Operational research in times of crisis: experiences with COVID-19

Abstract

The history of OR began in the times of crisis when scientific research was used to improve military operations. One of the founders of OR, Patrick Blackett,advocated for scientists to advise on matters of strategy and tactics. Since the war, OR has spread into business, government, public services, education, defence,and beyond, improving performance and helping people make evidence-based decisions.Most of the problems OR tackles are messy and complex, often involving considerable uncertainty. ORuses advanced analytics, modelling, problem structuring, simulation, optimization, and data science to determine solutions to problems and practical courses of action. OR is also called the Science of Better because OR aims to improve business, government and society, using models, proposing interventions,implementing them, and determining the actual improvements.COVID-19 represented, and still represents, an unprecedented time of crisis and OR scholars and practitioners have taken an active role in developing models, proposing interventions, and implementing them during this time. In this special issue (SI), we aim to publish rigorous accounts of OR practice in areas such as the interplay between models and judgement and messy and complex problems that may require the combination of one or more methods.

More information

Identifiers

ORCID for Martin Kunc: orcid.org/0000-0002-3411-4052

Catalogue record

Export record

Altmetrics