| DEA Course: | |
| Dates: Thursday, December 3, 2026 – 13.00 to 17.30 (UK time) Friday, December 4, 2026 – 13.00 to 17.30 (UK time) Saturday, December 5, 2026 – 13.00 to 17.30 (UK time) Presenters: Professor Emmanuel Thanassoulis & Professor Ali Emrouznejad |
Places are limited and will be allocated by order of receipt of registration fees.Deadline for early registration fee before October 31, 2026Online – MS TEAMS There is also a 50% discount of the early registration fee for those who have taken this course before and wish to retake it in its new format. If you qualify please contact us on PEMA@btinternet.com letting us know the year you took the course. |
Aims:
| DEA Course: | |
| This intensive three-day course provides a comprehensive introduction to Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) and its latest developments, including the integration of Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) into efficiency and productivity analysis. The course combines rigorous theoretical foundations with extensive hands-on practical sessions using modern DEA software and programming environments. Participants will learn how DEA can be applied to evaluate the performance of organizations operating in complex multi-input and multi-output environments across sectors such as the regulation of network industries, healthcare, banking, education, manufacturing, energy, transportation, government, and sustainability. The course begins with the fundamental DEA models under constant and variable returns to scale before progressing to advanced topics including productivity change over time (Malmquist indices), target setting, benchmarking, incorporating judgements on trade offs between the factors of production and handling undesirable outputs and environmental factors in DEA assessments. A distinctive feature of this course is the integration of Generative AI into the DEA workflow. Participants will learn how Large Language Models (LLMs) such as ChatGPT can assist with: – preparing DEA datasets; – generating DEA models and optimisation code; – interpreting DEA results; – automating reporting and benchmarking analyses; Throughout the course, participants will work with real-world datasets and practical case studies while gaining experience using PIM-DEA software, together with demonstrations in Generative AI. |
Testimonials from a sample of previous participants:
| Sahar – PhD Student in Business and Management – United Kingdom – 2026 | |
| The course was extremely helpful for me. It covered the concepts of DEA in a comprehensive and in-depth way, and the explanations of the methodology were very clear. It answered all the questions I had and significantly improved my understanding of the method. In addition to the theoretical concepts, the course introduced us to the software used for DEA, which makes implementing the methodology much easier in practice. Overall, I found the course highly valuable and would strongly recommend it to anyone who works with or plans to use DEA in their research. | |
| Lambros – Operational Research Professional and PhD Student, Manufacturing Sector, United Kingdom – 2025 | |
| The DEA course and the SFA sessions that went with it were an excellent learning experience. The material was rigorous but stayed accessible throughout, moving sensibly from first principles into more advanced territory. What I valued most was the balance: theory, worked examples, and real time spent on how to interpret what the results actually mean. The delivery invited discussion rather than shutting it down, making difficult topics feel approachable without ever feeling watered down. I have worked in Operational Research in manufacturing for many years, so parts of this were familiar ground. Even so, I came away with new perspectives on efficiency measurement and performance evaluation rather than just a refresher. My PhD work sits close to this, focusing on performance measurement, efficiency analysis, and decision support in manufacturing systems, and I have already been able to apply ideas and techniques from both the DEA and SFA sessions directly to that research. My methodological grounding is firmer, I am more confident about which efficiency model to use and how to interpret it, and several of the insights carry over into industrial practice as much as into academic work. I would recommend these sessions without hesitation to anyone, researcher or practitioner, who wants a thorough and usable understanding of frontier efficiency analysis. | |
| Katerina – PhD, Assistant Professor – Croatia 2025 | |
| Even though I was the only participant who had already pursued a PhD, this course really helped me clarify some of the foundations and applications of the DEA methodology. The pace was adjusted to the group, and there were many examples to capture the theory in practice. Highly recommended! | |
| Tomaso – PhD student – Italy – 2025 | |
| I am a PhD student in Economics at the University of Florence in Italy. Although I already had some background in benchmarking and efficiency analysis, I found DEA and SFA courses extremely valuable. They helped me to organise and consolidate the knowledge I had previously acquired, while also giving me the opportunity to revisit the fundamentals of efficiency analysis in a clear and structured way. At the same time, the courses went beyond the basics and addressed several critical aspects that are particularly important when applying these models in real research contexts. What I especially appreciated was the balance between structured teaching and open discussion. The lectures were clear and appropriately rigorous for a workshop of this kind, which in my view reasonably assumes a basic level of preparation from participants. At the same time, there was also space to ask specific questions and discuss practical issues as they emerged. I found this aspect particularly useful, as I was able to relate the course content to my own ongoing research projects and reflect more carefully on some methodological choices. The opportunity to interact directly with leading experts in the field made the sessions not only informative, but also genuinely engaging and stimulating. Overall, I found the courses very well designed, intellectually rewarding, and highly useful for strengthening both my theoretical understanding and my ability to apply DEA and SFA in practice On a more personal note, and not necessarily as part of the review for the website, one aspect that I would find particularly stimulating in future editions is an even greater focus on the interpretation of efficiency results. In my view, this is one of the most delicate and interesting parts of this type of analysis: understanding how to read the scores critically, how to relate them to the assumptions and modelling choices, and how to communicate the results without treating them as merely mechanical outputs. I think this would be especially useful for participants who are applying these methods to real research projects or policy-related questions. | |
| Deborah — PhD student, Chemical and Environmental Engineering, Spain – 2024 | |
| I found the DEA course extremely valuable for my doctoral research, which focuses on assessing and improving the efficiency of processes within the urban water cycle. The course content was clear, well‑structured, and offered a solid balance between theory and practical examples. The delivery style was engaging and made the methodology accessible even for participants new to DEA. Although I have not yet applied DEA directly in my thesis, the course has provided me with the conceptual foundation and practical understanding needed to incorporate benchmarking techniques confidently in the near future. It has become an essential part of my methodological preparation and will play a key role in strengthening the analytical framework of my research. | |
Presenters
Emmanuel Thanassoulis – Emeritus Professor in Management Sciences, (Aston University, Birmingham, UK).
Emmanuel is a world authority on the key method of Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) and its use within the field of efficiency and productivity measurement. He has published numerous papers on DEA in top rated academic journals, has authored Introduction to the Theory and Application of Data Envelopment Analysis: A foundation text with integrated software (Springer), and co-authored ‘DEA – The Mathematical Programming Approach to Efficiency Analysis’, in The Measurement of Productive Efficiency and Productivity Growth (Oxford University Press). He has served on the Editorial Board of the European Journal of Operational Research, a top rated journal for learned publications in the field of efficiency and productivity analysis. He has developed DEA Software and has offered advice on efficiency measurement to a variety of organisations including the consultancy Partnership Oxera (www.Oxera.com), the UK Department for Education and Skills, the Department for Communities and Local Government, the Home Office, the Audit Commission, OFWAT (water regulator in England and Wales), Transco, Severn Trent Water, and to Transmission Service Operators Netze BW (Germany), Terranets (Germany) and GTS (Holland).
Ali Emrouznejad – Professor of Business Analytics (University of Surrey, Guildford, UK) – [https://emrouznejad.com/]
Ali is a Professor of Business Analytics and Director of Centre for Business Analytics in Practice at Surrey Business School, UK. His areas of research interest include performance measurement and management, efficiency and productivity analysis as well as data mining. Professor Emrouznejad is Editor of Annals of Operations Research, Associate Editor of Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Associate Editor of IMA journal of Management Mathematics, Associate Editor of RAIRO Operations Research Journal, Senior Editor of the Data Envelopment Analysis journal, and member of editorial boards in several other scientific journals. He has published over 100 articles in top ranked journals, he has also published several DEA books including “Performance Measurement with Fuzzy DEA” (Springer) and “Managing Service Productivity” (Springer). Dr Emrouznejad has delivered training courses in UK< France, Hongkong, China, Peru, and many other countries. He has worked on several DEA projects around the world including assessment of Higher education in UK, assessment of health services in Kenya or South Africa, environmental assessment in China, etc…. He is also co-founder of Performance Improvement Management Software (PIM-DEA (www.deasoftware.co.uk) and founder of the DEA webpage, http://www.DEAzone.com.
Who should participate?
This course is designed for:
- Researchers and postgraduate students
- Academics interested in efficiency and productivity analysis
- Consultants and analysts
- Those in government and local authorities interested in assessing the scope for efficiency savings
- Healthcare managers
- Banking and financial analysts
- Manufacturing and service organisations
- Those dealing with efficiency and productivity analyses within the utilities regulatory sector
- Anyone wishing to learn DEA from beginner to advanced level
No previous knowledge of DEA is required. Familiarity with basic statistics or optimisation is helpful but not essential.
Free Access to DEA Software
PIM-DEA software:
As part of this course all participants will be given free 30 days licence with all features of the PIM-DEA, limited to 1000 comparative units. The licence and installation instructions will be sent to you 2 days before the course starts.
Details about this software is available at http://www.deasoftware.co.uk/.
Teaching Schedule:
| The topics listed below are indicative and may be rearranged across the three days | |
Day 1 – Foundations of DEA and Software Applications:
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Fees / Payment / Registration
Payment is required in full upon registration. This can be made by major credit / debit cards.
By registering you accept that you have read and agree to the “Short Course Terms and Conditions”. [Pease note that this course will run only if there is enough registration; otherwise, it will be postponed to a new date. If you are unable to participate on the new date, you may request a refund.]
This course runs online (using MS TEAM Software) and so you should have internet connection. If there is any issue with the payment system please contact pema@btinternet.com
| Students | Non-students | |
|---|---|---|
| Early registration fee – DEA Course (Pay before October 31, 2026) | £ 695 | £ 995 Click to PAY |
| DEA Course only (Pay from November 1, 2026) | £ 795 | £ 1,195 Click to PAY |
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