The workshop series aims to provide a forum for the exchange of ideas between senior researchers, young researchers and doctoral students on cutting edge developments concerning applications of advanced Operations Research methods to complex problems in finance, insurance, banking, etc. Each workshop contains hour-long lectures by a selected group of researchers, aimed towards the training of young scientists. Young scientists also participate actively by presenting their own research. The training aspect targets also technology transfer from academic researchers to practitioners from financial institutions.

Each workshop is a week-long (Mon.-Frid.) event and takes place at a single location, giving all the participants the opportunity for close interaction not only during the seminars/presentations but also informally during the breaks and free time. Participation in the workshops is by invitation.

Uncertainty modeling, stochastic optimization tools and the focus on practical applications for financial institutions constitute the unifying themes for the series of the three workshops.

EUMOptFin3:
The drivers of performance of large financial institutions

The third workshop (EUMOptFin3) of the series is being organized by the "Department of Mathematics, Statistics, Computer Science and Applications" of the University of Bergamo. Information on the research projects and other activities of the Department are posted on the website: www.unibg.it/dmsia. 

The workshop will take place May 17-21, 2004 at University of Bergamo, on the North of Italy. The venue for the event is the the Faculty of Economics and Business Administration. The organizational arrangements for the event are handled by the personell of the department. The organaizer greatly aknowledges the support from the DMSIA, from CNR-MIUR Legge 95/95 and MIUR 40% 2002 grants.

With available funding from the European Commission we offer the possibility to cover (at least partly) the participation of up to 30 young scientists from EU member states or associated countries (Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Iceland, Israel, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Malta, Norway, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia and Switzerland). Young scientists who are interested to participate and present their research at the workshop should submit an application by electronic mail. The application should be submitted within April 9, 2004 through Registration form and should contain the following attachments in .doc or .pdf:

• a current cv (indicating academic credentials/degrees, list of publications, date of birth, nationality/citizenship, contact information),
• title and abstract of a proposed presentation (all participants are expected to deliver a 20-30 minute presentation of their research).

Eligibility requirements:

• citizenship of an EU member state or an associated state (see list above),
• age limit (<35 years), unless an exception applies due to military service or child care. 

Applications are invited from:

• junior faculty at academic institutions,
• young researchers and post-doctoral fellows at research institutions,
• doctoral students at an advanced stage of their doctoral program.

A selection of young scientists will be made among the applicants on the basis of the following criteria:

• scientific achievements,
• relevance of their program of study and proposed presentation to the theme of the workshop.

Of course, an effort will be made to achieve a wide diversity and balance of participants as it regards their country of origin.
If there is high demand, then priority will be given to applicants who did not have the opportunity to participate in the previous events of the series,i.e. EUMOptFin1 in Semmering and EUMOptFIN2 in Cyprus.

Applicants who are selected for an invitation will be notified by April 17, 2004. For those selected the following expenses will be covered:

• accommodation costs for the duration of the workshop (May 17-21, 2004), including breakfast;
• lunch at University site
• an allowance for travel expenses; the amount will depend on actual travel costs (economy airfare) and can be up to 350 euro depending on the number of participants and their total travel cost claims.

The program will contain longer lectures by senior researchers:

The following is a tentative list of speakers who have already committed to participate in the workshop. This list will be appropriately updated.