Prof. Dr. Anita Schöbel has been President of the »Association of European Operational Research Societies« (EURO) since January 1, 2023. After her election in summer 2021, she was able to prepare for her term as »President Elect« for one year. We interviewed her about her tenure so far.
First and foremost, I learned a lot during my tenure. My predecessor, Prof. Marc Seveaux, who is now »Past President«, took me everywhere with him, virtually and in real life, so that I got a good impression of what tasks arise over the year.
I have also already initialized two things: In 2025, the EURO will be 50 years old, and we want to honor that, among other things with a collection of scientific articles. We plan to publish articles by renowned experts on topics such as »50 years of OR in healthcare«, »50 years of robust optimization«, and »50 years of OR in mobility«. We also want to present the diversity of our society in a magazine.
My goal is to make the field of »Operations Research« and both EURO and our national societies more visible: in other disciplines, in society, in politics and in business. Our methods support many highly relevant questions: How to distribute energy? We also tackle challenges in medicine, logistics, planning future mobility, just to name a few. Collaboration with other disciplines can also be strengthened. There are interfaces with algorithmics, numerics, discrete mathematics, or many areas of economics, among others.
Here, too, the 50th anniversary of the EURO fits perfectly: This is a great occasion to talk about operations research, to publish appropriate articles, or to invite scientists from other fields and the presidents of the European societies of related disciplines.
The EURO organizes a large conference most years, often attended by over 4,000 participants. We support various journals on operations research, award prestigious research prizes, support PhD students through summer and winter schools, and regularly exchange scientific ideas in over 30 discipline-related working groups. We also promote equality and diversity in science as well as junior scientists and organize exchanges with practitioners.
We implement the numerous tasks together in the EURO »Executive Committee«. In addition to me as President, it includes the Past President, four Vice-Presidents, our Secretary and our Treasurer. And we have a wonderful manager who provides great support. It is a great pleasure to advance Operations Research with a dedicated team.
Fraunhofer Institute for Industrial Mathematics ITWM