New to OR at the Annual Conference

New to OR will take place as a one-day event during the Annual Conference

Hosted at the University of Nottingham.
10th September 2026

The New to OR Stream is designed to support professionals who are relatively new to the field of Operational Research and Data Science. This will provide an accessible and welcoming space to learn, share and connect.

Day Programme

Lightning Talks

What I Wish I Had Known When I Started Out in the Profession

 This session features a series of short lightning talks from OR professionals, each sharing a key lesson they wish they had known when starting out. Drawing on experiences from industry, consultancy, and academia, speakers will offer honest reflections on the realities of working in OR, common misconceptions, and early career challenges.

Designed to be practical and relatable, the session provides concise takeaways for those new to the profession or considering their next steps.

Professional Development Talks 

Presenting with Confidence: Robyn Brass (GORS)

Your work will have the best impact if you can present it well. This talk will give you hints and tips on how to make sure you can capture an audience's attention, make sure they remember your key message, and don't fall into the common traps people fall into. You will be given tools on how to prepare, plan and deliver your presentations. Perfect for those starting their career (but also a refresher for others!), this should put you in a great position to showcase your work in work, your studies, and maybe at a future OR Society event.

From framing to impact: setting up Operational Research projects for success: Katie Gronow 

This talk draws on over 25 years’ experience applying Operational Research across government to explore how OR projects can be set up for success. Using a project-based structure, it reflects on stages that are equally relevant to applied research or commissioned analytical work: understanding the wider situation, defining the right research or analytical questions, designing and delivering analysis, and supporting impact and decision making.

The talk is aimed at Operational Research practitioners and academics in the early part of their career and will include practical examples and ideas to reflect on in the context of their own OR research or analytical projects.

Workshop: Data Visualization – presenting your analysis for maximum impact: Rebecca Fry, Gretta Bunn, Lucy Thompson (Sirius Analysis)                                                

 Data is at the heart of Operational Analysis and the need to convey a large amount of information in an easy, digestible way is essential as we deal with increasingly complex problems. This workshop will explore what makes a good visualisation, how to create engaging visualisations and how to tailor insights to different customers.

During this workshop we will present our top tips and will encourage attendees to provide constructive comments on a range of data visualisation, before you get to give it a go yourselves.

This interactive workshop tackles an extremely broad subject area with limited time, so we will be led by your interactions and hopefully a rich conversation. It is open to all, and participants are invited to join in and ask questions as we work through example data and visualisations.

Becca, Gretta, and Lucy bring over 15 years of combined experience delivering impactful Operational Analysis to Defence customers. Frustrated by unclear, and uninspiring visualisations, they developed this workshop to equip analysts with practical tools for creating clear and compelling data visualisations. The workshop has since been successfully delivered at both ISMOR and the NATO OR&A conferences in 2025.

Panel Discussion: Evolving Skills in Operational Research and Analytics: implications for education, careers and recruitment

The discussion will examine whether the skills, capabilities, and professional expectations associated with OR and analytics roles have changed in recent years, including the influence of advances in digital tools, automation, AI, and changing organisational contexts.

Panellists will reflect on what these shifts mean for:

• how universities design and deliver OR and analytics education,
• how students and early‑career practitioners prepare for entry into the profession, and
• how organisations articulate, assess, and recruit for these roles.

The session aims to foster constructive dialogue across education and practice, and to identify areas of alignment, tension, and opportunity in the future development of OR and analytics talent.

Please note: This event is part of the Annual Conference and attendees will need to register:

Register Here

You can either purchase a one day conference ticket for Thursday 10th September or a full conference ticket which also covers attendance on Tuesday 8th and Wednesday 9th September.