Subject to: Kenneth Sörensen

Описание: Kenneth Sörensen obtained his PhD entitled "A framework for robust and flexible optimization using metaheuristics" from the University of Antwerp in 2003 and continued as a post-doctoral researcher at the UAntwerp. From 2006 to 2009, he worked as a postdoc researcher of the Flemish Fund for Scientific Research (FWO) at the Faculty of Engineering of the KULeuven. In 2009, Kenneth Sörensen was appointed as a Research Professor of the Faculty of Business and Economics of the University of Antwerp, a position he holds to date.

Within this Faculty, he founded the ANT/OR research group, which focuses on applications of operations research and currently consists of three professors and about ten PhD students. Under his supervision, over twenty PhD's were obtained. Kenneth Sörensen has published a large number of articles in international refereed journals and has presented his work at numerous scientific conferences. He is considered one of the world’s leading experts in the field of metaheuristics. His
main research interest lies in the application of advanced (metaheuristic) optimization methods and in the development and study of optimization methods.

Kenneth Sörensen is the founder and current coordinator of EU/ME – the EURO working group on metaheuristics, the largest online platform for researchers in metaheuristics worldwide.

Contents of this video:
0:00 - Intro
1:34 - Family background
4:22 - Early years + sports
5:23 - Antwerp nowadays
7:01 - Musical preferences
12:08 - Books
12:38 - Attending the same school as s.t. guest Tom Von Woensel
13:54 - School performance
15:14 - First computer & self-taught coding
16:48 - Choosing an university degree (Commercial Engineering)
18:27 - Little contact with OR at that time
19:08 - Master's project
21:05 - Working for a software company
22:25 - Returning to academia thanks to an unusual influence
24:12 - PhD activities at the University of Antwerp
26:48 - Discovering metaheuristics
28:57 - The birth of the EURO Working Group on Metaheuristics
30:15 - The importance of summer and winter schools in terms of networking
32:25 - PhD work
34:08 - Lessons learned during a post-doc at KU Leuven
35:47 - Becoming a faculty member at the University of Antwerp + supervising students
38:48 - Optimization + music: the PhD work of s.t. guest Dorien Herremans
41:05 - Main research contributions of the last 15 years
45:43 - The story behind the paper: “Metaheuristics: the metaphor-exposed"
50:42 - Current state of metaheuristics research
52:29 - Comparing metaheuristic-based algorithms + additional insights
1:02:07 - The importance of sharing source codes
1:07:37 - Open-source optimization software
1:10:11 - Publishing practical work
1:16:13 - Gap between theory and practice in OR
1:22:57 - Involvement with EURO
1:25:01 - Current hobbies
1:25:50 - Plans for the future
1:27:32 - Advice to young people
1:29:34 - Opportunities involving metaheuristics and machine learning
1:34:21 - Concluding remarks