Forecasting Impact

In this episode, we talk to Prof. Tao Hong, a Distinguished Professor at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte . Tao provides his insights on the future of energy forecasting research, and why we need to focus on reproducibility. He discusses the Global Energy Forecasting competitions, and what we have learned from them. He also sheds light o n the importance of industry and academic colla...

In this episode, we spoke to Prof Galit Shmueli, Tsing Hua Distinguished Professor at the Institute of Service Science, and Institute Director at the College of Technology Management, National Tsing Hua University.  Galit talked with us about the multi-disciplinary work she has done over the years, as well as the differences between statistical models that are purposed for predicting as opposed to...

In this episode, we spoke with Dr. Ataman Ozyildrim from The Conference Board .  We discussed leading economic indicators and its importance in tracking the economy's business cycle. He provided his insights on the current situation of the economy. He continued by pointing to the changes in supply chain trends. We also talked about the digital economy and measuring innovation in organisations...

Nikolaos Kourentzes is Professor of Predictive Analytics at the University of Skövde (Sweden) in the Artificial Intelligence Lab as well as a member of the Centre for Marketing Analytics and Forecasting, at Lancaster University in the United Kingdom. In this episode, Nikos talks about the role of AI and judgement in forecasting, and what we as forecasters need to learn from other fields such as al...

Polly Mitchell-Guthrie is the VP of Industry Outreach and Thought Leadership at Kinaxis. In this episode, Polly talks to us about the collaboration between the academic and business worlds. She tackles topics such as possible synergies, building trustful cooperation and proper forecasting communication. She also shares with us the forecasters' ABCs rule.

Trevor Sidery is a Lead Data Scientist at Tesco PLC. In this episode, Trevor unveils the mystery of how astrophysics and fluid dynamics studies leads to forecasting. Trevor discusses the forecasting process within a large retail company, and which business component models are predicting and how models are selected. He elaborates on best practices on scaling forecasting models on large amount of t...

Jim Hoover is a clinical professor and Director of Business Analytics and Artificial Intelligence Center at the Warrington School of Business, University of Florida.  In this episode, Jim shares some of his experiences in the US Navy where he worked in several decision-making roles and used forecasting/operation research tools for over two decades.  Jim emphasises the importance of open source sof...

 Our next guest is Len Tashman, Professor Emeritus of business administration at the University of Vermont, US. He is the founding and continuing editor of Foresight: The International Journal of Applied Forecasting . Len tells us how the “Foresight” journal was established in 2005, the main idea behind it, and how it is going now. This journal provides up-to-date research for practitioners and fo...

Jennifer Castle is an Economics Fellow at Magdalen College, Oxford University and a research fellow at Climate Econometrics, Oxford University. Jennifer talks about economic forecasting models and the role of structural breaks (e.g., Covid pandemic) in forecasting. We also discuss climate change and how it can be forecasted using econometric tools and scenario analysis. Jennifer recommends two boo...

Evangelos Spiliotis is a Research Fellow at the Forecasting and Strategy Unit, National Technical University of Athens (NTUA). He co-organised the M4 and M5 Forecasting Competitions and is an organiser of the M6 competition. Evangelos talks about his research directions, highlighting the role of machine learning algorithms in time series forecasting within current business processes. He also discu...

Our next guest is Paul Goodwin, Emeritus Professor at the University of Bath, United Kingdom. Paul is a fantastic speaker, well-known for his research in judgemental forecasting, and author of numerous books. This conversation developed into several exciting tracks. We discussed uncertainty and human perception, a combination of statistical models (especially in spreadsheets) and judgments, and th...

This episode’s guest is Elaine Deschamps, Executive Director of the Washington State Caseload Forecast Council, an independent state agency. Elaine has spent 25 years in public service, previously as Senior Fiscal Analyst for the Washington State Senate Ways and Means Committee, in charge of the low-income health care and public health budgets. Elaine explains how public service forecasting works...

Our next guests are John Boylan, Professor and Director of Centre for Marketing Analytics and Forecasting (CMAF) at Lancaster University (UK), and Aris Syntetos, Professor of Operational Research and Operations Management at Cardiff University. John and Aris have recently published a book titled “Intermittent Demand Forecasting: Context, Methods and Applications”, a book aimed at practitioners and...

This episode’s guest is Dr. Anne Robinson, Chief Strategy Officer at Kinaxis . Anne is a thought leader in the field of analytics and digital transformation, with expertise in operations, supply chain and strategy. In this episode, Anne talks about her career path from academia to the customer and software vendor experience. We also discuss the role of trust and analytical and soft skills that are...

Our next guest is Feng Li, Associate Professor of Statistics in the School of Statistics and Mathematics at Central University of Finance and Economics in Beijing, China.     In this episode, he describes the current status of forecasting science and practice in China, his research focus, and his lab KLLAB, where he and his wife Dr Yanfei Kang are focused on computing, forecasting and learning wit...

Our next guest is Professor Nada Sanders , Distinguished Professor in Supply Chain Management at Northeastern University, US. She has written several books (e.g., “Big Data Driven Supply Chain Management” (Pearson), “Foundations of Sustainable Business”, “Forecasting Fundamentals”), her latest publication is “The Humachine: Humankind, Machines, and the Future of Enterprise”. In this episode, Nada...

This episode’s guest is Pierre Pinson , Professor of Operations Research at the Technical University of Denmark (DTU), Department of Technology, Management and Economics (Management Science division), and Editor-in-Chief for the International Journal of Forecasting.   In this episode, we talk about weather forecasting and communicating uncertainty to a broader audience. Following the current trend...

In this episode, we had the honour to host Dr. Bahman Rostami-Tabar from Cardiff University. Bahman is a Senior Lecturer (Associate Professor) in Management Science at Cardiff Business School. His research focuses on forecasting, modelling and its link to decision making, particularly in forecasting for social good. He is the organizer of the Forecasting for Social Good workshops which investigate...

Our next guest is Michael Gilliland, Product Marketing Manager at SAS, member of the board of directors of the International Institute of Forecasters (IIF) and Associate Editor of Foresight: The International Journal of Applied Forecasting. In this episode, Mike tells us how he started his career in forecasting and became a part of the IIF. We also discuss ML/AI methods' role in forecasting a...

This special episode is dedicated to the International Institute of Forecasters (IIF) and the International Symposium on Forecasting (ISF).  George Athanasopoulos, the current IIF President, is the Professor and Deputy Head of the Department of Econometrics & Business Statistics at Monash University, Australia. Pam Stroud has been the IIF Business Director for the last 15 years. In this episod...

Our next guest is Spyros Makridakis , Professor at the University of Nicosia, the director of the Institute For the Future (IFF), and an Emeritus Professor at INSEAD. Spyros is also one of the co-founders of the IIF and has significantly contributed to the field by running famous forecasting M-competitions. In this episode, we get his advice on how to build a forecasting career and why strategy is...

This episode’s guest is Stephan Kolassa , Data Science Expert at SAP Switzerland AG, Honorary Researcher, and Associate Editor for the practitioner-oriented journal Foresight: The International Journal of Applied Forecasting. Stephan’s varied work allows him to bring insights from business into academia, combining the best of both worlds. This episode discusses his day-to-day job, his research, an...

This episode’s guest is Gloria González-Rivera , Professor of Economics and Associate Dean, College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences, at the University of California Riverside, USA.  In the episode, we discuss important topics such as the issues with diversity in our community and how to advocate for positivity and open-mindedness, especially in connections between academic forecasters and...

Our second guest is Robert Fildes , Distinguished Professor and Director of the Centre of Marketing Analytics and Forecasting (CMAF) at Lancaster University, UK. Robert is one of the founding fathers of the IIF, alongside J. Scott Armstrong, Spyros Makridakis, and Robert Carbone. This episode explores Robert’s experience working towards his PhD in statistics at the University of California, his pr...

Our first guest is the well-known forecaster Rob Hyndman , Professor of Statistics and Head of the Department of Econometrics & Business Statistics at Monash University, Australia.  In this episode, we talk about his career, projects, challenges, a history behind his R packages, and some consultancy work tips.