up to 36 members. Its affairs are managed by a board, consisting of five officers elected by the membership, including the President, the immediate Past President or the President Elect, two vice presidents, an Honorary Treasurer, and up to six members of the General Council.http://www.theorsociety.com/Pages/Society/Constitution.aspx The current president is Professor Edmund Burke. Previous presidents have included Sir Owen Wansbrough-Jones,
Maurice Kendall Sir Maurice George Kendall, FBA (6 September 1907 – 29 March 1983) was a prominent British statistician. The Kendall tau rank correlation is named after him. Education and early life Maurice Kendall was born in Kettering, Northampton ...
,
John Giffard, 3rd Earl of Halsbury John Anthony Hardinge Giffard, 3rd Earl of Halsbury FRS (4 June 1908 – 14 January 2000), was a British crossbencher peer and scientist. Halsbury succeeded to the title in 1943. Early life Giffard was educated at Ludgrove School (where a s ...
,
George Alfred Barnard George Alfred Barnard (23 September 1915 – 9 August 2002) was a British statistician known particularly for his work on the foundations of statistics and on quality control. Biography George Barnard was born in Walthamstow, London ...
, and K. D. Tocher.


Publications

The society publishes the ''
Journal of the Operational Research Society The ''Journal of the Operational Research Society'' is a peer-reviewed academic journal covering operations research. It is an official journal of The Operational Research Society and has been in existence since 1950. It publishes full length case- ...
,
Knowledge Management Research and Practice ''Knowledge Management Research & Practice (KMRP)'' is a Peer review, peer-reviewed academic journal covering all aspects of Knowledge management, managing knowledge, organisational learning, intellectual capital and knowledge economics. It is an o ...
, Journal of Simulation,
European Journal of Information Systems European, or Europeans, or Europeneans, may refer to: In general * ''European'', an adjective referring to something of, from, or related to Europe ** Ethnic groups in Europe ** Demographics of Europe ** European cuisine, the cuisines of Europe a ...
, O.R. Insight, Health Systems'', ''Journal of Business Analytics'' and ''Inside O.R.'' (a monthly news
magazine A magazine is a periodical publication, generally published on a regular schedule (often weekly or monthly), containing a variety of content. They are generally financed by advertising, purchase price, prepaid subscriptions, or by a combinatio ...
). The society's publisher is
Taylor & Francis Taylor & Francis Group is an international company originating in England that publishes books and academic journals. Its parts include Taylor & Francis, Routledge, F1000 (publisher), F1000 Research or Dovepress. It is a division of Informa ...
.


Training courses

The OR Society organises a number of O.R. and Analytics based courses to allow O.R. professionals (and others) to gain appropriate skills for their careers. These courses cover O.R. methodology such as system dynamics, simulation, soft systems, web analytics, data-mining; other useful tools such as VBA and Excel; and consultancy skills. These are generally short courses, between one and two days.


Conferences

The OR Society organises several conferences each year to promote the use of O.R. and for attendees to exchange ideas. These conferences include: *The "O.R. Conference" held annually, usually lasting for 3 days and covers all aspects of O.R. *The “New To O.R. Conference” (formerly known as The "Young O.R. Conference") held every two years, giving those with 10 or less years experience of working in O.R. an opportunity to meet, present on and discuss different O.R. disciplines. The conference lasts for 3 days and covers all topics in O.R. *Several one- to two-day conferences in more specialist areas including, Simulation workshop(s), Knowledge Management Conferences, Intelligent Management Systems in Operations, and analytics.


Subgroups

The OR society has two sorts of subgroups: Regional Societies and Special Interest Groups.


Regional Societies

The OR Society has a number of regional societies which enable members to promote O.R. and allow them to build contacts with other operational researchers working in their (or related) area(s) and to expand their knowledge in O.R. The current regional societies include East Midlands, London & South East, Midland, North East, North West, Scotland, South Wales, Southern, Western, Yorkshire & Humberside. These regional societies organise meetings, works visits and other events.


Career Days

The OR Society organises an annual Career Day in November for employers to recruit graduates and those who are interested in work in O.R.


Interaction with other bodies

The OR Society works with a number of other bodies, to achieve common aims, including (amongst others): *
International Federation of Operational Research Societies The International Federation of Operational Research Societies (IFORS) is an umbrella organization for national operations research societies of over 45 countries from four geographical regions: Asia Pacific, Europe, North America, and South Americ ...
, an umbrella organisation for 45 plus O.R. societies from different countries across the world. *
Association of European Operational Research Societies The Association of European Operational Research Societies (EURO) is a regional grouping within the International Federation of Operational Research Societies (IFORS) whose aim is to promote Operational Research throughout Europe. It was establishe ...
, (a regional grouping within the
International Federation of Operational Research Societies The International Federation of Operational Research Societies (IFORS) is an umbrella organization for national operations research societies of over 45 countries from four geographical regions: Asia Pacific, Europe, North America, and South Americ ...
(IFORS)). * The Council for Mathematical Sciences. This council provides advice to government, education funding committees (such as ESPRC) on mathematical matters including education and policy, and brings together mathematicians with stakeholders in mathematics to explore issues and solutions. The council includes The O.R. Society, the Institute of Mathematics and its Applications, The Royal Statistical Society, The London Mathematical Society and the Edinburgh Mathematical Society.


Awards

To promote and disseminate O.R. knowledge and working practices the OR Society gives awards (medals, prizes and grants). These awards include (but are not limited to): *The Beale Medal - for sustained contribution to O.R. *The President’s Medal – for the best account of O.R. practice given at the Society’s annual conference *The PhD Prize - most distinguished body of research leading to the award of a doctorate in the field of O.R. *Scholarships to enable distinguished contributors to present their work at the IFORS Triennial Conference *Donald Hicks Scholarships for young researchers and practitioners *The May Hicks awards for student projects *The Simpson Award for young researchers and practitioners *The Lyn Thomas Impact Medal - awarded to the academic or research which best demonstrates novelty and real-world impact, backed up by evidence


See also

*
List of mathematical societies This article provides a list of mathematical societies by country. International mathematical societies * African Mathematical Union * Circolo Matematico di Palermo * European Mathematical Society * Foundations of Computational Mathematics * Inter ...
*
Council for the Mathematical Sciences The Council for the Mathematical Sciences (CMS) is an organisation that represents all types of British mathematicians at a national level. It is not a professional institution, but a collaboration of them. History It was established in 2001 by ...


References


External links

*
Catalogue of the ORS archives
held at the
Modern Records Centre, University of Warwick The Modern Records Centre (MRC) is the specialist archive service of the University of Warwick in Coventry, England, located adjacent to the Central Campus Library. It was established in October 1973 and holds the world's largest archive collecti ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Operational Research Society 1948 establishments in the United Kingdom Mathematical societies Organisations based in Birmingham, West Midlands Organizations established in 1948