1. The biennial conferenceof the Operations Research Society of China (ORSC) took place in a virtual format from December 14^th to 17^th, 2022. Drawing participation of over 1000 registered attendees.This significant academic gathering was highlighted by insightful presentations and discussions.

   Initially scheduled as an in-person assembly in central China’s city of Changsha for October 2022, the conference (ORSC2022) adapted its format to an online platform in response to the challenges posed by nationwide Covid infections.

   On the evening of December 14^th, Prof. Janny M.Y. Leung, President of the International Federation of Operational Research Societies (IFORS), and Prof. Marc Sevaux, President of the European Association of Operational Research Societies (EFORS), delivered overseas keynote talks on Public Transport for Smart Cities and Metaheuristics: Rise, Fall and Rise Again respectively, which marked the commencement of ORSC.

   The opening ceremony unfolded on the morning of December 16, graced by esteemed guests from prominent organizations, including the China Association of Science and Technology, China’s Natural Science Foundation, Hunan First Normal University, and the International Federation of Operational Research Societies. Prof. Janny Leung, the President of IFORS delivered a warm speech. She congratulated the auspicious occasion of ORSC2022’s commencement and recognized the significant contributions to propelling the growth of OR in China and the global OR federation.

   

   In the Opening Ceremony, a pivotal moment unfolded as the ORSC President Prof. Yu-Hong Dai announced the inception of the ORSC Fellow program and unveiled the inaugural cohort of 43 ORSC Fellows, not only celebrating their remarkable accomplishments in OR-related research and applications but also acknowledging their profound contribution to the advancement of the ORSC.

   Subsequently, the conference held the award ceremony of the 8th Science and Technology Award of the ORSC. This award is the highest honor in the OR field of China, with four sub-awards selected every two years. In 2022, Prof. Guangya Chen from the Chinese Academy of Sciences won the Lifetime Achievement Award of ORSC. Prof. Naihua Xiu from Beijing Jiaotong University and Prof. Wenbao Ai of Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications won the OR Research Award of ORSC. Two projects, “Key Technology Research on Identity Authentication Module Based on Multiple Biological Features Integration” by the University of CAS and MLKEY Shenzhen and “Modeling, Algorithm, and Solver for Video Stabilization Path Planning” by Beijing Institute of Technology and Huawei, were honored with as OR Application Award of ORSC. Five young talents received the Youth Science and Technology Award of ORSC.

   

   The two-day scientific program of the ORSC2022 consisted of 5 plenaries and 57 talks in 19 invited thematic sessions, covering almost all the OR/MS areas.

2. With relieve of Covid-19 restrictions in the beginning of 2023, the in-person meeting of ORSC was held in Changsha on April 7-9. 2023, with more than 1000 participants from all around the country.

The national conference programme included opening ceremony, invited plenary sessions, award ceremonies, parallel sessions, and social programs.

3.ORSC Special Interest Group meetings and workshops

ORSC has 16 special interest groups. They are all very active in the year of 2023 convening annual meetings and/or workshops. So far as in August, groups that have organized meetings include:

• Mathematical Programming, May 12-15, in Chengdu Sichuan
• Intelligent Algorithms and Computation, April 21-24, in Baoding Hebei
• Healthcare OR, June 11-14, in Guiyang, Guizhou
• Stochastic Optimization and Operation Management, July 12-14, in Chengdu, Sichuan
• Graph Theory and Combinatorics, July 20-22, in Taiyuan Shanxi.
• Uncertain Systems, July 21-23, in Hebei Anhui

Some other groups also plan their annual exchange programs in later 2023. Special reports of the group meetings can be found in the ORSC website: www.orsc.org.cn

4.Publications

Currently, ORSC have two journals in Chinese: OR transactions (4 issues/year) and OR/MS (monthly) receiving papers written in Chinese, and the Journal of ORSC published with Springer (quarterly, EI). The English journal aims to a world-standard publication in OR related theories and solutions. ORSC calls for excellent original papers from authors in world OR communities.

Editorials of the ORSC journals had several workshops online and in person to promote exchanges between authors and readers. The latest workshops was held in Dalian in August 2023.

5.Planned activities in 2024

ORSC will convene its national congress ORSC2024 in October 2024 in Guizhou. New ORSC council will be elected during the meeting. Academic programmes are under preparation, including inviting IFORS leadership to attend and give presentations.

The Triennial Conference of APORS (APORS2024) will be hosted by ORSC in Hainan Island in December 2024.