I recently presented my master's research at ORSSA's 47th annual conference in the Drakensberg (see programme here). The venue, Champagne Sports Resort, was absolutely stunning - you could see the mountains from practically everywhere on the property.

The highlights for me were the keynote speeches by Susara van den Heever and Riaan de Jongh, who painted an exciting picture of where OR is heading, especially with all the developments in Big Data and Data Sciences. John Chaves from IBM also gave a fascinating peek into their Decision Optimization Center and how it's changing the game for optimization applications.

My own presentation looked at developing better models for predicting how risky different roads and intersections are for drivers. I reviewed different road risk evaluation methods in conjunction with the possible application of various machine learning algorithms. My aim was to create a decision support system capable of identifying road accident patterns so that help authorities can make smarter decisions about traffic safety measures.

Aside from the academic discussions, the social side of the conference was just as memorable. The cocktail evening on the terrace provided a breathtaking view of the Central Drakensberg, and the Monday night social event was a true South African Braai, accompanied by a live duo performance. The highlight of the social program was the conference banquet, during which the highly anticipated award ceremony took place.

Looking back, those few days were pretty special - great conversations about research, new connections made, all while surrounded by some of South Africa's most beautiful mountains.I can't wait for next year's conference!