"Nothing in the world takes place without optimization, and there is no doubt that all aspects of the world that have a rational basis can be explained by optimization methods", Leonhard Euler (1744).
Centred around the Operational Research and Optimization research group in the School of Mathematics at the University of Edinburgh, the Edinburgh Research Group in Optimization (ERGO) is a loose association of researchers at the University of Edinburgh's Management School, Institute for Energy Systems, and the Agriculture/IERM department, together with the Optimization group at the University of Dundee, and the Numerical Analysis groups at the Oxford University Computing Laboratory and the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory.
ERGO also has links with Bioparametrics, Edinburgh Petroleum Services, Format International, France Télécom R&D, Yahoo!, SAS, Intel and Stochastic Solutions.
The main focus of the group is on mathematical and computing aspects of optimization. It has world-leading expertise in the solution of large sparse linear and quadratic problems by two of the core technologies in optimization - the simplex method and interior point methods. The group also has interests in nonlinear and global optimization, decomposition methods, parallel computing, industrial applications of optimization, and stochastic optimization. There is other expertise in simulation and stochastic areas of operational research.
The group interacts with academics in Italy, Norway, China, France, Spain, Turkey and the UK. Two of the visiting professors, Roger Fletcher and Nick Gould, are world leaders in continuous optimization.
Researchers from the OR Group have been invited to give plenary addresses at several major optimization conferences, to join international committees of several conferences, to organise specialised sessions/mini-workshops at these conferences, and to be on assessment panels for European grants.
See the ERGO preprints series page for current preprints, technical reports and recent publications.
The group has a strong experience in computational software. More information, background material and download links are in the ERGO software page.
The group meets regularly for seminars.
Staff in the Operational Research and Optimization group have been awarded several prizes in recent years.
The people and research page lists the research interests of the Staff members, and it is a good starting point for finding information on PhD topics and opportunities.
For additional information and on-line applications to the Operational Research and Optimization group, see also the postgraduate prospectus.
We have started enrolling for the 2011/12 Operational Research MSc. For information see the Edinburgh OR MSc pages.
