BMRI Research Seminar by visiting professor Ram Ramanathan

On 26th June 2024 the BMRI welcomed a visiting professor Ram Ramanathan from the College of Business Administration, University of Sharjah, who presented his research on 'Linking Artificial Intelligence to Business Practices: Findings from European case studies for reducing food waste'.

Drawing on the experience from a large-scale European research project called REAMIT, the talk showcased how the continuous stream of data from IoT sensors could be used to gain useful insights by applying selected artificial intelligence (AI) tools.

Professor Ramanathan beginning his talk

This talk started with the discussion of AI, the global problem of food waste, and the importance of reducing it. The talk then discussed the salient features of the REAMIT project with a focus on the possibilities of using AI to generate interesting insights.

Professor Ramanathan talking about opportunities for utilising AI

Finally, a number of examples that hold promise for a large scale applications of AI was discussed.

An example dashboard

The seminar drew on, and extended further, some of the research studies presented in the Open Access book titled “New Multidisciplinary Approaches for Reducing Food Waste in Agribusiness Supply Chains”.

The seminar was well attended by more than 20 participants, both offline and online.

Professor Ramanathan and the participants of the talk

Professor Ram Ramanathan, prior to joining the University of Sharjah, worked at the Essex Business School, the Business School of the University of Bedfordshire, Luton, and Nottingham University Business School in the UK. In the past, he has worked and taught in a number of countries, including the UK, Finland, the Netherlands, Oman and India. He has taught basic and advanced courses on Operations Management, Production Systems Management, Supply Chain Management, Optimization Theory, Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA), Management Science, Business Statistics, Simulation, Energy and Environment, Energy and Environmental Economics, Energy and Transport Economics, and others. Ram has successfully completed more than 34 research projects across the world. His recent research projects include: the REAMIT project funded by the Interreg North West Europe aimed at using big data and IoT technologies for reducing food waste in the agribusiness supply chain; the Project Insight on improving farm operations using data from robots; the CoFFEE project on shaping the evolution of the future flight industry, and more knowledge transfer partnerships. In addition, Ram is on the editorial boards of several journals and in the technical/advisory committees of several international conferences in his field. He has produced seven books, more than 160 research publications in journals and more than 215 conference presentations. His research articles have appeared in many prestigious internationally refereed journals including Omega, Journal of Business Ethics, Tourism Economics, International Journal of Production Economics, Supply Chain Management, International Journal of Operations & Production Management, European Journal of Operational Research, Transport Policy, and, Transportation Research.