Awards

Recognition is not an end point, but the energy that drives continued innovation

Awards and Recognition

Recognized research, real-world impact.

Research Awards

Over the years, the Operations Research & Scheduling Group has received international recognition for its contributions to project performance management, data-driven project control, and earned value management. The group's research combines methodological innovation with practical relevance and is carried out in close collaboration with doctoral researchers and international partners.

In 2022, the group's work was recognized when Mario Vanhoucke received the CPM Professor of the Year Award from the College of Performance Management (USA) for excellence in teaching and for his academic publications and books in the area of project performance management.

In 2020, the group was honored twice. The research team consisting of Mario Vanhoucke, José Coelho, Annelies Martens, Tom Servranckx, Gaëtane Beernaert and Jordy Batselier received the IPMA Global Research Award in Berlin for the project "Data-driven project management: Research by and for academics, students, and practitioners." In the same year, Mario Vanhoucke received the Vlerick Researcher of the Year Award for his publication record and for the development of case studies for the course module "Data-driven Project Management."

In 2018, Annelies Martens received the PMI Belgium PhD Award for her doctoral research entitled "Buffer management methods for project control."

In 2017, the Elsie Cropper Award for Best Paper was presented at the Young OR Conference in London for the study "In pursuit of more accurate project forecasts: Integration of earned value management with exponential smoothing and reference class forecasting," presented by Jordy Batselier.

In 2011, at the annual meeting of the American Accounting Association in Denver, Mario Vanhoucke received the Notable Contributions to Management Accounting Literature Award for the paper "A Simulation Analysis of Interactions among Errors in Costing Systems," published in The Accounting Review and co-authored with Eva Labro (Kenan-Flagler Business School).

Earlier recognition includes the IPMA Research Award received in 2008 at the IPMA World Congress in Rome for research on project control and the integration of Earned Value Management into the OR-AS software tool ProTrack, awarded to Mario Vanhoucke.

Finally, in 2007, the Belgian chapter of the Project Management Institute (PMI Belgium) awarded Mario Vanhoucke the PMI Research Collaborations Fund for his research on "Measuring Time" and for disseminating these results to the Belgian project management community.

Teaching Awards

The Operations Research & Scheduling Group is committed not only to advancing research but also to excellence in teaching. Over the years, several members of the group have been recognized for their outstanding contributions to education, reflecting a dedication to fostering learning, curiosity, and practical understanding in students across undergraduate, master's, and executive programs.

Mario Vanhoucke and colleagues have received numerous teaching awards, including the Best Teacher Award from Vlerick Business School's Masters in International Management and Strategy program in 2018 and 2019 and from Vlerick Business School's Masters Business Analytics & AI program in 2025, as well as multiple awards from Ghent University's Business Engineering program in 2013, 2014 and 2015. Earlier recognition includes the Best Teacher Award for the International MBA program at Vlerick Business School in 2002.