My life objective is to help the world becoming a better place by freely offering my skills and developing free resources. To that end, I have established two main initiatives that put the society/people in the heart of my research, teaching and engagement activities: 1) Democratising Forecasting; 2) Forecasting for Social Good.

My research goals are directed toward the use of Operations Research (OR) techniques such as forecasting to improve decision making in health and humanitarian sectors, and as such positively contribute to societal advancements.

One of the key objectives of my research is to use Operational Research techniques to improve decision making in organizations with social missions, thereby positively contributing to advancing knowledge in the field of forecasting practice for social good.

Forecasting for Social Good incorporates the need of society rather than emphasising a pure financial performance with two main elements: i) decisions are not directly driven by profit and ii) gives priority to those who are generally external to the organisation. Topic may include but not limited to:

• Health
• Humanitarian and disaster relief
• Education
• Goverments
• Social services

Forecasting for Social Good Initiative aims to explore and expose how (where) forecasting can have positive societal impact. The objective is threefold: i) expose the importance of forecasting for social good, ii) capture the otherwise dispersed current state of knowledge, and set the agenda to drive developments iii) create and establish research collaboration and partnership at the national and international level.

To that end, I have organised the first international workshop dedicated to the use of forecasting for social good in Cardiff University on Thursday and Friday 12-13 July 2018. This workshop was an important step to bring more attention to this extremely important topic. It brings together researchers and practitioners across 10 countries to discuss research agenda in this area, whilst helping me broaden my network and introduce important research collaborations with academics as well as build solid partnerships with organizations.

Please see below for more information about the conference:

1. 24th IIF workshop on Forecasting for Social Good

2. Short video about the conference on Forecasting for Social Good

We are organising the second international workshop on Forecasting for Social Good on 11-12 June 2020 in France.

This is an ongoing initiative, sponsored by the International Institute of Forecasters will provide cutting-edge training in the use of forecasting with R in some of the world’s least developed countries to transfer knowledge in forecasting and help decision makers use it as an effective tool to support decision-making process. R is an open source programming language and software widely used for data analysis, manipulation, visualisation and modelling.

“These workshops aim to provide up-to-date training on the principles of forecasting and create an international network to conduct research on forecasting with social impact for less developed countries.”

The workshops will be provided by Dr Bahman Rostami-Tabar whose research focuses on forecasting for social good, supply chain forecasting and the interface between forecasting and decision-making. For more information please see IIF Website

To organise a workshop in your country, contact rostami-tabarb@cardiff.ac.uk.

Subject I am teaching in 2019-2020 at Cardiff University :

BST832: Forecasting

The Forecasting module aims to provide students with an in-depth understanding of demand forecasting, and essential planning activity within the field of operations and supply chain management. It is taught by combining theoretical and applied approaches appropriate to an MSc audience and draws upon the latest forecasting techniques. It develops, applies and consolidates learning through solving problems related to real demand patterns. Specifically, it aims to:

• Provide a systematic and comprehensive understanding of the use of forecasting methodologies in Operations Management and Logistics settings
• Provide a comprehensive understanding of real industrial case studies using analytical modelling and simulation.
• Provide a systematic capability to make decisions on the suitability of forecasting methods for the Operations Management and Forecasting problem in hand.
• Develop the ability to originally apply innovative forecasting methodologies to operational problem solving.

BST835: Risk Management in supply Chains

This module will equip students with:

• A comprehensive understanding of the major theoretical underpinnings of risk management strategies in a business and supply chain context.
• An ability to critically evaluate the major debates within the topics.
• Critical awareness of strategies, methods, tools and techniques that can be used to identify, analyse and respond to various risks.
• Analytical skills in risk management by evaluating real manufacturing and service, public and private sector case studies.

BST811: Business Data Analytics

This module will equip students with the following skills:

• Manage data to extract information that is useful for addressing business problems and suggesting strategy.
• Selection and application of appropriate techniques to business problems.
• Develop proficiency in using appropriate software packages to an advanced level to manage data sets in order to generate insights efficiently and effectively.
• Communicate findings to both expert and non-expert audiences.

• rostami-tabarb@cardiff.ac.uk
• +44 (0)29 2087 0723
• trostamit
• C08, Aberconway Building, Colum Road, Cathays, Cardiff, CF10 3EU
• Friday 11:00 to 12:30 or email for appointment