Krishna Bellamkonda (Third year Physics student) was selected to advance to the final stage of the Undergraduate Operational Research ChallengeLink opens in a new window, which took place at the University of Edinburgh on 9^th February 2024 and was announced as the winner!

The challenge is organised by the School of Mathematics at the University of Edinburgh with Police Scotland. Students participating are tasked with playing the role of a consultant to derive a data-driven optimisation strategy for a real-world problem.

Krishna competed with his team mate, a final year student on the Data Science Course. The duo had to complete two phases – a development phase and presentation phase. They were tasked with developing a model that could optimally allocate police officers to incidents as and when they arrived based on priority, and prepared an in-depth report explaining their technical solution with a business report. They ran a simulation with data provided by Police Scotland. Out of all the applications, the University of Edinburgh shortlisted five applications and Police Scotland.

Picture shows Krishna Bellamkonda (right) alongside Aaditya Bellamkonda

The team had the opportunity to meet with data scientist from Police Scotland alongside Operational Research professors and staff. Krishna says:

 “I thoroughly enjoyed the experience, from tackling challenging problems to connecting with fellow students and professionals, and finally, getting the opportunity to visit the beautiful city of Edinburgh.”

The challenge is an annual event and is a great opportunity to learn and put your skills in algorithm design and optimisation to a test.