RELEX Retail and Supply Chain Award 2017 Granted to Research That Tackles a Societially Relevant Problem: Food Waste

RELEX Solutions’ annual Retail and Supply Chain Award is given to the best European master’s thesis in the field of retail and supply chain planning. The award has been handed out since 2014 and is given to the best master’s thesis with a focus on retail and supply chain planning.

This year, the award was granted to Philippe Schuler from Copenhagen Business School in Denmark for his research “Food Loss and Waste in the Fresh Potato Supply Chain of Denmark”. Schuler received the Retail and Supply Chain Award and a reward of 2000 euros. The award-winning research can be found here.

The jury was impressed by Schuler’s work which tackles a societally relevant problem: food waste. “Schuler uses a systematic approach and multifaceted investigation to provide clear findings. The research is well-scoped and also includes a mature acknowledgement of the boundaries of the conclusions.”

The jury consisted of Prof. Dr. Kai Fröstl from the German Graduate School of Management & Law, Prof. Jan Holmström from Aalto University, RELEX Solutions Chairman of the Board, Andrew Blatherwick, and leading logistics and supply chain scientists Timo Ala-Risku, Ville Sillanpää and Timo Idänheimo from RELEX Solutions.

In my eyes, there is no greater opportunity for humanity than tackling the scandalous tons of food thrown away each and every day around the world

“I greatly appreciate the recognition,” says Schuler. “In my eyes, there is no greater opportunity for humanity than tackling the scandalous tons of food thrown away each and every day around the world – it is a pressing issue that is economically damaging, environmentally threatening, and simply morally irresponsible.”

This year the jury also granted Hédi Király from Universität Duisburg-Essen, Germany, an honourable mention for her work Das Kapazitierte Vehicle Routing Problem unter Berücksichtigung 3-dimensionaler Laderestriktionen. Király’s work was especially praised for an extensive and careful model, a complex problem-context, a clear and well-structured report and potentially high practical relevance.

The application period for RELEX Retail and Supply Chain Award 2018 is already open. Details of the competition can be found here.