{"id":664,"date":"2026-01-20T22:00:43","date_gmt":"2026-01-20T22:00:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.euro-online.org\/websites\/dso\/?post_type=tribe_events&#038;p=664"},"modified":"2026-01-20T22:02:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-20T22:02:09","slug":"2nd-euro-phd-school-data-science-meets-combinatorial-optimisation-2","status":"publish","type":"tribe_events","link":"https:\/\/www.euro-online.org\/websites\/dso\/event\/2nd-euro-phd-school-data-science-meets-combinatorial-optimisation-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Second EURO PhD School Data Science Meets Combinatorial Optimisation"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The <strong>Second EURO PhD School Data Science Meets Combinatorial Optimisation<\/strong> took place at Eindhoven University of Technology, in september 2025<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>Lecturers<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li class=\"zfr3Q CDt4Ke \" dir=\"ltr\"><strong><span class=\"C9DxTc \">Prof. Carola Doerr <\/span><\/strong><span class=\"C9DxTc \">Sorbonne University, France <\/span><em><span class=\"C9DxTc \">Black-Box Optimization<\/span><\/em><\/li>\n<li class=\"zfr3Q CDt4Ke \" dir=\"ltr\"><strong><span class=\"C9DxTc \">Prof. <\/span><span class=\"C9DxTc \">Kevin Tierney <\/span><\/strong><span class=\"C9DxTc \">Bielefeld University, Germany <\/span><em><span class=\"C9DxTc \">Deep Reinforcement Learning for Vehicle Routing Problems<\/span><\/em><\/li>\n<li class=\"zfr3Q CDt4Ke \" dir=\"ltr\"><strong><span class=\"C9DxTc \">Prof. Kate Smith-Miles <\/span><\/strong><span class=\"C9DxTc \">University of Melbourne, Australia <\/span><em><span class=\"C9DxTc \">Instance Space Analysis<\/span><\/em><\/li>\n<li><b>Yingqian Zhang, Sicco Verver\u00a0<\/b>Eindhoven University of Technology, Delft University of Technology\u00a0<i>Optimization in Machine Learning<\/i><\/li>\n<li><b>Kate Smith-Miles\u00a0<\/b>University of Melbourne\u00a0<i>Instance Space Analysis<\/i><\/li>\n<li class=\"zfr3Q CDt4Ke \" dir=\"ltr\"><strong><span class=\"C9DxTc \">Prof. Pieter Smet <\/span><\/strong><span class=\"C9DxTc \">KU Leuven, Belgium <\/span><em><span class=\"C9DxTc \">Uncertainty in Optimization<\/span><\/em><\/li>\n<li class=\"zfr3Q CDt4Ke \" dir=\"ltr\"><strong><span class=\"C9DxTc \">Prof. <\/span><span class=\"C9DxTc \">Sicco Verwer <\/span><\/strong><span class=\"C9DxTc \">Delft University of Technology, Netherlands <\/span><em><span class=\"C9DxTc \">Learning Optimal, Robust Decision Trees<\/span><\/em><\/li>\n<li><strong>Symposium Day\u00a0<\/strong>with<\/li>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: none\">\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Prof. Ilker Birbil<\/strong>, University of Amsterdam<\/li>\n<li><strong>Prof. Zaharah Bukhsh<\/strong> TU Eindhoven<\/li>\n<li><strong>Prof. Kate Smith-Miles<\/strong> University of Melbourne<\/li>\n<li><strong>Prof. Michael R\u00f6mer<\/strong> Bielefeld University<\/li>\n<li><strong>Prof. Neil Yorke-Smith<\/strong> TU Delft<\/li>\n<li><strong>Prof. Yaoxin Wu<\/strong> TU Eindhoven<\/li>\n<li><strong>Dr. Pavel Troubil<\/strong> Dassault Systemes<\/li>\n<li><strong>Cynthia Luijkx<\/strong> ORTEC<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong><em>Organizers<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li class=\"zfr3Q CDt4Ke \" dir=\"ltr\"><strong><span class=\"C9DxTc \">Yingqian Zhang <\/span><\/strong><span class=\"C9DxTc \">Eindhoven University of Technology <\/span><span class=\"C9DxTc \">Scientific chair &amp; organizer, Executive committee member EWG\/DSO<\/span><\/li>\n<li><strong>Yi-Ming Yong, Igor Smit, Xia Jiang,<\/strong> <span class=\"C9DxTc \">Eindhoven University of Technology, <\/span><span class=\"C9DxTc \">Local organizers<\/span><\/li>\n<li><b>Patrick de Causmaecker\u00a0<\/b>KU Leuven\u00a0<i>Scientific chair \/ coordinator EWG\/DSO<\/i><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div class=\"CjVfdc\"><span class=\"gBYvFf C9DxTc \">Algorithms for combinatorial optimization feature aspects of data science in various respects. Combinatorial optimization problems (COPs) are mostly NP-hard, and this complexity reflects itself in complicated\u00a0 and large solution spaces. Combinatorial optimization problems often originate from real-world problems and this real-world context has an impact on the set of instances likely to ask for a solution which influences\u00a0 the applicability of specific algorithms. NP-hard problems often allow fast solutions for classes of instances while other classes are much harder to solve. Mapping these classes onto a space of instances provides insight and increases understanding in the problem as well as on the applicability of specific algorithms. In recent years, many advanced machine learning (ML) techniques have been developed to solve combinatorial optimization problems (COPs) directly or to aid algorithms in reaching good solutions more quickly. In addition, optimization techniques have been used to help build more transparent and fair machine learning models. This school will focus on topics and techniques that leverage data, machine learning, and optimization methods, taught by experts from OR and ML.\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n<div id=\"h.dllyf9aswva8\" class=\"CobnVe yMxPgf aP9Z7e\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"CjVfdc\">\n<div class=\"PPhIP rviiZ\"><\/div>\n<p><span class=\"gBYvFf C9DxTc \">On each day of the PhD school, one lecturer, often assisted by a post-doc, will teach a state-of-the art topic, providing both theory and hands-on training and exercises. In addition to those teaching sessions, PhD students will get the opportunity to present and discuss their work. Moreover, there will be several invited talks on new research of machine learning and optimization. Last but not least, during joint meals and social activities, there will be plenty of room for socializing and networking. In addition, a symposium on &#8220;<\/span><span class=\"gBYvFf C9DxTc \">AI<\/span><span class=\"gBYvFf C9DxTc \"> meets Optimi<\/span><span class=\"gBYvFf C9DxTc \">z<\/span><span class=\"gBYvFf C9DxTc \">ation&#8221; will be held during the school.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Second EURO PhD School Data Science Meets Combinatorial Optimisation took place at Eindhoven University of Technology, in september 2025 Lecturers Prof. Carola Doerr Sorbonne University, France Black-Box Optimization Prof. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":34,"featured_media":0,"template":"","meta":{"_tribe_events_status":"","_tribe_events_status_reason":"","footnotes":""},"tags":[],"tribe_events_cat":[],"class_list":["post-664","tribe_events","type-tribe_events","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.euro-online.org\/websites\/dso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tribe_events\/664"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.euro-online.org\/websites\/dso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tribe_events"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.euro-online.org\/websites\/dso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/tribe_events"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.euro-online.org\/websites\/dso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/34"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.euro-online.org\/websites\/dso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tribe_events\/664\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":669,"href":"https:\/\/www.euro-online.org\/websites\/dso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tribe_events\/664\/revisions\/669"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.euro-online.org\/websites\/dso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=664"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.euro-online.org\/websites\/dso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=664"},{"taxonomy":"tribe_events_cat","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.euro-online.org\/websites\/dso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tribe_events_cat?post=664"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}