The LANCS initiative

The LANCS initiative is a £13 million initiative supported by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) involving the Universities of Nottingham, Cardiff, Lancaster and Southampton to build and maintain national research capacity in foundational Operational Research. It is undertaking a far reaching collaborative research programme of industrial, scientific and public outreach to generate maximum academic, commercial and social impact.

Principal aim

The principal aim is to strengthen and grow theoretical Operational Research in the UK,  with a particular emphasis on deepening our theoretical understanding of complex and uncertain real world problem solving environments.

LANCS Research themes

Research in the LANCS initiative is structured around a number of key research themes. These include:

• Systems to build systems:  will transform the current state-of-the-art in the development of decision support system methodologies
• Heuristic understanding:  aims to underpin the underlying theory concerning the differential effectiveness of alternative approaches to offer deeper general insights

The LANCS initiative will develop novel application solutions in the areas of green logistics, healthcare and transport.