Gilbert Laporte is Professor Emeritus at HEC Montréal. He obtained his Ph.D. in Operational Research at the London School of Economics in 1975. He was Professor of Operational Research at HEC Montréal and Canada Research Chair in Distribution Management until August 2020. He is now Professor at the School of Management of the University of Bath, United Kingdom, and Professor II at Molde University College, Norway. He is also Honorary Visiting Professor at the University of Liverpool, and Distinguished Professor at the Eindhoven University of Technology. He is a member of the Interuniversity Research Centre on Enterprise Networks, Logistics and Transportation (CIRRELT) and founding member of the Group for Research in Decision Analysis (GERAD). He has been Editor of Transportation Science, Computers & Operations Research and INFOR. He has authored or coauthored 20 books, as well as more than 600 scientific articles in combinatorial optimization, mostly in the areas of vehicle routing, location, districting and timetabling.
University studies
| Ph.D., Operational Research, London School of Economics (advisor: Ailsa H. Land) | 1972-1975 |
| M.A., Operational Research, Lancaster University, United Kingdom (advisor: Geoffrey Gregory) | 1971-1972 |
| B.Sc. Honours and First Class, Mathematics, McGill University | 1969-1971 |
| B.A., Mathematics, Collège Sainte-Marie, Université de Montréal | 1965-1969 |
University positions
| Professor Emeritus, HEC Montréal | 2021- |
| Honorary Professor, HEC Montréal | 2020- |
| Professor, School of Management, University of Bath, United Kingdom | 2020- |
| Professor II, Molde University College, Norway | 2006- |
| Canada Research Chair in Distribution Management | 2001-2020 |
| Professor, HEC Montréal | 1986-2020 |
| Associate Professor, HEC Montréal | 1980-1986 |
| Assistant Professor, HEC Montréal | 1976-1980 |
| Research Fellow, Département d’informatique, Université de Montréal | 1975-1976 |
Visiting appointments
| Honorary Visiting Professor, University of Liverpool, United Kingdom | 2019- |
| Distinguished Professor, Eindhoven University of Technology, the Netherlands | 2016- |
| Visiting Professor, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, China | 2013-2016 |
| Visiting Professor, University of Southampton, United Kingdom | 2010-2019 |
| Adjunct Professor, Bilkent University, Turkey | 2005-2010 |
| Invited Professor (three weeks), Bilkent University, Turkey | 2005, 2007 |
| Tow Lecturer (one week), Henry B. Tippie College of Business, University of Iowa, United States | 2005 |
| Invited Professor (one month), Université de Valenciennes et du Hainaut-Cambrésis, France | 2003 |
| Invited Professor (one week), University of Minnesota, United States | 2000 |
| Invited Professor (two months), Technical University of Denmark | 1998-1999, 2001 |
| Adjunct Professor, University of Alberta, Canada | 1995-2001 |
| Academic Host (eight weeks), École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Switzerland | 1994-1995 |
| Adjunct Professor, Université Laval, Canada | 1993-1996, 2004-2007 |
Directorships
| Director, Department of Quantitative Methods (now Decision Sciences), HEC Montréal | 1998-2001 |
| Director, Centre for Research on Transportation, Université de Montréal, HEC Montréal, Polytechnique Montréal | 1987-1991 |
| Director, Joint Ph.D. Program in Administration, HEC Montréal, McGill University, Concordia University, Université du Québec à Montréal | 1982-1985 |
| Director, Ph.D. Program, HEC Montréal | 1979-1985 |
| Director of Research, HEC Montréal | 1979-1985 |
Editorships
| Editor-in-Chief of Computers & Operations Research | 2003-2006 |
| Editor-in-Chief of Transportation Science | 1995-2002 |
| Editor (Operational Research) of INFOR: Information Science and Operational Research | 1987-1992 |
Current editorial activities
Associate Editor, Operations Research
Associate Editor, Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review
Associate Editor, Networks
Associate Editor, Naval Research Logistics
Associate Editor, Journal of the Operational Research Society
Associate Editor, TOP
Associate Editor, INFOR: Information Systems and Operational Research
Associate Editor, Decision Analytics
Member of the Editorial Advisory Board, Transportation Science
Member of the Editorial Board, Computers & Operations Research
Member of the Editorial Board, European Journal of Operational Research
Member of the Editorial Board, EURO Journal on Transportation and Logistics
Member of the Editorial Board, EURO Journal on Computational Optimization
Member of the Editorial Board, Pesquisa Operacional
Member of the Editorial Board, Industrial Engineering and Management Systems
Member of the Editorial Board, European Journal of Industrial Engineering
Member of the Editorial Board, International Journal of Shipping and Transport Logistics
Member of the Editorial Board, Communications in Transport Research
Member of the Editorial Board, Operations Research Perspective
Member of the Editorial Board, Cleaner Logistics and Supply Chain
Research environment and funding
In Canada, most of my research activities have taken place within the Interuniversity Research Centre on Enterprise Networks, Logistics and Transportation (CIRRELT) and the Group for Research in Decision Analysis (GERAD).
Between 1977 and 2020, I have received continuous funding from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) for my work on logistics and distribution management. I have also received frequent funding from the Fonds de recherche du Québec – Nature et technologies (FRQNT) for various team projects on resource optimization in transportation and logistics. Between 2001 and 2020, I have held the Canada Research Chair in Distribution Management, funded by the Canada Research Chairs Program.
Throughout my career I have maintained several collaborations with researchers in North and South America, Europe, Asia and Africa. Most of these collaborations have taken place in Europe (with over 300 trips in 23 countries). In Europe, I was namely international investigator at the University of Seville in four transportation and network design projects funded by the Spanish National Research Agency, and in one project funded by the Andalusian Research Plan; in one project at Aarhus University on transportation issues in waste management, funded by the Danish Council for Independent Research – Social Sciences; in one project at Universiteit Hasselt on optimization in logistics (OR4Logistics), funded by the Research Foundation Flanders. I am a member of the Centre for Smart Warehousing and Logistics Systems at the University of Bath.
In Asia, I am international investigator on the research project “Ship inspection planning in maritime transportation: Effective targeting of substandard ships and efficient routing of inspectors” at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, funded by the Hong Kong Research Grants Council. Several of my international research visits have been subsidized by various funds in Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Chile, China, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Uruguay.
In addition to doing research, I have acted or still act as scientific consultant or scientific board member for the Université de Liège, the LANCS Initiative in the United Kingdom, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Campus International sur la Sécurité et l’Intermodalité dans les Transports (CISIT), France, and PTV Group AG, Germany. I am also ambassador for YPC Technologies in Canada. I am now a member of the Committee of Professors of Operational Research (COPIOR) in the United Kingdom.
