Looking Forward to Giving a Plenary Talk at the Mathematics for the Real World Conference Taking Place in Odense/Denmark and Kyiv, Ukraine

I received the invitation last December and quickly accepted it.

I am thrilled and honored to have been selected to deliver a plenary talk at the "Mathematics for the Real World" conference happening next month simultaneously in Odense, Denmark and Kyiv, Ukraine. 

Many thanks to the organizers: Khrystyna Gnatenko, Alexander Marynych, Volodymyr Minin, and Anna Lysyanskaya, and to the International Centre for Mathematics in Ukraine - ICMU, its Executive Director Masha Vlasenko and the ICMU Scientific Director Maryna Viazovska, and the Centre for Quantum Mathematics (QM) at Syddansk Universitet - University of Southern Denmark for spearheading this exciting conference. 

I'm enjoying preparing my plenary presentation: "Networks, Supply Chains, and Variational Inequalities." 

Maryna Viazovska, the 2nd female Fields Medalist (and it is great that the 3rd female recipient of this prestigious math award, Hong Wang, was announced yesterday), will deliver the plenary talk: "Formal and Informal Mathematics of Sphere Packing." 

I'm also looking forward to being a panelist on the panel: Maths-Driven Innovations, along with Jean-Pierre Bourguignon, Maryna Viazovska, Oleksii Kuchaiev, Mykola Maksymenko, and Tymofiy Mylovanov. 

Additional information about this 5-day conference, including the invited speakers, and full program, can be found here: https://icmu.ua/en/events/applied-maths-2026

Congratulations and Thanks to Professor M. Grazia Speranza on the Publication of Her Book, "Glowing Women: Women in Operations Research!"

This week I am in Vienna, Austria, taking part in my third conference in Europe, in as many weeks.

The conference taking place now in Vienna is the IFORS Conference, which takes place every three years.

The IFORS Conference is extra special because of the inauguration of the initiative known as GLOW.

Plus, congratulations and thanks to Professor M. Grazia Speranza are well-deserved on the publication of the English (expanded) version of her book, "GLOWING WOMEN: WOMEN IN OPERATIONS RESEARCH," which was published just in time for the IFORS Vienna Conference and its extraordinary GLOW - Global Leadership of Women in Operational Research events. Grazia is a former President of IFORS - The International Federation of Operational Research Societies, an INFORMS Fellow, and a recipient of the EURO Gold Medal, The book recognizes and celebrates the journeys of women from multiple countries, interwoven with Grazia's experiences as a scholar, leader, mother, and wife, and offers thoughtful wisdom and guidance. Through beautifully rendered interviews with (in alphabetical order): Shoshana (Shoshi) Anily, Cynthia Barnhart, Paula Carroll, Marielle Christiansen, Rosiane de Freitas-Rodrigues, Elise Del Rosario, Ola Jabali, Kathy Kotiadis, Martine Labbé, Janny Leung, Anna Nagurney (I am so honored to have been included), Dolores Romero Morales, Sunity Shrestha, Rina Schneur, and Karen Smilowitz, the book provides us with inspiration and a vision for a more inclusive future. The book was published by Armando Curcio Editore. 

More information can be found on the publisher's website: https://lnkd.in/dPviXqUn

Below are photos, the first of which was taken at the ITOR Editorial Board Meeting, run by its outstanding Editor-in-Chief, Professor Celso Ribeiro.

Outstanding EUROPT Conference in Linz, Austria

I am writing this blogpost from Vienna, Austria, where I will soon be registering for the IFORS Conference.

This summer, as is my tradition, I enjoy speaking at conferences, and especially those in Europe.

The travel began on June 26, 2026, when I flew to Naples via Amsterdam to take part in the SING 21 Game Theory Conference, where I delivered the opening keynote on the following Monday morning. The conference was a joy, despite the heat, and I blogged about it: http://annanagurney.blogspot.com/2026/07/i-enjoyed-giving-keynote-at-game-theory.html

Then, last week, I spoke at the EUROPT Conference in Linz, Austria. Linz is the third biggest city in Austria, and it is quite industrial. It was my first time there. Below is a photo of the view from our hotel, which overlooked a nice courtyard.

The EUROPT Conference took place at the Johannes Kepler University, which has a beautiful, green campus, complete with a pond, that reminded me a bit of the UMass Amherst pond.

Many thanks to the organizers of the EUROPT 2026 Conference in Linz, Austria. It was an excellent conference, with great scientific presentations and discussions. Information on the conference can be found here: https://www.jku.at/en/institute-of-business-analytics-and-technology-transformation/conference-europt-2026/. It was wonderful to see Professors: Steven Gabriel of the US, Mauro Passacantando of Italy, Tamás Terlaky of the US, Gerhard-Wilhelm Weber of Poland, Bissan Ghaddar of Canada, Miguel Lejeune of the US, Oleg Prokopyev (now of Switzerland), Immanuel Bomze of Austria, and many others and to make new friends from Georgia (the country), Sweden, Brazil, Canada, and Hong Kong. The link to the slidedeck of my presentation on Ad Valorem Tariffs in Global Supply Chain Networks and Impacts on Labor, based on a recently co-authored published paper with my Isenberg School of Management, UMass Amherst PhD student Samira Samadi:  https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/01605682.2025.2592758 is here: https://supernet.isenberg.umass.edu/visuals/EUROPT-2026.pdf

The 4 hour conference banquet in a beer hall in an indoor courtyard with a heavenly dessert of warm chocolate cake, cherries, and sorbet, we will all remember!

And, at the Linz train station yesterday, we saw Professor Tamas Terlaky, who was also heading to the IFORS Conference - https://www.ifors2026.at/home/

I Enjoyed Giving a Keynote at the Game Theory Conference in Naples, Italy

Last week the game theory SING21 Conference took place at the University of Naples Federico II in Naples, Italy. I was deeply honored to give the opening keynote talk on the first day of the conference. The title of my talk was: "Game Theory, Supply Chains, Labor, and Tariffs: Insights from Variational Inequalities." It was very warm in Naples but the hospitality was even warmer. Many thanks to Professor Annamaria Barbagallo for inviting me, with gratitude also to all the local organizers. It was a delight to see Professor Suresh Sethi of UT Dallas,  whose talk I very much enjoyed, and also Professors Frieda Granot and Daniel Granot from the University of British Columbia as well as Professor Yigal Gerchak from Telaviv University. There were delegates from numerous countries at this game theory conference, in addition to the US and Canada and European countries, including: Thailand, Japan, South Korea, HK, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay, and Israel. The slidedeck of my keynote presentation can be downloaded from the Supernetwork Center website: https://supernet.isenberg.umass.edu/visuals/SING-Naples-Nagurney-2026.pdf

I also very much enjoyed the keynote talks by Professors Francis Bloch and Hans Peters and many other presentations. The full program is available on the conference website: https://sites.google.com/view/sing-21

The conference banquet on the Mediterranean with a view of Mt. Vesuvius was fabulous with multiple courses and a delicious chocolate almond cake for dessert. Below are some photos. Professor Annamaria Barbagallo presented me with a lovely gift of a plaque of Mt. Vesuvius!

I am grateful to all those who devote so much time and energy to organizing outstanding scientific conferences in locations that are truly special. Thank you!