Some of our research projects
Counterterrorism
Over the past five years, terrorism has claimed hundreds of innocent lives in Europe. Examples are the Bataclan attack in Paris (2015), the truck incident in Nice (2016), the Ramblas attack in Barcelona (2017), and the bridge incident in London (2017). To better protect against such terrorist attacks, various governments have decided to establish and deploy so-called rapid-response teams. These heavily-armed and highly-trained teams are located in high potential attack regions, being capable to respond to attacks within minutes. For instance, in the United Kingdom, these teams operate on motorbikes in large cities such as London. The aim is to select the position of these teams carefully. This is a very challenging task, especially since terrorists may behave strategically. , Marco Slikker, Geert-Jan van Houtum and Loe Schlicher develop mathematical models that can identify the optimal locations of such protective resources while taking into account the strategic behavior of an opponent. We do so by combining non-cooperative game theory and location theory with each other.
Military supply chains
To optimize military supply chains, a lot can be learned from civil supply chains. However, there are sometimes important differences, for instance in military supply chains towards mission areas. These supply chains are only in use for a relatively short period of time and the number of emergency options that can be used is low compared to typical supply chains of high-tech original equipment manufacturers of civil equipment. Rob Basten, Loe Schlicher, and Marco Slikker, together with former and current PhD students, have developed models that can be used to determine whether and when additive manufacturing (a.k.a. 3D printing) of spare parts can improve equipment availability while decreasing costs. We do so using operations research and cooperative game theory. In a similar line of research, Melvin Drent and Loe Schlicher together with Bram Westerweel of the Dutch Defense Academy develop models that focus on maintenance of military equipment in contested airspaces during times of war.
Security and Protection
In today鈥檚 world, individuals are increasingly often threatened. For instance, in 2022, more than 1000 threats were reported by Dutch politicians and half of the Dutch lawyers experienced at least one incident of aggression. It is expected that these numbers will only increase, while the capacity to protect these individuals (e.g., via bodyguards) as well as the capacity to train new personnel is limited. In collaboration with the Dutch National Police, Marco Slikker, (Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, 果冻传媒) and Loe Schlicher investigate how guard capacity should be allocated optimally. We do so by using concepts from non-cooperative game theory.
More Information
For more information, please feel free to reach out to Loe Schlicher