A £12m initiative brings together four British universities — Cardiff, Lancaster, Nottingham and Southampton — to develop world-leading work in the field of Operational Research (OR).
The LANCS initiative, supported with a Science and Innovation Award from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), will bring about a significant expansion of the national research base in OR to build new research capacity and help UK industry to compete in the global market.
The discipline of OR uses advanced analytical methods, including mathematical and computer modelling, to arrive at the best solutions to complex problems. It is widely used in healthcare, industry, finance and defence. OR techniques are used, for example, in airport scheduling, road traffic management, educational timetabling, production scheduling, freight logistics and supply chains, and numerous other areas of modern life.
Professor Kevin Glazebrook, Director of the new LANCS centre, said: “The United Kingdom is the home of Operational Research. The LANCS programme is crucial to support the health of the application-oriented research that has been such a strength in the UK, and it will underpin the health of the national research base in this critically important area.
“This far-sighted initiative aims to establish theoretical advances in the field relevant to real applications. In the LANCS initiative, four universities which have been at the forefront of UK research in OR have committed to a major expansion of research capacity in its theoretical foundations, supported by the additional resources available as a result of this current Science and Innovation award.”
EPSRC is keen to maintain the UK’s lead in this field and to build on the existing research base, and has given the grant in the latest round of its Science and Innovation Awards. The overall funding is worth more than £12m, to be shared among the four participating institutions. Of this, £5.4m comes from EPSRC and a further £7m from the universities themselves.
The four universities have already worked together in the creation of NATCOR, another EPSRC-supported initiative aimed at strengthening doctoral training programmes in the mathematics of OR. They have also shown their commitment to the subject by recent decisions to invest substantially in it. Each institution is committed to sustaining the additional capacity from the initiative beyond the five year period funded by EPSRC.
Science and Innovation Awards were introduced by EPSRC in 2005 to support strategically important areas of research. The latest grant will create a new centre of OR activity that will have the critical mass to make substantial progress, stimulating research in the UK and international community, and encouraging innovation in UK business and industry.
The LANCS project leader at The University of Nottingham is Professor Edmund Burke, of the School of Computer Science.
Notes to editors: The University of Nottingham is ranked in the UK's Top 10 and the World's Top 70 universities by the Shanghai Jiao Tong (SJTU) and Times Higher (THES) World University Rankings.
It provides innovative and top quality teaching, undertakes world-changing research, and attracts talented staff and students from 150 nations. Described by The Times as Britain's "only truly global university", it has invested continuously in award-winning campuses in the United Kingdom, China and Malaysia. Twice since 2003 its research and teaching academics have won Nobel Prizes. The University has won the Queen's Award for Enterprise in both 2006 (International Trade) and 2007 (Innovation - School of Pharmacy).
Its students are much in demand from 'blue-chip' employers. Winners of Students in Free Enterprise for three years in succession, and current holder of UK Graduate of the Year, they are accomplished artists, scientists, engineers, entrepreneurs, innovators and fundraisers. Nottingham graduates consistently excel in business, the media, the arts and sport. Undergraduate and postgraduate degree completion rates are amongst the highest in the United Kingdom.
More information is available from Professor Edmund Burke, Head of the School of Computer Science, University of Nottingham, on +44 (0)115 951 4206, edmund.burke@nottingham.ac.uk; or Media Relations Manager Tim Utton in the University’s Communications Office on +44 (0)115 846 8092, tim.utton@nottingham.ac.uk.