About me
I am a postdoctoral researcher at the Department of Business Informatics and Operations Management at Ghent University, Belgium. My main research interests are in the design and analysis of operations management tools for optimization problems, with a special focus on fairness issues, algorithm benchmarking, and the integration of machine learning within operations management.
Publications
2024 | Which algorithm to select in sports timetabling? Van Bulck, D., Goossens, D., Clarner, J., Dimitsas, A., Fonseca, G. H., Lamas-Fernandez, C., Lester, M. M., Pedersen, J., Phillips, A. E., Rosati, R. M. European Journal of Operational Research, 2024. |
Minimal and fair waiting times for single-day sports tournaments with multiple fields Garcia Tercero, L., Goossens, D., Van Bulck, D. Proceedings of the 14th International Conference on the Practice and Theory of Automated Timetabling, 2024. | |
The invigilator assignment problem Verplancke, H., Van Bulck, D., Limère, V., Schmid, N. A. Proceedings of the 14th International Conference on the Practice and Theory of Automated Timetabling, 2024. | |
Sports timetabling: towards generic algorithms and performance insights Van Bulck, D., Goossens, D. Proceedings of the 14th International Conference on the Practice and Theory of Automated Timetabling, 2024. | |
2023 | Multi-Neighbourhood Simulated Annealing for the ITC-2007 Capacitated Examination Timetabling Problem Van Bulck, D., Goossens, D. Journal of Scheduling, 2023. |
First-break-heuristically-schedule: Constructing highly-constrained sports timetables Van Bulck, D., Goossens, D. Operations Research Letters, 2023. | |
A traditional Benders’ approach to sports timetabling Van Bulck, D., Goossens, D. European Journal of Operational Research, 2023. | |
The International Timetabling Competition on sports timetabling (ITC2021) Van Bulck, D., Goossens, D. European Journal of Operational Research, 2023. | |
Result-based talent identification in road cycling: discovering the next Eddy Merckx Van Bulck, D., Vande Weghe, A., Goossens, D. Annals of Operations Research, 2023. | |
2022 | Optimizing rest times and differences in games played: an iterative two-phase approach Van Bulck, D., Goossens, D. Journal of Scheduling, 2022. |
Multi-neighbourhood Simulated Annealing for the Capacitated University Examination Timetabling Problem (ITC-2007) Van Bulck, D., Schaerf, A., Goossens, D. Proceedings of the 13th International Conference on the Practice and Theory of Automated Timetabling: Volume III, 2022. | |
Using Benders’ cuts to backtrack in sports timetabling Van Bulck, D., Goossens, D. Proceedings of the 15th Workshop on Models and Algorithms for Planning and Scheduling Problems, MAPSP 2022, 2022. | |
International Timetabling Competition 2021: Sports Timetabling Goossens, D., Beliën, J., Davari, M., Van Bulck, D. Proceedings of the 13th International Conference on the Practice and Theory of Automated Timetabling: Volume III, 2022. | |
2021 | Relax-fix-optimize heuristics for time-relaxed sports timetabling Van Bulck, D., Goossens, D. INFOR: Information Systems and Operational Research, 2021. |
Sports timetabling: theoretical results and new insights in algorithm performance Van Bulck, D. 4OR - A Quarterly Journal of Operations Research, 2021. | |
The fifth International Timetabling Competition (ITC 2021): sports timetabling Van Bulck, D., Goossens, D., Beliën, J., Davari, M. Mathsport International 2021 Proceedings, 2021. | |
2020 | RobinX: a three-field classification and unified data format for round-robin sports timetabling Van Bulck, D., Goossens, D., Schönberger, J., Guajardo, M. European Journal of Operational Research, 2020. |
On the complexity of pattern feasibility problems in time-relaxed sports timetabling Van Bulck, D., Goossens, D. Operations Research Letters, 2020. | |
An instance data repository for the round-robin sports timetabling problem Van Bulck, D., Goossens, D., Schönberger, J., Guajardo, M. Management and Labour Studies, 2020. | |
Generalizing first-break-then-schedule to time-relaxed sports timetabling Van Bulck, D., Goossens, D. Proceedings of the 13th International Conference on the Practice and Theory of Automated Timetabling - PATAT 2021: Volume I, 2020. | |
2019 | Handling fairness issues in time-relaxed tournaments with availability constraints Van Bulck, D., Goossens, D. Computers & Operations Research, 2019. |
Scheduling a non-professional indoor football league: a tabu search based approach Van Bulck, D., Goossens, D., Spieksma, F. C. R. Annals of Operations Research, 2019. | |
Fairness Trade-offs in Sports Timetabling Goossens, D., Van Bulck, D., Xiajie, Y. In Ley, C. and Dominicy, Y. (Ed.), Science meets Sports: when statistics are more than numbers, 2019. | |
2018 | RobinX: an XML driven classification for round-robin sports timetabling Van Bulck, D., Goossens, D., Schönberger, J., Guajardo, M. Proceedings of the 12th International Conference on the Practice and Theory of Automated Timetabling, 2018. |
Teaching
2024-2021 | Lecturer Quality Management , Master of Business Engineering@ Ghent University. Co-lecturer/co-titular for approximately 3 out of 6 ECTS points. |
2022 | Visiting Lecturer (10% employment rate) Operations Research , Bachelor of Business Engineering@ KU Leuven, Brussels. 3 out of 6 ECTS points, 26 teaching hours. |
2021 | Visiting Lecturer (15% employment rate) Production and Logistics Management , Bachelor of Business Engineering@ KU Leuven, Brussels. 3 out of 6 ECTS points, 26 teaching hours. |
2020-2016 | Teaching Assistant Quality Management , Master of Business Engineering@ Ghent University. Exercise sessions + discussion forum. |
Invited Talks
2023 | Instance Space Analysis David Van Bulck Invited Lecture @ NHH Bergen, Norway, May, 24th, 2023. |
Sports Timetabling David Van Bulck Invited Lecture @ Dalarna University, Sweden, May, 30th, 2023. | |
2022 | Benders' Decomposition David Van Bulck Invited Lecture @ University of Udine, Italy, June, 21st, 2022. |
Awards and Grants
2023 | FWO Senior Postdoctoral Fellowship (3 years) Research Foundation - Flanders (FWO), 2023. |
2022 | Innovation Grant Innovative education project worth €8,000 to implement an educational game for the course Quality Management, Ghent University, 2022. |
Case Competition Finalist Finalist for the 'Freestyle O.R. Supreme 2022 edition', INFORMS, 2022. | |
2021 | Best Teacher Recognition For the course 'Production and Logistics management' at KU Leuven campus Brussels, KU Leuven, 2021. |
2020 | FWO Junior Postdoctoral Fellowship (3 years) Research Foundation - Flanders (FWO), 2020. |
Nominated for PhD Awards Dissertation nominated by my doctoral jury, EOS Pipet Price and EURO EDDA award, 2020. | |
2016 | Finalist for Master thesis award P&L Finalist for the Master thesis award P&L, Research Centre for Operations Research and Business Statistics (ORSTAT, KU Leuven), 2016. |
Academic Service
- Conference Organizer: 3th Fairness in Sports Workshop (2024).
- Conference Program Committee: International Conference on the Practice and Theory of Automated Timetabling (PATAT) (2024, 2022, 2020).
- Invited Journal Reviews: 4OR, Annals of Operations Research, Computers & Industrial Engineering, Computers & Operations Research, European Journal of Operational Research, Journal of Scheduling, Operational Research, Operations Research Letters, Sports Engineering, TOP.
- Membership at Scientific Organizations: Member of the Flanders Make Core Lab CVAMO, Belgian OR society (ORBEL), Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS), EURO working group OR in Sports, EURO working group on Automated Timetabling (PATAT), EURO working group on Data Science Meets Optimization, COnfiguration and SElection of ALgorithms group (COSEAL), and INFORMS group SpORts.
- Institutional Responsibilities: Member of the Department Council at the Department of Business Informatics and Operations Management of Ghent University.
Selected Community Projects
Open Source | Capacitated Examination Timetabling (CET): Solver Source Code for ITC-2007 Founder, maintainer, and core developer. |
Data set | RobinX: an XML-driven classification for round-robin sports timetabling Founder, maintainer, and core developer. |
Competition | PATAT 2021 International Timetabling Competition Main organizer. |