Welcome. This is an initiative of mine to spread the news about how optimisation is affecting out lives every day. This started with the idea of building some cool and catchy pieces of artwork to describe optimisation. If you have not had the opportunity to view the homepage www.optimisationintherealworld.co.uk, I urge you to do so. Now that the homepage is done, the next step is to expand this website with various different practical applications of optimisation.

Motivation

Optimisation is an incredibly useful tool that is very poorly understood. People are affected by it each and every day, either directly or indirectly. Whether it is the train that you are catching to work or the delivery you are expected from your online shopping, there are many different ways that optimisation has played a part in your day to day life.

As a researcher in optimisation, I see the many ways that optimisation is applied to different practical problems. As such, I am very well suited to highlight the different, and some times very novel, applications of optimisation. By highlighting the uses of optimisation, I hope to raise awareness and show how optimisation is enriching peoples lives.

Why should one care?

This is definitely a question that I have asked many times during the creation of this website. Since a lot of the uses of optimisation happens in the background, then there are few direct impacts. So, one could easily travel through life without every thinking about optimisation and how it is being used. However, when you scratch the surface a little, it is possible to see just how pervasive optimisation is in the real world. By understanding the applications of optimisation, this will provide a window for better understanding a different part of this world.

So, one should care if they are generally interested in the inner workings of the many different processes and activities that affect us every day.

What next?

This is only the start! There are so many uses of optimisation, and these uses continue to grow. To start with I will focus on applications that I know well, such as transportation. Then I will continue into the different ways that optimisation is used in the many large tech companies that have a large influence on this world. There is no end to the applications of optimisation, so we will be busy for many years to come.