# 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 established in 1975.

## Overview

EURO is a nonprofit organization domiciled in Switzerland. It aims at the advancement of knowledge, interest and education in Operational Research by appropriate means, particularly by the exchange of information, the holding of meetings and conferences, the publication of books, papers, and journals, the awarding of prizes, and the promotion of early stage talents. The members of EURO are national Operational Research Societies which are full members of International Federation of Operational Research Societies (IFORS) and originate from Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Its affairs are regulated by a Council consisting of one representatives of all its members and an executive committee which constitutes its board of directors.
The current EURO member societies are:
* Austria
* Belarus
* Belgium
* Croatia
* Czech Republic
* Denmark
* Estonia
* Finland
* France
* Germany
* Greece
* Hungary
* Iceland
* Ireland
* Israel
* Italy
* Lithuania
* Netherlands
* Norway
* Poland
* Portugal
* Serbia
* Slovakia
* Slovenia
* South Africa
* Spain
* Sweden
* Switzerland
* Turkey
* Tunisia
* United Kingdom

## Activities

EURO publishes scholarly journals and books about operational research, and organizes international conferences. It also bestows Awards, supports working groups, and organizes educational meetings.

### Publications

EURO publishes 4 scholarly journals:
* European Journal of Operational Research
* EURO Journal on Computational Optimization
* EURO Journal on Decision Processes
* EURO Journal on Transportation and Logistics
and the book series EURO Advanced Tutorials in Operational Research.

### Awards

EURO bestows a number of prizes:
* EURO Gold Medal. The highest distinction within OR in Europe is conferred for an outstanding contribution to the OR science.
* Distinguished Service Award, a recognition of distinguished service to EURO, the Association of European Operational Research Societies and to the profession of OR.
* Excellence in Practice Award, to recognize outstanding accomplishments in the practice of OR.
* Doctoral Dissertation Award, to recognize the OR contributions of PhD students or scientists having less than two years research experience since completing a PhD.
* Prize for OR for the Common Good, to honour outstanding accomplishments of OR for solving social-oriented problems.
* EURO Award for the Best EJOR Papers, to recognize the best papers published in the European Journal of Operational Research.

### Conferences and Meetings

EURO organizes a number of different conferences and events throughout each year:
* The EURO-k Conferences are broadly oriented and can be organized in cooperation with other associations such as INFORMS.
* EURO Mini Conferences have the objective of assembling a limited number of specialists around a specific theme. At most two EURO Mini Conferences can be supported each year.
* EWG Meetings are organized by each EURO Working Group.

### Working Groups and Forums

EURO Working Groups are the organizational framework provided by EURO to groups of researchers and practitioners interested in a specific operational research topic. Each EURO Working Group holds at least one meeting per year, organizes sessions at conferences, publishes special issues of OR journals, and organizes conferences or seminars. The European Working Group on Multiple Criteria Decision Aiding (EWG-MCDA), the European Chapter on Combinatorial Optimization (ECCO), the European Working Group on Vehicle Routing and Logistics (VeRoLog), the EURO Working Group on Locational Analysis EWGLA, the Continuous Optimization Working Group EUROPT, and the European Working Group on Metaheuristics (EU/ME) are among the most active groups.
EURO Forums are groups tasked with progressing a specific initiative that supports the ongoing health and vitality of OR research and practice. A EURO Forum differentiates itself from a EURO Working Group by promoting the health and vitality of OR without tying itself to a specific research domain or methodology. EURO has four forums:
* WISDOM (Women In Society: Doing Operational Research and Management Science)
* EUROYoung
* EURO Practitioners' Forum
* OR Education Forum

### Education

EURO organizes educational meetings throughout each year:
* EURO PhD Schools are an instrument to encourage the organization of post-graduate education initiatives for PhD students under a school format.
* EURO Summer/Winter Institutes provide an opportunity for around 25 early stage researchers to meet for about two weeks. Participants present their material, discuss it with others and with a handful of specially invited senior experts in the field, and finally prepare a paper to be considered for inclusion in a feature issue of an OR publication.

### Past Presidents

* 1975-1978 - Hans-Jürgen Zimmermann
* 1979-1980 - Birger Rapp
* 1981-1982 - Rolfe Tomlinson
* 1983-1984 - Jean-Pierre Brans
* 1985-1986 - Bernard Roy
* 1987-1988 - Dominique de Werra
* 1989-1990 - Jakob Krarup
* 1991-1992 - Jaap Spronk
* 1993-1994 - Maurice Shutler
* 1995-1996 - Paolo Toth
* 1997-1998 - Jan Węglarz
* 1999-2000 - Christoph Schneeweiß
* 2001-2002 - Philippe Vincke
* 2003-2004 - Laureano Escudero
* 2005-2006 - Alexis Tsoukiàs
* 2007-2008 - Martine Labbé
* 2009-2010 - Valerie Belton
* 2011-2012 - M. Grazia Speranza
* 2013-2014 - Gerhard Wäscher
* 2015-2016 - Elena Fernández
* 2017-2018 - Richard Eglese
* 2019-2020 - Immanuel Bomze
* 2021-2022 - Marc Sevaux
* 2023-2024 - Anita Schöbel