Reflecting on 2024, it’s been an incredibly productive year. The publication output has been particularly strong (around 20 papers), with several notable papers appearing in prestigious journals. The collaborative nature of my work remains a key strength, with around 40 unique co-authors contributing to my research in recent years. This extensive network of collaborators brings diverse perspectives and expertise to my projects.
One of the highlights was our contribution to the encyclopedic article “Operational Research: Methods and Applications” in the Journal of the Operational Research Society. This comprehensive 195-page article, featuring 2,196 references and covering 24 methodological areas and 32 application fields, commemorates the journal’s 75th anniversary. It’s a testament to the breadth and depth of our field, and I’m proud to have been part of this collaborative effort involving 82 contributors from 79 institutions worldwide.
Another significant publication was our paper in Transportation Science on demand steering in last-mile delivery with home and pickup point options. This work, co-authored with Galiullina, Mutlu, and Kinable, addresses critical challenges in urban logistics and showcases our ongoing commitment to improving last-mile delivery efficiency.
Looking ahead to 2025, I’m excited about the upcoming graduations of several PhD students. Albina Galiulina, Sara Charaf, and Somayeh Torkaman will complete their studies in the spring, with two more expected in the fall. These bright minds will undoubtedly continue to contribute significantly to our field. Albina Galiulina’s work focuses on demand steering in last-mile delivery, addressing critical challenges in urban logistics with a paper published in Transportation Science on home and pickup point delivery options. Sara Charaf has significantly contributed to solving the two-echelon inventory-routing problem (2E-IRP), developing both a branch-and-price algorithm and a matheuristic approach to optimize supply chain operations. Somayeh Torkaman’s research centers on production-routing problems with price-dependent demand, developing efficient rolling horizon-based heuristics to provide near-optimal solutions for large-scale instances.
I’m particularly excited about a book project I’m co-editing with Sophie Parragh. It features over 25 chapters on transport, logistics, and supply chain models. This comprehensive work promises to be a valuable resource for researchers and practitioners. The transport sector is experiencing rapid growth, driven by economic expansion and diverse needs such as employment, education, and leisure. As economies develop, efficient movement of goods, services, and people becomes crucial, requiring robust infrastructure and diverse transport modes. Aligning transport demand with supply poses significant challenges, as evidenced by extensive research and real-world case studies. This upcoming handbook addresses these challenges by providing a comprehensive overview of quantitative models for transport systems, covering topics from freight to public transport. Each chapter emphasizes accessible modeling techniques to tackle key issues in the field, offering valuable insights for optimizing and improving transport systems.
The first paper of 2025 has already been accepted in the Transportation Research Record, setting a positive tone for the year ahead. With new research projects on the horizon, I am optimistic about future opportunities in 2025 and beyond.
Tom Van Woensel 