EPF webinars are organized monthly and free, follow the EPF Eventbrite page to be notified when booking is live and get updates on the upcoming webinars.
Previous webinars:
EPF webinars are organized monthly and free, follow the EPF Eventbrite page to be notified when booking is live and get updates on the upcoming webinars.
Previous webinars:
Speaker: Martina Fischetti, tenure-track researcher at the University of Seville, Spain
3 OCTOBER 2025 WEBINAR RECORDING
About the speaker:
Martina Fischetti is a tenure-track researcher at the University of Seville, Spain. She holds M.Sc. degrees from the University of Padova (March 2014) and the University of Aalborg (June 2014) in Automation Engineering. In March 2018, she finished her Industrial PhD in OR at the Technical University of Denmark in collaboration with Vattenfall (the lead energy company in North Europe). Her PhD thesis was titled Mathematical Programming Models and Algorithms for Offshore Wind Park Design. Her PhD work on the optimization of wind farm design and cable routing has been awarded various international prizes, such as the Best Industrial PhD from Innovation Fund Denmark (2019), EURO Doctoral Dissertation Award (2019), Glover-Klingman Prize (2018), AIRO Best Application Paper award (2018), the Best Student Paper Award ICORES (2017), and finalist positions at the EURO Excellence in Practice award (2018) and the prestigious INFORMS Franz Edelman award (2019). She was also selected as a role model for young women in OR by the EURO WISDOM forum in 2021. After her PhD, she worked in industry (lead engineer in Vattenfall BA Wind, specializing in OR) and in government institutions (at the Joint Research Center of the European Commission in Seville, Spain, where she applied Operations Research to European transport challenges).
Abstract:
Machine Learning models are increasingly used in businesses to detect faults and anomalies in complex systems. In this work, we take this approach a step further: beyond merely detecting anomalies, we aim to identify the optimal control strategy that restores the system to a safe state with minimal disruption. We frame this challenge as a counterfactual problem: given a Machine Learning model that classifies system states as either “good” or “anomalous,” our goal is to determine the minimal adjustment to the system’s control variables (i.e., its current status) that is necessary to return it to the “good” state. To achieve this, we leverage a mathematical model that finds the optimal
counterfactual solution while respecting system-specific constraints. Notably, most counterfactual analysis in the literature focuses on individual cases where a person seeks to alter their status relative to a decision made by a classifier—such as for loan approval or medical diagnosis. Our work addresses a fundamentally different challenge: optimizing counterfactuals for a complex energy system, specifically an offshore wind turbine oil-type transformer. This application not only advances counterfactual optimization in a new domain but also opens avenues for broader research in this area. Our tests on real-world data provided by our industrial partner show that our methodology easily adapts to user preferences and brings savings in the order of 3 million euros per year in a typical farm.
EURO Practitioners’ Forum past and planned activities are available to the Forum members, as well as the wider public.
Visit the website and register as a member for free, to get the regular updates on all activities: EPF Member registration page. The recordings and details from previous webinars are also available on this website. Follow the Forum LinkedIN group and LinkedIN page, and feel free to get in touch.
Speaker: Fred Gardi, Ph.D., founder & CEO, Hexaly
Abstract:
Hexaly is a new kind of global optimization solver. During this webinar, you will learn what makes Hexaly different from traditional Mixed Integer Linear Programming (MILP) and Constraint Programming (CP) solvers like Gurobi and OR-Tools. We will explain the Hexaly difference regarding modeling features and the algorithmic techniques it embeds. Finally, we will illustrate Hexaly’s unique performance on problems like routing, scheduling, packing, and others arising in supply chain and workforce optimization.
About the speaker:
Fred Gardi is an Operations Research expert with 25 years of experience bridging research and industry applications. He founded Hexaly in 2012 to provide the market with a new kind of mathematical optimization solver. Before that, he worked for 10 years delivering OR solutions in various industries like manufacturing, transportation, airports, telecom, advertising, banking, and energy. He holds a Ph.D. in Computer Science and has won several awards in Operations Research.
EURO Practitioners’ Forum past and planned activities are available to the Forum members, as well as the wider public.
Visit the website and register as a member for free, to get the regular updates on all activities: EPF Member registration page. The recordings and details from previous webinars are also available on this website. Follow the Forum on Eventbrite, X, LinkedIN group and LinkedIN page, and feel free to contact us.
Speaker: Matthias Als, Lead Data Scientist, ECCO Data & AI
Abstract:
This webinar presents the concept of DecisionOps, a systematic approach for developing and maintaining Operations Research (OR) algorithm software, ensuring transparency and reliability throughout the development process. Utilizing their experiences from ECCO, a global leather goods retailer with a comprehensive supply chain, the speaker describes how ECCO has leveraged this approach to optimize their supply chain operations through the development of the Intelligent Auto Replenishment and Omni-Channel Fulfillment solutions. The webinar provides a walk-through of the DecisionOps development cycle, from the initial research and development stages through to the productionalized solution, and finally, the crucial stage of continuous feedback. Looking ahead, the speaker shares ECCO’s future plans for OR projects leveraging DecisionOps. By sharing ECCO’s experiences and future plans, this webinar offers inspiration for businesses seeking to enhance their OR algorithm software development processes.
About the speaker:
Matthias Als is a Lead Data Scientist in ECCO. For more than 3 years in ECCO, Matthias has built automated decision systems especially for inventory management problems combining the power of both machine learning and operations research. Matthias holds a MSc degree in computer science from the IT University of Copenhagen. Since April 2024, Matthias is also on the board of the Danish Operations Research Society, DORS.
13 JUNE 2025 WEBINAR RECORDING
Speaker: Alex Fleischer, Optimization Expert (IBM)
Trying to solve puzzles, practitioners can train themselves on OR techniques. (and other techniques)Puzzles are good ways for large and small companies to have OR practitioners from academia and consulting have a look at their specific issues. (ROADEF / Euro challenges)
Puzzles can help challenge students to show motivation and skills.
Why puzzles are very interesting with regards to equivalent computational challenges ?
We need to map real world concepts to mathematical concepts and that’s useful! They tell a story so they’re very easy to share and explain.
Kaggle challenges are part of the buzz around data science and here I’ll mention other public challenges with examples:The IBM Ponder this challenge, the Decision Management challenge, and, not to forget, the “”Comité International des Jeux Mathématiques”.
And I will challenge the audience with regards to deciding if challenges are good training paths for OR consulting and, also, if real-world business OR helps practitioners get better at challenges.
I will also share some hybrid use of optimization and generative AI.
EURO Practitioners’ Forum past and planned activities are available to the Forum members, as well as the wider public.
Visit the website and register as a member for free, to get the regular updates on all activities: EPF Member registration page. The recordings and details from previous webinars are also available on this website. Follow the Forum on X and LinkedIN , and feel free to get in touch.
Speaker: Dr. Alessio Trivella, Assistant Professor of Operations Research, University of Twente
In recent years, the Circular Economy has gained increasing attention from both academia and practice as a sustainable approach to resource management. However, the application of Operations Research (OR) methodologies to circular economy challenges has been relatively limited.
This seminar presents insights from the Horizon Europe project “IS2H4C: Industrial Symbiosis to Hubs for Circularity” (2024-2028), which aims to advance the concept of Hubs for Circularity (H4Cs) in four regions across Europe. H4Cs are innovative systems that go beyond industrial symbiosis networks by incorporating not only industrial clusters but also the surrounding urban and rural areas into a circular ecosystem. This shift to a more inclusive model presents unique challenges for resource allocation, energy management, and symbiotic matchmaking—areas where OR tools can play an important role.
We will explore early-stage work within the project, where OR techniques such as integer programming, stochastic optimization, and reinforcement learning are being applied to optimize resource flows within an H4C, manage its energy system, and facilitate industrial symbiosis. The ultimate goal is to integrate these decision-support tools in a digital collaboration platform to be used by the hubs in the project and beyond.
7 MARCH 2025 WEBINAR RECORDING
EURO Practitioners’ Forum past and planned activities are available to the Forum members, as well as the wider public.
Visit the website and register as a member for free, to get the regular updates on all activities: EPF Member registration page. The recordings and details from previous webinars are also available on this website. Follow the Forum on X and LinkedIN , and feel free to get in touch.
Speaker: Willem-Jan van Hoeve, Carnegie Mellon University
Over the last decade, decision diagram-based optimization has emerged as a novel and innovative approach to solving discrete optimization problems. This presentation provides an overview of this methodology, focusing on three computational paradigms: (1) stand-alone decision diagram-based solvers, (2) integration into constraint programming, and (3) integration into linear and integer programming. Applications include graph theoretic problems, scheduling, and vehicle routing. In particular, combining decision diagrams with network flow theory—via a process called `column elimination’—has resolved previously unsolved benchmark instances for problems such as graph multi-coloring, vehicle routing with time windows, and pickup-and-delivery with time windows. These advancements highlight the potential of decision diagram-based optimization as a powerful tool for addressing complex optimization challenges across domains.
About the speaker:
Willem-Jan van Hoeve is the Carnegie Bosch Professor of Operations Research at the Tepper School of Business, Carnegie Mellon University. His research focuses on developing new methodologies for mathematical optimization with applications to network design, scheduling, vehicle routing, data mining, and others. He made notable contributions to the areas of constraint and integer programming, and most recently pioneered the field of decision diagrams for optimization. Van Hoeve’s research has been funded by the National Science Foundation, the Office of Naval Research, and two Google Faculty Research Awards. He has consulted for a variety of companies including FedEx Ground, Exxon Mobil, PNC Bank, Bosch/Siemens, and Charter Steel, as well as a number of non-profit organizations. Van Hoeve is the recipient of the INFORMS Computing Society Harvey J. Greenberg Research Award, the Tepper School’s MBA Teaching Award (twice) and MSBA Teaching Award, and several best paper awards. His academic service includes the Board of Directors of the INFORMS Computing Society, Chairperson of the INFORMS Student Competition Committee, the Steering Committee of CPAIOR conference series, and the Executive Committee of the Association for Constraint Programming. Van Hoeve is currently Associate Editor of the INFORMS Journal on Computing, Associate Editor of Operations Research, and Associate Editor of Artificial Intelligence.
7 FEBRUARY 2025 WEBINAR RECORDING
EURO Practitioners’ Forum past and planned activities are available to the Forum members, as well as the wider public.
Visit the website and register as a member for free, to get the regular updates on all activities: EPF Member registration page. The recordings and details from previous webinars are also available on this website.
Follow the Forum on Twitter and LinkedIN , and feel free to get in touch.
Speaker: Franco Peschiera, PhD, Baobab soluciones
In the last decade, the cloud has motivated many business in OR to offer their optimization services through REST APIs. From modellers to solver suppliers, each platform provides access to the owner’s product. Most of the times this access is tied to the use of the product.
In combinatorial optimization there is no silver-bullet (or free lunch), each solution method (MIP model, CP model, meta-heuristic, add-hoc heuristic, etc.) is suited to solve different problems. Only offering a limited range of solution methods risks losing the power to solve some problem efficiently.
Finally, except a few exceptions (VRP, TSP), most problems do not have a clear data interface that is standardized. This makes it hard to benchmark different approaches to a given problem.
To address these problems (vendor lock, no-free-lunch, lack of standardization), Cornflow was created as a free (as in freedom) problem-agnostic and solver-agnostic deployment server for optimization problems. It hosts problems as flexible data-structures (json schemas) and solution methods as code (usually python code but not exclusively). This allows full customization of problems and their solution methods. For example a VRP-like problem can be solved with Concorde, a CP-SAT model, column-generation with gurobi or a 2-opt heuristic. While a Nurse-Rostering-like problem can be solved with a traditional MIP model, Timefold or some clever matheuristic.
We believe that by keeping the deployment server open, we will make it easier for problem providers (i.e., industry) and solution providers (i.e., academia) to build on top of each other’s work and collaborate more easily.
About the speaker:
Franco Peschiera is an engineer, a programmer and a scientist. He loves solving puzzles, organizing stuff and customer service. During his free (and not-so-free) time he’s a father, a cyclist and a professional skeptic.
Franco has a double degree in industrial engineering from the PUCP (Lima) and UPM (Madrid) universities and a PhD in Industrial Engineering from ISAE-SUPAERO (Toulouse). He founded a successful OR software (baobab soluciones) company based in Madrid where he worked 10 years as various roles, including project leader, chief technical officer, and consultant in several optimization projects in the car, aerospace, oil and pharmaceutic industries, among many others.
He also founded a yet-to-be-succesful clothing-rental company based in Lima/Rome (HackPacking), is the proud maintainer of the PuLP mathematical modelling library and maintains several other open source tools for Operations Research. You can find him in: LinkedIn and github.
17 JANUARY 2025 WEBINAR RECORDING
EURO Practitioners’ Forum past and planned activities are available to the Forum members, as well as the wider public.
Visit the website and register as a member for free, to get the regular updates on all activities: EPF Member registration page. The recordings and details from previous webinars are also available on this website.
Follow the Forum on Twitter and LinkedIN , and feel free to get in touch.
Speakers: Sander Van Aken & Myriam Thömmes (Flix SE)
Flix has rapidly become a global player in the long-distance passenger transportation market, operating in 44 different countries across 4 continents with brands as FlixBus, FlixTrain, Greyhound (US) and Kamil Koc (Turkey). Being a travel-tech company at heart, we harness the power of ML and OR to tackle the most complex business challenges. In this talk, we will first give a brief overview of the business problems we are addressing with ML and OR solutions. We’ll then deep dive into one specific network planning use case to showcase how we deal with the real-world complexity of our global business model, and how we turn this into our advantage to deliver pragmatic OR solutions. Beyond the methodological part, we illustrate how approaching OR product development as a multi-disciplinary collaboration forms a key ingredient to success. Finally, we give some insight how we continuously iterate on both problem and solution space to deliver actual business value.
6 DECEMBER 2024 WEBINAR RECORDING
EURO Practitioners’ Forum past and planned activities are available to the Forum members, as well as the wider public.
Visit the website and register as a member for free, to get the regular updates on all activities: EPF Member registration page. The recordings and details from previous webinars are also available on this website.
Follow the Forum on Twitter and LinkedIN , and feel free to get in touch.
Speaker: Vincent Gosselin, Co-founder of Taipy
In the Python ecosystem, numerous packages are available to:
Yet, over 85% of Data Science Pilots fail to move beyond the pilot phase and into production.
In this tutorial, we will showcase how Taipy empowers you to rapidly develop comprehensive Decision Support Systems in just a few hours.
After exploring Taipy’s intuitive low-code and no-code GUI creation features, we’ll dive into scenario management with real-world industry examples.
Our aim is to facilitate the faster and smoother adoption of data science and OR solutions for end users.
Feedback and potential collaborations welcome.
8 NOVEMBER 2024 WEBINAR RECORDING
EURO Practitioners’ Forum past and planned activities are available to the Forum members, as well as the wider public.
Visit the website and register as a member for free, to get the regular updates on all activities: EPF Member registration page. The recordings and details from previous webinars are also available on this website.
Follow the Forum on Twitter and LinkedIN , and feel free to get in touch.