EURO Summer and Winter Institutes (ESWI) are an instrument EURO has established for the encouragement of good scientific and social relationships between promising early stage OR scientists in Europe.
The main purpose of each ESWI is to establish in each OR field a network of outstanding people who will continue to work together in the future.
Participation in an ESWI should be regarded as a considerable honour. The main objective of an ESWI is to give a limited number of carefully selected representatives of the next generation a unique opportunity for establishing a personal network and for addressing an international audience and thus to create new research groups around the topic chosen.
The basic idea is that around 25 early stage researchers, who are either PhD students or who have less than two years research experience since completing a PhD can meet for about two weeks. All participants will have an unpublished paper within the theme announced, and will present their material, discuss it with others and with a handful of specially invited senior experts in the field,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.
Up to two ESWI may be organized every year. Each ESWI desirably covers a different theme so that as many early stage scientists as possible will have the opportunity to participate once in their career. The duration of an ESWI is normally between 10 and 14 days. The official language is English.
Every participant gives a well-prepared presentation of her/his paper as a starting point for discussion. Invited experts' lectures can be included in the program, as well as seminars and other research activities conducted by the Scientific Committee.
The organizers are encouraged to prepare a special or feature issue of an OR publication, with a peer-reviewed evaluation process, with a selection of papers prepared and discussed in the ESWI.
The announcement of a EWSI and the call for applications will be disseminated to all EURO member societies and made available on the EURO web site.
Disregarding the senior experts, no one else can participate more than once in his or her lifetime.
To be eligible, a candidate must satisfy the following conditions:
To apply to the ESWI, eligible candidates should submit their curriculum vitae together with their paper to the Scientific Committee of the ESWI.
The Scientific Committee selects and ranks (in the case of more than one accepted from the same country) the candidates and passes their applications to the National Societies for funding decision.
Additionally, up to two candidates can be appointed by IFORS, according to the EURO and IFORS exchange for ESWIs (see guidelines below).
The deadline for admission applications is 4 months before the ESWI starts.
If the travel costs of the participants are not covered by their National Societies, they should be covered by the participants themselves.
All living costs (accommodation, meals, and travel within school activities) should be supported by the ESWI.
Download the application form for the ESWI here (.doc file)
The following items should be considered when submitting an application for the organisation of a EURO Summer/Winter Institute:
Prepare the announcement
A website for the ESWI should be set-up and used as the main source of information dissemination. Large size and/or reduced size posters announcing the ESWI may also be prepared. The announcement should include the definition of the theme and other relevant information, and should be sent to the editors of the EURO and IFORS websites, as well as to all National Society EURO representatives, etc.
Circulate the announcement
Address it directly to potential interested persons in Universities and Research Centers, and to prominent persons working in the field of the Theme in Europe.
Prepare the selection procedure
Each participant has to submit a paper (possibly co-authored). Only the best applications will be selected. Nobody can participate in more than one ESWI. A good balance among countries should be sought.
Prepare a social program
Examples of possible activities are the following:
For the opening day:
For the closing day:
Think about invited speakers
People of the host country, or people being in the host country at the time of the Institute, may be invited. Try to get a good balance between invited speakers tutorials, or other training activities, and students' presentations. Avoid invited speakers requesting too much travel expenses.
Scientific Committee and invited speakers expenses
It is recommended to give free accommodation and board to the speakers and, if possible, a lump sum to cover their travel expenses.
Prepare the Institute Program
Prepare the procedure for the special issue of an OR publication devoted to the Institute
Well in advance select an OR publication with a peer-review evaluation process, contact the editor and negotiate with him/her the publication of a special/feature issue. Run the refereeing process. This special/feature issue should be completed no later than 12 months after the Institute.
Keep the selected participants regularly informed
Be enthusiastic and dynamic.
Believing that OR professionals in the early stage of their careers (within 2 years since acquiring their PhDs) should be supported, EURO and IFORS agreed to exchange early stage researchers in their Institutes. The aim of this cooperation is to reinforce the relations between EURO and IFORS.
The exchange of early stage researchers between EURO and IFORS works both ways:
When called for, EURO or IFORS may opt to send a second candidate to the Institute.
ESWI is an instrument EURO has established for the encouragement of good social and working relationships between promising early stage OR scientists. The official language is English.
According to the Exchange Program, IFORS will send one or two researchers, preferably from a developing country, to ESWI. For the IFORS-sponsored participants, IFORS will cover travel expenses while local costs will be assumed by EURO. IFORS is also responsible for selecting candidates who must meet all the ESWI criteria, specifically that the applicant is an early stage researcher who can present an unpublished paper along the ESWI theme.
The procedure runs as follows:
IFORS Institutes take place in developing countries. Their main purpose is the interaction and interchange of ideas between OR seniors and early stage scholars. Each Institute must comprise at a minimum a full stream of English speaking presentations.
According to the Exchange Program EURO will send one or two early stage researchers from EURO to the Institute. Travel expenses will be covered by EURO while local expenses will be covered by IFORS. EURO is responsible for selecting one or two candidates from EURO countries who must meet all the Institute's criteria (early stage researchers, presentation of an unpublished paper in the relevant topic).
The procedure runs as follows:
The IFORS Vice-President [EURO] will evaluate and rank all the candidates on the basis of the following criteria:
The candidate with the higher score is automatically selected. When appropriate, IFORS and EURO may opt to also award the candidate ranked second.
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