The society was created in 1998. Its mission is to encourage the development of operational research and decision support in France, to disseminate OR/DS knowledge and practices in industry, and to promote their teaching in education. Founding members of ROADEF included Denis Bouyssou, Jacques Carlier, Philippe Chrétienne, Stéphane Dauzère-Pérès, Dominique Fortin, Xavier Gandibleux, Nelson Maculan Filho, Ali Ridha Mahjoub, Gérard Plateau, Jean-Charles Pomerol, Marie-Claude Portmann, Christian Proust, Catherine Roucairol, Bernard Roy, as well as some OR/DS research laboratories - LAMIH, Lamsade - and some companies practicing OR/DS - Bouygues, Eurodecision, Gaz de France, SNCF.
Governance
The ROADEF society is managed by a board composed of six officers elected by the members, including the President, a secretary, a treasurer, three vice presidents, plus a special officer in charge of OR promotion and of industrial relations. The current president of ROADEF is Sourour Elloumi. Previous presidents included Frédéric Gardi, Nadia Brauner, Francis Sourd, Olivier Hudry, Jean-Charles Billaut, Marie-Christine Costa, Arnaud Fréville, Denis Bouyssou, Marie-Claude Portmann.
Membership
Currently, the ROADEF society has more than 500 members - individuals and institutions from academia, industry and administration.
Once a year, ROADEF organizes a national conference, attended by about 400 participants. ROADEF also organizes on a regular basis some industrial events to favor exchanges between academics and professionals.
Challenge
Every second year, a challenge is proposed to the OR community. International research teams compete to solve at best a real-world optimization problem provided by a business company. Latest problems were proposed by Air Liquide, SNCF, Google, EDF. The winner of the competition is revealed during the EURO conference.
Awards
The Robert Faure Prize awards an original contribution to the field of Operations Research and Decision Sciences with both theoretical aspects and applications. This prize is given every three years by a jury composed of academics and practitioners.
The Jeune Chercheur Prize awards a young researcher for her/his contribution in Operations Research and Decision Sciences. The prize is awarded each year by a scientific jury during the ROADEF conference.
