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The University of Southampton
CORMSIS Centre for Operational Research, Management Sciences and Information Systems

CORMSIS Seminar "Drone logistics for the NHS: Great concept, impossible reality?" - Tom Cherrett Event

Time:
14:30 - 15:30
Date:
10 March 2022 - 23 February 2022
Venue:
Contact Huan Yu for details

For more information regarding this event, please email Huan Yu at Huan.Yu@southampton.ac.uk .

Event details

Healthcare accounts for approximately 5% of the world’s emissions, and the National Health Service (NHS), has set a target to reach net-zero emissions by 2040. The NHS is actively looking at how more sustainable and innovative transport modes can be used alongside traditional logistics systems to support these efforts. With Uncrewed Aerial Vehicles (UAVs, or drones) starting to be used in health care systems outside the UK, there is increasing interest in how they could be integrated into NHS operations for the more efficient and faster movement of diagnostic specimens. This presentation takes first-hand experiences from flying the first uncrewed aerial vehicle across the Solent in May 2020 as part of Governments NHS covid response, and on-going work as part of the EPSRC E-Drone and Department for Transport, Future Transport Zones projects to reflect on the true value of drones for NHS logistics and the issues that will have to be overcome to realise their wider adoption.

Speaker information

Tom Cherrett, Professor of Logistics and Transport Management within Engineering and Physical Sciences at the University of Southampton. Tom has been a member of the Transportation Research Group since 1994. His key research interests include i) understanding and improving the distribution of goods and the management of freight vehicles in urban areas, including the supply of goods to hospitals and the use of consolidation centres; ii) how optimisation techniques can be used to improve system efficiency and in what ways Intelligent Transport Systems (smart tagging of assets and the use of smartphones) can improve operating efficiency; iii) approaches to more effectively collect and manage the movement of waste in terms of both household domestic waste collection strategies, Household Waste Recycling Centre (HWRC) management and joint domestic/commercial waste collection strategies. He has participated in many EU and UK projects, having over 130 journal and conference papers published.

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