INFORMS Open Forum

Stream "OR and Ethics"

Dear colleague,

We like to welcome you to the 33^rd Conference of the Association of European Operational Research Societies (EURO) in Copenhagen, Denmark,

30 June-3 July 2024  in the stream "OR and Ethics".       

(Please note:   we also invite to a Satellite / Special Event of various OR disciplines at 29 June, Saturday afternoon 2-5 pm.)

We have four Sessions, each organized by one of the Stream Organizers. 

The 4 sessions of the Stream "OR and Ethics" (EURO 33 Copenhagen 2024):

Just and Ethical Sustainability Transitions       Session Organizer:  Dr. Rossen Kazakov  (rkazakov@strateggo.com)       Code  28

Sustainability transitions are complex and multidimensional processes that involve changes in socio-technical, socioeconomical and sociopolitical systems, institutions, cultures, and practices. However, not all transitions are equally desirable or beneficial for different groups of people, economic actors and the environment. Therefore, it is important to consider the ethical and just implications of sustainability transitions, in relation to sustainable development goals and environmental, social and governance principles. In this session, we invite papers exploring both theoretical and empirical aspects of just and ethical sustainability transitions, drawing on insights from various OR disciplines and practical applications. We will also discuss the challenges and opportunities for fostering more inclusive, fair, and responsible transitions in different contexts.

Ethics and OR and Societal complexity      Session Organizer:  Prof. Dr. Dorien De Tombe  (detombe@nosmo.nl)       Code  7ce04a33

Ethics and Methodology of Societal Complexity focuses on methodologies, methods and tools for analyzing, structuring, guiding and evaluating on an ethical complex societal problems. Complex societal problems are often policy problems that can occur in many fields, like in the Agro-industry (water ground and air pollution, fowl and chicken plague), in the Transportation sector, in Healthcare sector (Malaria, HIV/Aids, Flu and Corona Pandemic), in Water affairs and in Economy (credit crisis). The field focuses on handling local safety problems like large city issues and natural disasters as flood and hurricanes and global safety problems like war, pandemics and terrorism. Although many of these issues have different causes, they have so much in common that they can be approached for handling the policy in the same way by using the Compram methodology, a methodology based on the use of experts and actors and the voice of the people in a democratic way.

Complex societal problems, as such, are unstructured, dynamical, constantly changing and have a large impact on society on macro, meso and micro level. Handling complex societal problems needs a special multi-disciplinary approach. The content knowledge comes from content experts. The process knowledge comes from facilitators. The power is in the hand of actors. The attention of the research of Methodology of Societal Complexity is on the methods and tools facilitators need for guiding these kinds of problems. The facilitators use methodologies specially created for the field of societal problems combined with methods and insights derived from fields like medicine, law, economics, societal sciences, methodology, mathematics, computer sciences, technology, engineering sciences, socio-cybernetic, chaos theory and operational research combined with content knowledge. Often a combination of methods is needed as is prescribed by the Compram methodology for handling complex societal problems.

We prefer to get research focusing on methodology for handling complex ethical problems.

Public Service Management Analytics       Session Organizer:  Prof. Dr. Cathal MacSwiney Brugha  (Cathal.Brugha@ucd.ie)      Code  9399799c

This session proposes and promotes Public Service Management Analytics, together and in its parts.  These are: Analytics: a technical approach to analysing problems and their solutions.  Management: of people by people, in the pursuit of putting solutions into practice.  Service: addressing the challenges of climate change, global criminal gangs, abuses of people and peoples, energy deficits, depletion and destruction of natural resources. And solutions involving the Public, working with the Public, for the benefit of the Public.
I welcome other people to join this session, especially those people that you know, who work with you, and whose interests are closer to the above topic.  Feel free to pass this on to appropriate people.

This session starts with a UNESCO citation: In no other field is the ethical compass more relevant than in artificial intelligence (AI). These general-purpose technologies are re-shaping the way we work, interact, and live. The rapid rise AI has created many opportunities globally, from facilitating healthcare diagnoses to enabling human connections through social media and creating labor efficiencies through automated tasks. Generative AI like language translation or Chat CPT provide additional options, but there are profound ethical concerns on intellectual property rights, inequalities, lack of access or privacy, disinformation and hate. Ethics and analytics support a deeper understanding of complex decisions in political, societal, economical, health or other sciences. Ethics comprises identifying frontier challenges in areas such as neurotechnology, climate engineering, or the internet of things. Be it on genetic research, climate change, or scientific research, the AI-driven benefits should maximize the scientific discoveries, while minimizing downside risks, ensuring they contribute to a more inclusive, sustainable, and peaceful world. Without considering those factors by ethical guardrails, it risks reproducing real world biases and discrimination, fueling divisions and threatening fundamental human rights and freedoms. You are welcome to present your specific contribution on those broad and thrilling fields.

Submission deadline for abstracts is 3 March 2024.  The link to the Abstract Submission System is https://www.euro-online.org/conf/euro33/.

You may submit an abstract in one of your preferred organized sessions by inserting the corresponding Session Code and then putting in your abstract (max. 1500 characters).  

Key dates and Deadlines

Please note following dates and deadlines:

Prof. Dr Dorien DeTombe

Chair EWG Ethics and OR

detombe@nosmo.nl