First International Nurse Rostering Competition 2010 (August 10 -13, 2010, Belfast, UK)

In hospitals much effort is spent producing rosters which are workable and of a high quality for their nurses. Though the Nurse Rostering Problem is known to be a difficult combinatorial optimisation problem of practical relevance, it has received ample attention mainly in recent years. Building on the success of the two timetabling competitions, ITC2002 and ITC2007, the First International Nurse Rostering Competition (INRC2010) aims to further develop interest in the general area of rostering and timetabling while providing researchers with models of the problems faced which incorporate an increased number of real world constraints. A first important goal of INRC2010 is to generate new approaches to the associated problems by attracting users from all areas of research. As with many cases in the past, significant advancements have been made in research areas by attracting multi-disciplinary approaches and comparing them on a common ground. The second important goal is to close the gap which currently exists between research and practice within this important area of operational research. Although for the sake of the competitive element, we do not include all aspects of the 'real world' problem, we do build on the recent developments to introduce significantly more depth and complexity. A third goal of INRC2010 is to further stimulate debate within the widening rostering and timetabling research community.