[DMANET] PhD studentship available for the project "Real-Time Scheduling of Patrols Serving Motor Vehicle Breakdowns"

This PhD project will address problems of deployment and real-time
scheduling of patrol vehicles that have to service breakdowns. The main
goal of the project will be to use operational research techniques to
design algorithms that are effective in dealing with problems with about
2500 patrol vehicles across the UK. Specific objectives are:
(a) finding the optimal number and locations of new patrol stations (if
any) to be established under the uncertainty of the breakdown locations;
(b) determining the number of patrol vehicles to be deployed at each
(existing or new) station; and
© online scheduling of the patrol vehicles to service the incoming
requests for assistance within a target response time (where possible),
and with an overall objective of minimizing the total operation costs.
A simulation model will also be developed to evaluate the performance of
the algorithms that are developed.

The student will be based in the Operational Research Group in
Mathematical Sciences at the University of Southampton. The project will
run in collaboration with the AA (Automobile Association), which is based
in Basingstoke. Consequently, the student will spend some time in the AA
offices observing the processes, collecting data, liaising with staff, and
eventually communicating the results. The project will be jointly
supervised by Prof. Chris Potts and Prof. Tolga Bektas.

Applicants should have completed, or expect to complete before November
2013, a Bachelor¹s degree in Operational Research, Mathematics,
Statistics, or a related area with at least an upper second class
classification (or the equivalent), and preferably a Master¹s degree. The
deadline for applications is 14 October 2013, and the latest start date
for the PhD project is 1 December 2013.

The studentship will cover tuition fees at the UK/EU level and a stipend
of approximately £13,500. Both UK/EU students and international students
are encouraged to apply.

Further information is available by contacting Chris Potts
(C.N.Potts@soton.ac.uk<mailto:C.N.Potts@soton.ac.uk>
<mailto:C.N.Potts@soton.ac.uk%3E>). Online applications can be made from
link on the website:
http://www.southampton.ac.uk/postgraduate/pgstudy/howdoiapplypg.html



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