I am professor in the research group Logistics (LOG) and vice-dean of the faculty of Business Economics at Hasselt University. Our research group is focused on the development and application of operation research techniques for the optimization and simulation of planning problems in the field of logistics. The overall aim is to achieve theoretical advances in modelling and solving real-life logistics problems and to valorize results in cooperation with the industry.
In my work I strive to study topics that benefit the society as whole, such as research on synchromodal transport, urban logistics and the physical internet. Other research interests include the consideration of human factors in warehouse operations, health care logistics and humanitarian logistics. During my career path, I have always worked in close cooperation with industry and societal partners and like to emphasize the necessity to make realistic OR models, with the aim to bridge the gap between theory and practice. To this end, I coordinate the Flemish scientific research network OR4Logistics, which brings together experts in the OR community that are working on real-world logistics optimization problems, with the aim to impact the efficiency and sustainability of the logistics sector.