On 13th December 2019, the 9th Multidisciplinary International Scheduling Conference: Theory and Applications was successfully unveiled in the University of Nottingham Ningbo China (UNNC). The conference, initiated by the University of Nottingham, runs every two years since 2003. It is the 9th in its conference series and it is the first time the conference hold in China.

The three-day conference is organised by the University of Nottingham Ningbo China, with the support from the Operations Research Society of China and Intelligent Simulation Optimisation and Scheduling Committee, China Simulation Federation. It is co-chaired by the leading figure in the scheduling and optimisation areas, including Professor Ruibin Bai from UNNC, Professor Zhi-Long Chen from University of Maryland, USA, Professor Graham Kendall from University of Nottingham Malaysia, Professor Barry McCollum from Queens University Belfast, UK, and etcetera. The conference attracted about 200 participants from 18 countries and regions, discussing the application of data analytics and machine learning in scheduling and optimisation. Most of them are academics and researchers from top domestic universities like Tsinghua University, Fudan University, Zhejiang Universities, University of Science and Technology of China and etcetera.

Mr Chunhua Ye from Ningbo Big Data Management Bureau, Mr Gang Xu from Ningbo Science and Technology Bureau, Professor Yuzhong Zhang, Vice Chairman of Operations Research Society of China, Professor Nick Miles, Provost of UNNC, Professor Ping Cui, Associate Provost for Innovation and Advancement, Professor Tao Wu, Dean of Faculty of Science and Engineering also presented the opening ceremony.

In the ceremony, Professor Graham Kendall, Provost of University of Nottingham Malaysia, gave a welcome speech on behalf of the conference committee and wished the conference great success. Professor Nick Miles, Provost of the UNNC also warmly welcomed all guests and participants and introduced the achievement of UNNC in the 15 years’ history. Finally, he sincerely invited all participants could have a tour in the beautiful campus. Mr Chunhua Ye also emphasised the significance of developing the big data and artificial intelligence in Ningbo and Mr Gang Xu appreciated UNNC’s contribution as a global platform to boost the local industrial development. 

In the three-day conference, five academics, who are world authorities in their fields, have been invited to give the keynote speech. They are Professor Lixin Tang, Academician of Chinese Academy of Engineering and Vice President of Northeast University; Professor Tan Kay Chen from City University of Hong Kong; Professor Nicholas Hall from Fisher College of Business; Professor Ling Wang from Tsinghua University, and Professor José F. Oliveira from University of Porto respectively. They shared the cutting-edge research on scheduling and optimisation methods and applications in multidisciplinary fields, especially the role of analytics and machine learning playing in this area.

The conference also arranged three tutorials and 22 parallel sessions. With the strong support from Huawei Noah's Ark Lab, Microsoft Research Asia and those top universities in China, the conference provides a truly global platform for all participants to share their research outcomes.

This conference series serve as a forum for an international community of researchers, practitioners and vendors on all aspects of multi-disciplinary scheduling. It has brought together scheduling researchers and practitioners from all the disciplines that engage with scheduling research. We see new ideas and collaborations generated from the multidisciplinary exchange.