Call for IFORS Scholars – ELAVIO 2017

ELAVIO 2017 – Escuela Latinoamericana de Verano en Investigación Operativa  
(Operations Research Summer School for Young Latin American Scholars)
February 24th to March 4th 2017, Buenos Aires and Miramar, Argentina

The Summer School. The first edition of ELAVIO was held in Chile in 1994. Since then, the School has run the event every summer to promote education in operational research among young researchers and graduate students (PhD and Master’s degree levels).

The purpose of ELAVIO is to stimulate new collaborations and encourage the involvement of young people in OR by bringing them up to date on research topics through short courses and plenary conferences. Participants also have the opportunity to present and discuss their works.  At all previous editions of the School, a strong sense of camaraderie developed, solidifying contacts between the members of research groups from different countries.

ELAVIO XXI will be held in 2017 in Argentina from February 24th to March 4th, in the cities of Buenos Aires and Miramar. Located 450 km (280 mi) south of Buenos Aires on the Atlantic coast, Miramar is an attractive tourist destination known for its beautiful beaches and a wide range of cultural and culinary attractions that should significantly enrich the experience for participants. Hosting the event will be the University of Buenos Aires, Argentina’s main centre for scientific and academic activity.

Registration for ELAVIO XXI and the Opening Ceremony will take place on Friday, February 24th at the University, in Buenos Aires City. Various talks and a poster session will also be held that afternoon. The weekend will be free to take in the sights of the city, and on Sunday afternoon a bus chartered by the School will transport invited professors and students to Miramar. Over the following 5 days, a range of mini-courses and tutorials on advanced topics of specific interest will all be held at the Alto Miramar Resort & Spa (http://www.altomiramar.com.ar/site/). Closing Ceremony will take place on Saturday morning, and that afternoon the bus will transport back all the participants to Buenos Aires.

Topics covered by the School include, but are not limited to, the following:

1. Combinatorial optimization and polyhedral theory; linear, nonlinear and integer programming.
2. Graph theory.
3. Metaheuristics and its applications.
4. Discrete, continuous and agent based simulation, stochastic processes and probabilistic models.
5. Applications of operational research to problem solving in areas such as sustainability, health care, logistics, sports, agroindustry, engineering, telecommunications, finance and production, big data.

The School is organized by the University of Buenos Aires (Buenos Aires, Argentina) and sponsored by: CELFI (Centro Latinoamericano de Formación Interdisciplinaria, Ministerio de Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovación Productiva); CONICET (Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas, Ministerio de Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovación Productiva); and IFORS (International Federation of Operational Research Societies).

The Scholarship. IFORS is offering one scholarship for a participant to this event. IFORS will cover the participant’s airfare from his/her country (subject to a maximum
limit) while ELAVIO organizers will provide local transportation, meals and accommodation during the dates of the school.

IFORS requires the applicant:

• To have done work in the fields of interest of the School;
• to be at an early stage of her/his career;
• to present an unpublished work in the poster session;
• to be highly recommended by the advisor/supervisor of her/his work;

Those candidates satisfying the requirements are encouraged to submit their curriculum vitae, an extended abstract (up to 1 page) of the  work to be presented in the poster session, and a recommendation letter by the advisor until November 15th, 2016 to:

IFORS Vice President for ALIO, Prof. Guillermo Durán, gduran@dm.uba.ar.

The selected applicant will be notified by November 30th, 2016. Candidates from developing countries will have an advantage in the selection.

The official languages of the school are English, Spanish, and Portuguese. Participants can make their posters in any of these languages. Short courses and lectures will be given in any of the official languages (with English slides).