IIASA at the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS) Annual Meeting 2021

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INFORMS is home to a diverse collection of academic and industry experts in fields including operations research, analytics, management science, economics, behavioral science, statistics, artificial intelligence, data science, applied mathematics, and more. Although its members' work is often highly complex, they are unified under a simple, shared mission: advance and promote the science and technology of decision making to save lives, save money, and solve problems. 

The 2021 INFORMS Annual Meeting presents a unique opportunity to connect and network with the more than 6,500 members, students, prospective employers and employees, and academic and industry experts who comprise the INFORMS community.

Nadejda Komendantova's lecture on “A Multi-Criteria Decision Approach to Pandemics Responses” draws upon work for a recent innovative research project led by researchers from the IIASA CAT group, which is among the three finalists for the Decision Analysis Practice Award. 

The Decision Analysis Society (DAS) and the Society of Decision Professionals (SDP) jointly sponsor the Decision Analysis Practice Award, which is annually bestowed on the best decision analysis application, as judged by a panel of members of both societies. The award includes a cash prize of US$750 as well as assistance in getting the work published in a suitable journal, if the winner so desires. The winner of the Practice Award is also invited to present their work at The Decision Analysis Affinity Group (DAAG) conference the following spring.

The project titled, Mitigating Cognitive and Behavioral Biases during Pandemic Responses: Evidence-based Methodologies for the Development of Epidemic Combating Policies, focused on the development of an integrated decision analytical framework, which includes epidemiological estimations and socioeconomic factors in a multi-criteria multi-stakeholder context. The framework has been applied in Botswana, Jordan, and Romania, and can be used to handle current or future challenges of pandemic situations, as well as of other hazards.

The project team includes IIASA researchers Love Ekenberg, Nadejda Komendantova, and Mats Danielson, all from the Cooperation and Transformative Governance Research Group of the IIASA Advancing Systems Analysis Program, as well as colleagues from the University of Bucharest, Stockholm University, and the University of Jordan.