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LANCS ADVISORY BOARDS 28 – 29 November 2011

WIMCS. LANCS ADVISORY BOARDS 28 – 29 November 2011. /. Cardiff University: Resume and Future Plans. Jeff Griffiths Professor of Operational Research. The story so far. Prior to 2006:. 1 Professor, 2 Lecturers in OR, with typically 3 PhD students at any one time.

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LANCS ADVISORY BOARDS 28 – 29 November 2011

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  1. WIMCS LANCS ADVISORY BOARDS 28 – 29 November 2011 / Cardiff University: Resume and Future Plans Jeff Griffiths Professor of Operational Research

  2. The story so far Prior to 2006: 1 Professor, 2 Lecturers in OR, with typically 3 PhD students at any one time 2006/ 2007: Wales Institute for Mathematical and Computational Sciences (WIMCS) Funding agreed by WAG / HEFCW: £5.5 million over 5 year period (Cardiff £2.3 million) Appointment of a Professor, and a Research Fellow in Operational Research 2008: LANCS initiative launched under the EPSRC Science & Innovation Exercise Cardiff’s share, including the university’s matching contribution, amounted to £3.3 million. This enabled us to appoint 4 Lecturers and 4 Post Docs over the initial three year period. In addition, we received funding for 5 PhD students. One of our notable achievements has been in attracting very high quality staff from other mathematical disciplines, and integrating them fully into the Operational Research family. Two lecturers have been recruited from the realms of Pure Mathematics, and one from the ranks of Computer Science (a Royal Society Fellowship).

  3. The story continues • Cardiff has made significant additional investment in OR positions over and above the LANCS award. We now number 23 in the OR Group, and hence have a critical mass. • The complement now is: 2 Professors, 2 Senior Lecturers, 6 Lecturers, 3 Postdocs, 10 PhD students. We have built UK capacity - all members of staff are UK born and bred (bar one), and are highly unlikely to leave UK. • We have a new generation of outstanding young OR researchers – with potential to be leaders in the field in the years to come. • We hold monthly internal workshops, enabling everyone to keep abreast of the projects being undertaken within the Group. • The increase in staffing levels has enabled us to launch a new MSc course in OR. Although only in its second year, we believe it already has the largest cohort of UK students of any OR MSc in UK (nearly 50 UK students). NONE OF THIS WOULD HAVE BEEN POSSIBLE WITHOUT THE SUPPORT OF THE LANCS INITIATIVE

  4. The story continues • The LANCS Healthcare Cluster is led from Cardiff, and the majority of staff in the Cardiff OR Group are working on health-related projects, often in collaboration with external agencies or with other LANCS institutions. • The Healthcare Cluster has held six major workshops, rotating around the four institutions. In most of these there were contributions from practitioners (clinicians, hospital managers, NHS and Government representatives, etc.) • We have been successful in obtaining significant levels of external funding: • METSIM: EPSRC funded Jointly with Southampton University and the UK Meteorological Office, and supported by NHS Trusts in Cardiff and Southampton. • STAFF: Funded by Cardiff & Vale LHB • REHAB: Funded by National Rehabilitation Unit for Wales • HIPS: Funded by Cardiff & Vale LHB • THEATRE: Funded by Cardiff and Vale LHB • WORKFORCE: Funded by Royal College of Anaesthetists and NHS Trusts NONE OF THIS WOULD HAVE BEEN POSSIBLE WITHOUT THE SUPPORT OF THE LANCS INITIATIVE

  5. Collaborations • Introduction of novel bed management procedures in several Critical Care Units in hospitals throughout Wales. • Investigations in conjunction with the Welsh Ambulance Service Trust to improve response times. • Cardiff, Lancaster, and Southampton are collaborating on a project to investigate non-stationary queueing systems. Although this topic has application in many research areas, our particular interest is in its application to healthcare modelling. “Theory through Practice”. • Wide range of new research links with universities in Europe, North America, New Zealand, and Australia, particularly as part of our engagement with ORAHS (Operational Research Applied to Health Services). Cardiff hosted the 37th Annual ORAHS Conference this summer. NONE OF THIS WOULD HAVE BEEN POSSIBLE WITHOUT THE SUPPORT OF THE LANCS INITIATIVE

  6. Wales Institute for Mathematical and Computational Sciences (WIMCS) WIMCS (Wales Institute of Mathematical and Computational Sciences) has been set up by the Welsh Assembly Government through the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales.  Objectives are to: • Enhance the standing of mathematics and computation in Wales • Foster links with industry, commerce and business • Generate substantial research funding • Provide a forum for education and public awareness of the mathematical sciences This initiative has created a further £9 million in external funding, and has substantially improved and deepened the scientific cooperation between mathematicians across Wales.

  7. The Institute comprises several research clusters, covering a wide range of subject areas. LANCS has played a major role in the Operational Research/Statistics Cluster. The LANCS/WIMCS Cluster has initiated many collaborative links: Public Health Wales, NHS Wales ONS WAG Health Solutions Wales National Leadership and Innovation Agency for Healthcare Informing Healthcare Wales Cancer Registry South West Wales Cancer care network Welsh Ambulance Service Trust This work has led to several awards and prizes: WAG Fellowship ONS Innovation Prize 2011 Lloyds Bank OR Prize for best student performance in OR

  8. Health Modelling Centre Cymru (Wales) is a pan-Wales initiative, supported by WIMCS and LANCS. The co-directors are Paul Harper (Cardiff) and Perumal Nithiarasu (Swansea). The aim is to: • build on the current expertise in the field of healthcare across Wales, • foster collaboration across different research areas, • create a vibrant and effective interface between the mathematical research community, the medical research community, NHS, the healthcare industry, and the Welsh Assembly Government.

  9. We expect to: • contribute to the science base to facilitate innovative individualised clinical approaches, • lead to strategies for more effective and efficient healthcare and service delivery across Wales and beyond. Since its launch in 2010, the centre has held various events: • clinically themed workshops on topics such as Cardiovascular, Cancer, Respiratory Medicine, Primary Care and Epidemiology, • methodologically themed workshops on topics such as computational methods, system dynamics, etc. NONE OF THIS WOULD HAVE BEEN POSSIBLE WITHOUT THE SUPPORT OF THE LANCS INITIATIVE

  10. The Future • We need to address the “mathematical underpinning” requirements of the LANCS Initiative more assiduously. “Theory into Practice”. • We need to be alert for greater collaboration opportunities both within and outside LANCS. • We must continually update our plans relating to future external funding opportunities. • We should try to ensure that there are adequate career opportunities for our Phd students and our postdocs. • We must not be content with our successes or rest on our laurels. WE NEED MORE OF THE SAME!

  11. WIMCS Thanks for listening! I can be contacted on griffiths@cardiff.ac.uk LANCS ADVISORY BOARDS 28 – 29 November 2011 Jeff Griffiths Professor of Operational Research

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