Design of integrated scheduling and queueing methodologies for developing timetables that aim at optimized people flows and maximizing safety

This research proposal aims at developing new techniques for automated timetabling that focus on optimizing the resulting people flows and maximizing safety. Possible applications that could benefit from the outcome of this research are, for instance: (1) Course timetabling. In academic institutions where the class rooms are concentrated in one or a few buildings, congestion problems may occur in the halls, at the stairwells and elevators at time of course changes. These congestion problems are caused by students that all have to switch rooms at the same moment. An important aspect related to this issue is safety. How fast can the building be evacuated in case of fire? (2) Patient flows as a result of operating room schedules and appointment schedules in hospitals. For instance, the operating room schedule determines which types of patients are operated on which days, while the different patient types have different requests for services (e.g., radiography, blood tests, etc.). Thus, the operating room schedule has a clear impact on the resulting patient flows to other departments in the hospital. (3) Music festivals, conferences, sport events, etc. The schedule of music bands or sport games has a large impact on the resulting spectator flows before, during and after the event. The methodology will combine scheduling methodologies like mathematical programming, metaheuristics and multicriteria approaches with queueing models and simulation.