Supervising lecturers may nominate abridged written operations research masters theses of high quality which were completed during the previous calendar year (submission up to the end of January of the following year will be considered at the discretion of the committee provide the student has not re-registered for the same degree) for consideration in ORSSA's annual student competitions (masters category) during any academic year.
Field of Study
Operations Research (OR) covers a wide range of topics and is applied in many other fields of study. It originated as a multidisciplinary field centred on mathematical modelling. In practice it often uses computer-based systems as an aid to decision making. Recent developments in OR include, for example, metaheuristics, community OR, and sustainability. Complex business problems today often require integrating 'hard' and 'soft' operational research approaches. Owing to the multidisciplinary nature of OR, it is recognised and accepted that many courses offered and projects undertaken at the tertiary level within the field of OR are the responsibility of departments that do not include the name Operations Research in their title. Projects may, for example, be included in the programmes of departments such as Management Science, Quantitative Management, Industrial Engineering, Decision Science, Statistics, Computer Science, Applied Mathematics, or Mathematics. For the purposes of this competition, the judges shall decide whether a particular project is acceptable as an OR project or not. Prospective participants are welcome to contact the Competition Coordinator should they need guidance in this respect.
Nature and extent of entries
Individual initiative is encouraged. Therefore, as few limitations as possible are placed on the nature, content and extent of entries. Entries may be either practical or theoretical. Originality will weigh heavily in the adjudication process.
Elements contained in an entry
Each competition entry shall be submitted in the form of an abridged written Master's thesis, containing at least the following elements
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a clear statement of the background and objectives of the project,
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a description of the approach or methodology adopted,
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a clear presentation of the results and conclusions,
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a discussion of the actual or possible implementation, and
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a bibliography with references to the relevant literature.
The submission shall be formatted according to the ORiON Journal author guidelines and shall not exceed 20 pages. The submission shall be accompanied by the full project report or theses for adjudicator reference should any part of the entry need greater clarification. Entrants may indicate whether they want to have their abridged document automatically considered by the Editor of ORiON for publication in this journal.
Involvement of the supervising lecturer
It is assumed that each project will be conducted under the guidance and supervision of a university or technikon lecturer. However, the initiative should, as far as possible, remain in the hands of the student. For the purpose of this competition, the responsibility of the supervising lecturer should at most involve the following
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helping the student to choose a meaningful and feasible project, and
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advising the student, upon request, during the course of the project.
Selection Process for the Masters Level Category Student Competition
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Nominations for written projects in the Master's level category are gathered by the Competition Coordinator.
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The deadline for entries is 14 July 2025.
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Entries to the competition are then ranked by a Selection Committee based solely on the written submissions, after which the top two entries in the honours or fourth-year competition category are designated as finalists.
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These finalists are to present at an online competition finalist event scheduled for 2 September 2025 which will be recorded.
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Each finalist's Symposium registration fee is waived.
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The finalists are responsible for their own travel arrangements and costs.
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The Selection Committee decides on a winner from among the two finalists (based solely on the written work), but the results are only communicated during the awards ceremony.
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The winner is awarded the prestigious Theodor Stewart Medal for the Masters Thesis during one of the Symposium events scheduled for 2025.
Adjudication criteria
The rubric of criteria and quality descriptors governing the adjudication process for selecting a winner of the Master's level category student competition is available here.