The VeRoLog Doctoral Dissertation Prize (VeRoLog DDP) is issued by the EURO working group on Vehicle Routing and Logistics optimization (VeRoLog) and is awarded at each VeRoLog annual conference.

The purpose of the prize is to distinguish an outstanding PhD thesis on Operational Research methods applied to Vehicle Routing and Logistics Optimization.

The prize will be awarded at the VeRoLog 2026 conference (Bath, UK, 6-9 July 2026) for theses defended in 2025.

Eligibility of applications

The VeRoLog DDP 2026 jury will only consider PhD theses in Operational Research defended between 1 January 2025, and 31 December 2025. Nominations are NOT restricted to members of societies that belong to the EURO.

To be considered, a dissertation must be nominated by the supervisor of the thesis (one of them in case of multiple supervisors). The supervisor of the dissertation is asked to provide the jury with the following information by Saturday 28 February 2026:

1. The pdf file of the submitted dissertation.
2. An extended abstract (up to 5 pages) of the dissertation. This abstract should be written in English.
3. If the dissertation is not written in English, a paper in English by the author of the dissertation describing the core ideas of the thesis. This paper should preferably have been published or submitted to an international journal.
4. Nomination letters (or reports) from two independent referees selected by the dissertation supervisor, supporting the submission and stating why the thesis should win the award. These referees can be jury member or co-author, but (preferably) not (co-)supervisor.
5. An up-to-date CV of the candidate, including a list of publications.
6. If applicable, an overview of where to find the publicly available data or code related to the dissertation.

No nomination will be considered without these items.

All information should be sent in electronic form to the chairman of the jury, Prof. Kris Braekers, using a compressed format (e.g. zip) to the email address kris.braekers@uhasselt.be.

Since many PhD theses in OR are defended each year, the jury would like to remind supervisors that this is a very competitive prize and only outstanding pieces of work should be submitted for consideration.

Jury

The jury of VeRoLog DDP 2026 is:

1. Kris Braekers, Hasselt University, Belgium (chair)
2. Remy Spliet, Erasmus University Rotterdam, the Netherlands
3. Tânia Rodrigues Pereira Ramos, University of Lisbon, Portugal

Selection process

The members of the jury will give full consideration to each application. The jury evaluates the applications, taking the following criteria into account:

• originality and novelty of the subject,
• pertinence of the subject to the VeRoLog DDP,
• depth and breadth of the results,
• contributions of the dissertation to the theory and practice of OR applied to Vehicle Routing and Logistics Optimization,
• applications and/or potential applicability of the results,
• impact on related fields,
• quality of the related publications,
• openness of the work to the community

The jury may decide not to assign the prize if no thesis reaches the required level of quality.

Award

The prize consists of a certificate, a reward of Euro 500, and a fee waiver to the VeRoLog 2026 conference in Bath, UK, 6-9 July 2026, where the prize will be awarded.

Deadlines

The deadline for submitting applications is Saturday 28 February 2026.