International Federation of Operational Research Societies

International Federation of Operational Research Societies
Name	International Federation of Operational Research Societies
Formation	1959
Type	International professional association
Headquarters	Rome
Region served	Global
Leader title	President

Contents

International Federation of Operational Research Societies is a global professional association linking national Operational research societies with a mission to advance Operations research and Management science worldwide, fostering collaboration among scholars, practitioners, and policy makers. The federation convenes national bodies from regions including Europe, Asia, Africa, North America, South America, and Oceania to coordinate conferences, publications, and awards that connect communities such as those around INFORMS, The OR Society, CORS, and APORS. It plays a central role in shaping partnerships between institutions like OECD, UNESCO, World Bank, European Commission, and United Nations agencies, promoting methodological advances across applications in sectors involving NASA, European Space Agency, Siemens, and McKinsey & Company.

History

The federation traces origins to post‑World War II initiatives linking societies including Operational Research Society (UK), American Operations Research Society, Société française de recherche opérationnelle, Deutsche Gesellschaft für Operations Research, and Japan Operational Research Society in the context of events like the International Congress of Mathematicians and collaborations with organizations such as Royal Society, Academy of Sciences of the USSR, and National Academy of Sciences (United States). Founding discussions involved figures associated with institutions like RAND Corporation, Bell Labs, MIT, Stanford University, Cambridge University, and Harvard University, and paralleled developments in areas influenced by work from George Dantzig, John von Neumann, Richard Bellman, and Tjalling Koopmans. Over decades the federation expanded alongside regional groups including EURO, ALIO, APORS, NORAM, and AFORS, adapting through milestones such as the Cold War, the European integration process, and the rise of information technology linked to companies like IBM, Microsoft, Intel, and Google.

Programs include capacity building workshops in partnership with World Bank Institute, policy dialogues with United Nations Development Programme, and applied research initiatives with agencies such as European Space Agency and NASA. Educational outreach connects with universities and training centers like INSEAD, London School of Economics, Princeton University, Yale University, Columbia University, Peking University, and University of Melbourne to promote curricula integrating methods from Linear programming and Integer programming developed by researchers associated with F. L. Hitchcock, L. R. Ford Jr., and D. R. Fulkerson. Collaborative projects address disaster response with International Red Cross, supply chain resilience with Walmart and DHL, and public health modeling with World Health Organization, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance.

The federation organizes the triennial IFORS conference and sponsors regional meetings like EURO-k, APORS conference, and NORAM symposia, attracting delegates from institutions such as Cornell University, Princeton University, University of Chicago, Columbia University, Purdue University, University of Michigan, Kyoto University, and Seoul National University. Proceedings and journals are published in collaboration with publishers like Elsevier, Springer, Wiley, and IEEE Press and appear alongside periodicals such as Operations Research, Management Science, European Journal of Operational Research, INFORMS Journal on Computing, and Naval Research Logistics. Special issues and monographs feature contributions from scholars linked to Bell Labs, AT&T, Siemens Research Center, and think tanks like RAND Corporation and Brookings Institution.

The federation administers awards recognizing lifetime achievement, best doctoral thesis, and practice innovation, and coordinates honors with national societies such as INFORMS John von Neumann Theory Prize, Wiley Prize, Edsger W. Dijkstra Prize in Distributed Computing partners, and regional medals like EURO Gold Medal. Recipients include leaders affiliated with George Dantzig, Kurt Gödel Prize nominees, and members of academies such as National Academy of Engineering, Royal Society, Academia Europaea, and Chinese Academy of Sciences, reflecting impact across industries including Boeing, Airbus, HSBC, and Goldman Sachs.

The federation has influenced theory and practice through diffusion of techniques pioneered by researchers linked to Stanford University, Harvard Business School, Carnegie Mellon University, University of Pennsylvania, and Imperial College London, promoting methods such as simulation and queuing theory applied in projects by FedEx, UPS, Procter & Gamble, and Pfizer. Its advocacy has shaped policy using analyses presented to institutions like European Commission, United Nations, World Health Organization, and International Monetary Fund, and informed standards adopted by organizations such as ISO and IEC. The federation’s networks facilitate interdisciplinary work bridging Computer Science groups at MIT CSAIL and UC Berkeley RAD Lab, and economics departments at London School of Economics and University of Chicago, resulting in contributions to transportation planning for agencies like Federal Aviation Administration and Transport for London and to energy systems modeling for utilities like EDF and ExxonMobil.