This year has also seen the second of the WORAN Land Lectures, the first named lecture of the Society to celebrate a female pioneer of OR. The inaugural lecture last November was online and took the form of a ‘fireside chat’ between Professor Sally Brailsford of WORAN and Professor Carol Mundell, President of the Science Council. The online theme has continued this year and WORAN’s second Land Lecture took place on the 10th October with Theresa Chambers of WORAN in conversation with Sue Ferns, former President of the Trades Union Congress (TUC) about the issues currently confronting women in the scientific workplace.
The theme of the ‘Past, Present and Future of OR” will continue with this year’s Blackett Lecture on the 7th December which will again be a physical event at the Royal Society in London, with Dr Roger Forder, formerly of the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory and Paul Clarke, former Chief Technology Officer at Ocado, who will be giving their individual perspectives on where OR has come from and where it might be going to.
We are also starting to refine next year’s programme, with a highlight being the return of the New to OR conference, aimed at those with ten or fewer years of experience in OR. The last of these conferences was held in 2019, before the pandemic and our 75th anniversary seems an excellent opportunity to re-start these conferences, which are all about the Future of OR. This will be a great opportunity for those new to the profession to build their networks in a friendly and welcoming environment. The conference will be taking place towards the end of June next year and will be a one-day event in a convenient location in Central London.