Professor Kevin Glazebrook of the Operational Research division of Lancaster University’s Management School has been awarded the 2013 Beale Medal. The a highly-acclaimed award was issued by the UK’s Operational Research Society in recognition of his initiation of the National Taught Course Centre for Operational Research and his “significant influence” on the development of Operational Research.
The Beale Medal is a highly-acclaimed award for “sustained contribution over many years” in Operational Research. In 2011, Mark Elder, founder of SIMUL8 Corporation and an Alumni member of Lancaster’s faculty of Management Science, was awarded the Beale Medal. In 2006, Professor Peter Checkland, who currently teaches Operational Research at Lancaster University was also awarded the medal.
The Operational Research Society is one of the oldest established academic associations in the UK. Founded in 1953, Operational Research (OR) is a Masters course that focuses on the applications of advanced analytical and mathematical techniques to improve management decision-making. Lancaster University was the pioneer of the discipline and has more than 40 years of experience in running the course.
After completing his doctoral degree in Mathematics and Statistics at Cambridge University, Professor Glazebrook taught at Newcastle University in the department of Mathematics and Statistics until 2001. Following this he began teaching at Cardiff University’s School of Management Science. Professor Glazebrook then finally arrived in Lancaster in 2005 and became Distinguished Professor in OR in 2008.
As well as teaching Masters Students, Professor Glazebrook founded the National Taught Course Centre (NATCOR) in 2006 along with Universities from Nottingham, Warwick, Brunel, Southampton and Cardiff. The project concerned national consortium doctoral training in Operational Research and other Mathematical Sciences. The initiative was started when the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) recognized the lack of researchers in the field. Following its success, NATCOR received funding from the EPSRC in 2011 – the very year that Professor Glazebrook retired as Director of NATCOR.
