Strategies for risk reduction: A balancing act
Matthias Wildemeersch
IIASA - Austria
DEIB - Alario Room (Building 21)
On Line via Zoom
June 1st, 2022
2.00 pm
Contacts:
Angelo Carlino
Research Line:
Planning and management of environmental systems
IIASA - Austria
DEIB - Alario Room (Building 21)
On Line via Zoom
June 1st, 2022
2.00 pm
Contacts:
Angelo Carlino
Research Line:
Planning and management of environmental systems
Sommario
On June 1st, 2022 at 2.00 pm Dr. Matthias Wildemeersch, International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA), will give a seminar on "Strategies for risk reduction: A balancing act" in DEIB Alario Room and in live streaming via Zoom.
In many practical situations, decisions need to be made before knowing how the future will unfold. A newsvendor buys a quantity of newspapers without knowing the actual demand of the next day. A farmer chooses which crops to cultivate without knowing the weather of the coming growing season. Governments take decisions on climate mitigation actions without precise knowledge about the impacts of their efforts. On the other hand, mathematical models are often treated as if they are a precise and deterministic representation of the world. In reality, uncertainty should be acknowledged and plans need to be designed that hedge against these uncertainties. This talk will illustrate how decisions can be made that perform well across many possible uncertain futures. Two case studies in the field of sustainability will be used to illustrate how to optimize performance while managing risks. In the first case study on food security in West Africa, we analyze how several risk strategies result in different outcomes for both the reliability of the food supply and farmer livelihoods. In the second case study on pollution control, we present sustainable management strategies that balance crop yield optimization with environmental protection.
In many practical situations, decisions need to be made before knowing how the future will unfold. A newsvendor buys a quantity of newspapers without knowing the actual demand of the next day. A farmer chooses which crops to cultivate without knowing the weather of the coming growing season. Governments take decisions on climate mitigation actions without precise knowledge about the impacts of their efforts. On the other hand, mathematical models are often treated as if they are a precise and deterministic representation of the world. In reality, uncertainty should be acknowledged and plans need to be designed that hedge against these uncertainties. This talk will illustrate how decisions can be made that perform well across many possible uncertain futures. Two case studies in the field of sustainability will be used to illustrate how to optimize performance while managing risks. In the first case study on food security in West Africa, we analyze how several risk strategies result in different outcomes for both the reliability of the food supply and farmer livelihoods. In the second case study on pollution control, we present sustainable management strategies that balance crop yield optimization with environmental protection.
Biografia
Matthias Wildemeersch is a research scholar with the Advancing Systems Analysis (ASA) program at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA), Austria.
His research interests range from decision making under uncertainty to collective action problems. He applies tools from stochastic optimization, game theory, and mathematical economics to provide policy guidelines in risk management and environmental economics.
Dr. Wildemeersch holds a PhD from the University of Twente, the Netherlands. He gained professional experience at the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission, the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) in Singapore, and the Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD).
The event will be held online by Zoom.
