Research themes
CENTRAL is a research centre with significant expertise in four areas. We work with the private, public and third sectors to find solutions to problems or questions they face.
CENTRAL is a research centre with significant expertise in four areas. We work with the private, public and third sectors to find solutions to problems or questions they face.
The efficient and safe movement of passengers and goods via air transport is an incredibly important part of the global economy. There has been a rapid increase in demand for air transport services, which existing airport and air-space capacity cannot meet. CENTRAL researchers are focused on finding ways to unlock this fundamental problem.
On behalf of private, public and government clients, we are developing models that determine the capacity of the various components of the air transport system, estimating operational impact, making optimum use of available resources, providing efficient solutions for addressing the demand-capacity imbalance, and optimising fleet scheduling and maintenance decisions.
2015-2021 - Mathematical Models and Algorithms for Allocating Scarce Airport Resources (OR-MASTER), Programme Grant, Engineering and Physical Science Research Council (EPSRC) – Konstantinos G. Zografos (PI)
2016-2018 - An Optimization Framework for Trajectory Based Operations (OptiFrame), Horizon 2020 / SESAR – Konstantinos G. Zografos (PI) and Guglielmo Lulli (CoPI)
Freight Transport Logistics focuses on the planning, organisation, management, control and execution of freight transport operations in the supply chain. CENTRAL researchers have worked on problems facing decision-makers who want to improve freight transport system performance. They are: the optimisation of freight transport planning and operations; vehicle routing and scheduling with environmental and societal considerations; and hazardous materials transportation. We are developing mathematical models and algorithms that capture the inherent dynamics and stochasticity of the problems.
CENTRAL researchers have been tackling problems of shared transport systems and multimodal itinerary planning. On behalf of our clients, we are addressing issues related to strategic, tactical and operational decisions in (electric) car-sharing systems. We are also working on mathematical models and efficient algorithms for solving multimodal, multi-criteria, international, and door-to-door trip planning systems.
Large scale technological and natural disasters require the effective planning and deployment of emergency response resources, which are the responsibility of a diverse set of public and private organisations. Done well, emergency response makes a big difference to society’s ability to cope effectively with the negative impacts of large-scale disasters, contributing to improvements in community resilience.
CENTRAL researchers are tackling diverse issues related to the location of emergency response units, the coordinated deployment of emergency response resources, and evacuation management, and the assessment and improvement of community resilience. In particular, we are looking at the development and implementation of models that are able to forecast the temporal and spatial characteristics of disasters, the optimum scheduling of emergency response crews, and the optimisation of evacuation operations in large-scale disasters.
FRAME
The Framework for Community Resilience Assessment and Measurement (FRAME) aims to address the problem of community resilience and sustainability under regular and crisis situations in South East Asian countries. To achieve this aim, an integrated framework for assessing and measuring community resilience in South East Asian countries will be developed.
FRAME focusses on Sustainable Cities and Communities (SDG 11). Community resilience is one of the major pillars of SDG 11. One of the key targets of SDG 11 is the significant reduction of deaths and the number of people affected and the significant decrease of economic losses caused by disasters with focus on protecting poor and vulnerable populations (Target 11.5).
FRAME addresses directly this target, while it cuts across a number of other Sustainable Development Goals including: Good Health and Wellbeing (SDG 3), Clean Water and Sanitation (SDG 6), Affordable and Clean Energy (SDG 7), Industry Innovation and Infrastructure (SDG 9), Climate Action (SDG 13) and Partnerships for the Goals (SDG 17).
ORDER
Indonesia is one of the most disaster-prone countries in the world. It is located on the Pacific Ring of Fire, where the Indo-Australian, the Eurasian and the Pacific plates meet. Natural hazards include earthquakes, tsunamis, floods, landslides, and volcanic eruptions.
ORDER strengthens the interdisciplinary research collaboration between UK researchers specialising in quantitative methods for disaster management and information systems, and Indonesian researchers and practitioners in disaster management. Based on mathematical models for decision support and integration of siloed information systems, disaster risks can be mitigated and resources for both preparedness and recovery used more efficiently. The results of our research will benefit all stakeholders involved in and/or affected by large scale natural disasters. Specifically, our results will help: i) governmental and non-governmental organisations to increase the cost-effectiveness of their emergency management operations, ii) to reduce the negative implications to the population residing in the impacted areas, iii) reduce negative environmental and economic impacts.
AIDE Response
Professor Zografos (PI) and Professor Sutanto (Col) organised a workshop in the United Nations Conference Centre in Bangkok, Thailand on 9-10 January 2019. The workshop is within the framework of Accelerating Impact for Disaster Management and Emergency Response (AIDE-Response) project funded by EPSRC GCRF Global Impact Accelerator Account.
The workshop was attended by representatives from ASEAN Coordinating Centre for Humanitarian Assistance (AHA Centre), disaster management authorities of the three most vulnerable countries in the region (Philippine, Indonesia, and Myanmar), non-governmental organisations that are actively involved in disaster management and response, and UN agencies (FAO, UNESCAP, UNICEF).
The workshop participants highlighted the institutional and technical barriers in disaster emergency management decisions and the potential enablers to overcome the barriers – among which is a Decision Support System (DSS) that incorporates static and dynamic data to propose course of actions such as logistics routing and evacuation plan. Besides beneficial in terms of increasing the timeliness, accuracy, and consistency of the decisions made, the participants pointed out some other potential impacts of a DSS which is the consideration of the requirements of population groups with special mobility needs in the decisions made especially with respect to evacuation, increase security and safety of the responders, and useful for post-action assessment.