Short-Term Scientific Mission

Interpretable Decision Rules for Multi-Objective Combinatorial Optimisation

Main theme: Single- and Multiobjective Optimisation
Grantee: Erdi Dasdemir, Hacettepe Universitesi, Ankara, Türkiye
Host: Banu Lokman, University of Portsmouth, United Kingdom

Start date: 2026-08-24
End date: 2026-09-11
Awarded: 2026-03-10

Description

The goal of this STSM is to develop interpretable decision rules for multi-objective combinatorial optimisation problems under variable and uncertain inputs. The planned activities include defining scenario sets, generating efficient solutions, and learning concise rule lists or shallow decision trees that map scenario inputs to stable decision components and relevant trade-off regions. The STSM will also integrate the learned rules into optimisation workflows as conservative solver guidance and conduct a small pilot evaluation. A demonstration will be carried out on a forest-firefighting routing and scheduling case study with uncertain fire spread rates. The mission will establish a reusable methodological workflow and a working prototype to support follow-up research.