The paper “Opportunities and challenges in sustainable supply chain: An operations research perspective” authored by researchers Ana Póvoa, Ana Carvalho and Cátia da Silva won the EURO Award de 2020 for the Best EJOR Paper (EABEP), in “Review” category. The award aims at recognizing the best papers published in the European Journal of Operational Research (EJOR), one of the leading journals in the field of operational research.
“We are deeply honoured and happy because this work, which was a true team effort, is an important recognition at international level. This award shows the quality of the work that is done at CEG/ IST, namely in the area of Operations, Logistics and Supply Chain Management – OpLog”, says professor Ana Póvoa on behalf of the team. “This work is not only ours, but of the entire OpLog group, which created the conditions that allowed us to develop and constructively discuss many of the ideas included in this paper”.
Our work addresses the Sustainable Supply Chain Management topic, and the way it has been treated by the scientific community using Operational Research methods. “Supply chains are complex logistical systems that involve many entities – suppliers, producers, retailers, among others – and guarantee the supply of all goods to society”, explains professor Ana Póvoa. “They are therefore very important systems, but also very difficult to manage”, she adds.
The research involved in this study show “how these systems can be built and managed in order to guarantee simultaneously: the satisfaction customers, the profit of the entities involved, the minimization of environmental impacts and the maximization of social impacts, through the aid of operational research methods, which work as tools to support management. In this way, these systems become sustainable, contributing to the well-being of society”, says the Técnico professor.
General criteria for the evaluation of the papers are: the scientific quality of the paper; the originality of the paper; the relevance to Operational Research. “According to the jury, our paper stood out from the others due to the relevance of the topic, the level of innovation, detail and critical analysis, as well as the identification of the most relevant scientific challenges in the area”, shares professor Ana Póvoa.
