Volunteering Opportunities

We are always looking for passionate individuals to work with The OR Society. It's a fantastic way to show your commitment to the profession and your professional development.

A small staff team provide functions like administrative support and marketing, everything else is managed by volunteers. The different areas are outlined below.

Networks 

Our networks exist to run local events and meetings of interest to its members in the particular region. Each region has a small committee, including a treasurer, secretary and chair, responsible for devising and running the programme of meetings. You could be involved by being part of the committee, giving a talk, or simply by attending one or more of the meetings.

Special Interest Groups 

The  special interest groups, or SIGs, run in a very similar way to the regional networks – except their focus is on a particular sector (such as defence or analytics) or technique area (such as forecasting).  Again, you could help run a SIG, give a talk or simply attend.  And if there doesn’t appear to be a SIG that matches your particular interest, then form one!

Conferences and Other Events 

The Society runs an  annual conference  every year, a  New to OR conference  every two years, a  Simulation Workshop every two years and many other events such as the  Careers Open Day.  All of these events have volunteer committees to run them, teams of stream organisers to help attract the ‘content’ and to help out during the events themselves.  Volunteers are encouraged to come forward with new ideas and plans.

Inside OR News Magazine 

Whilst the Society does employ a part-time journalist to provide material for Inside OR, the magazine’s editor is a volunteer and we encourage as many people as possible to submit articles.  Perhaps you could co-ordinate a series of articles (such as 'OR in my Organisation') or simply tell the readership about your work or an event you’ve attended.

Journals 

Here, volunteers make up the editorial teams running the Society’s journals, and are backed up by a large pool of reviewers who assess the papers that are submitted for publication.  Editorial vacancies are advertised in Inside OR.

Board, General Council & Committees 

The Society’s strategic direction is decided and put into practice by the group of volunteers that make up its board, general council and committees. The committees generally meet three times a year, with other business conducted electronically, and members will take on and execute the various necessary actions from the committee business.  Each year, new committee members are nominated to fill the advertised vacancies, and sit for a term of three years.  The vacancies are advertised in August & September each year.