Jessica Rodriguez-Pereira, a postdoctoral researcher at the UPF Department of Economics and Business and of the Barcelona GSE and member of the Business Analytics Research Group (BARG), has been selected by the YoungWomen4OR initiative as one of the twelve top young emerging researchers in the field of operational research in Europe, in the framework of the EURO WISDOM Forum.

Jessica Rodriguez-Pereira is among the twelve young researchers selected by EURO WISDOM.

The UPF researcher has been chosen from some thirty candidates, along with eleven other young people from universities in Portugal, Italy, Austria, Denmark, the UK, France and Germany. EURO WISDOM has assessed their work in the field of operational research (OR), a discipline that focuses on the use of mathematical, statistical and algorithmic models to support decision-making.

A budding academic career in operational research

Jessica Rodriguez-Pereira holds a PhD in Statistics and Operational Research from the Polytechnic University of Catalonia (2018) with her thesis titled “New models and algorithms for several families of Arc Routing Problems”, supervised by Elena Fernández and Gilbert Laporte. She joined UPF in 2019, where she teaches applied optimization techniques, quantitative methods for decision-making, and operations management on the bachelor’s degrees in International Business Economics (IBE) and Business Management and Administration (ADE).

Her research interests focus on transport and logistics, mobility, location and network design, humanitarian logistics, health and social care and rural development. Among other articles, she has recently published “Health Care Needs and Services for Elder and Disabled Population: Findings from a Barcelona Study” in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health.

She was granted the class of 2017-2018 UPC special doctoral award for Sciences and has been a finalist of the Eurekathon 2020 Challenging Data for Zero Hunger, in which she participated with the BARG@UPF team, and is to announce the winners on 14 November.

WISDOM, an environment to foster operational research among young women

WISDOM (Women in Society: Doing Operational Research and Management Science), in which Jessica Rodriguez-Pereira has been honoured, is a forum within the framework of the EURO (Association of European Operational Research Societies), which aims to support, empower and encourage participation in the field of operational research and management.

In particular, WISDOM seeks to promote the backing, networking and mentoring of women in the early stages of their careers. In this context, YoungWomen4OR aims to boost the community of emerging young women who work in this field, from both academia and industry.

Over the next twelve months, WISDOM will individually present the twelve young women selected by YoungWomen4OR and the research they are conducting.