Submit an abstract: CLICK HERE
Register: CLICK HERE [Registration will close once we reach 25 participants.]
Full details: Efficiency and Productivity Assessment | Aston University
CLICK HERE to download the program (Will be available on April 1, 2026!)
Call for Papers/Presentations
The need to improve efficiency in higher education and public services has become particularly important in the UK context, where institutions face sustained financial constraints, growing regulatory and accountability requirements, and increasing expectations to demonstrate value for money alongside educational quality. Although efficiency and productivity analysis has attracted the attention of academics and policymakers, translating analytical results into actionable insights remains challenging. These challenges stem from the complexity of modelling public service production processes, data limitations, non-market outputs, and the reliance on composite indicators and performance metrics.
Recent advances in machine learning combined with performance analytics techniques such as Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) and Stochastic Frontier Analysis (SFA) offer new opportunities to address these issues by improving model flexibility, pattern discovery, and decision support, while also raising important questions around interpretability, robustness, and policy relevance. Improving the use of public resources is not only essential for financial sustainability but also for safeguarding quality, equity, and long-term performance in higher education and other public services.
The Workshop provides an ideal platform for presenting new methods, applications of existing techniques and advances in theoretical and empirical research from different multidisciplinary perspectives.
This workshop is organised by the Aston Business School and the Centre for Business Analytics in Practice of the University of Surrey. It aims to provide a dedicated platform for researchers, practitioners, and early-career scholars to exchange ideas, share insights, and discuss recent methodological and applied advances in DEA, machine learning and AI, as well as complementary parametric approaches such as SFA, with a particular focus on applications in higher education and public services.
Themes: DEA, Machine Learning and Artificial intellignece for Assessment of higher education and public services
Submission Guidelines: Authors are invited to submit original research papers or presentations related to the workshop themes. Submissions should adhere to the following guidelines:
- Abstracts should be no more than 250 words.
- Please include a title, list of authors, affiliations, ORCID and contact information (email) with your submission.
- All submissions will undergo a peer-review process.
- Please CLICK HERE to submit an abstract.
- Please CLICK HERE to register [Registration will close once we reach 25 participants.].
Important Dates:
- Abstract Submission Deadline: March 1, 2026 (Please CLICK HERE to submit an abstract)
- Notification of Acceptance: March 15, 2025
- Workshop Date: April 16 – 17, 2026
Registration:
- Please CLICK HERE to register.
- Registration Deadline: March 31, 2025 (Registration Fee: £75). (Non-refundable if you cancel or do not attend.)
- Early registration is highly recommended as spaces are limited. Registration will close once we reach 25 participants.
- Deatils: https://dataenvelopment.com/workshop/
- If you have any questions about registration, please contact: a.dehnokhalaji@aston.ac.uk
Workshop Format: The workshop will consist of keynote presentations, paper presentations and interactive sessions. We encourage active participation from all attendees to foster engaging discussions and collaborations. There will be scheduled time devoted to new paper development discussions among participants.
Invited Speakers:
 Professor Victor Podinovski Loughborough Business School, UK |  Dr Grammatoula Papaioannou Loughborough Business School, UK |  Professor Kristiaan H.J. Kerstens IESEG School of Management, Lille, France |
How to get to aston Business School: https://www.aston.ac.uk/about/visit
Exploring Birmingham: https://visitbirmingham.com/
Accommodation: We have agreed on a special rate with the conference Aston Hotel as follows. When booking, please use the code ‘DEA2026’. [For reservation please CLICK HERE]
- Room Only:
- City Single – £84
- City Double – £96
- Executive Double/Twin – £108
- Room with Breakfast:
- City Single – £96
- City Double – £108
- Executive Double/Twin – £122
We look forward to your participation and contributions to the DEA Workshop on “DEA and Machine Learning for Assessment of Higher Education and Public Services”.
Provisional Program:
| Day 1: 10.30-11.00: Registration and coffee 11.00-12.30: Opening + tutorials 12.30-13.30: Lunch 13.30-15.00: Paper presentations 15.00-15.30: Coffee break 15.30-17.30: Paper presentations 18.00-21.00: Dinner and Networking | Day 2: 08.30-09.00: Registration and coffee 09.00-10.30: Paper presentations 10.30-11.00: Coffee break 11.00-12.30: Paper presentations 12.30-13.30: Lunch 13.30-15.00: Paper presentations 15.00-15.30: Coffee break and closing session |
Contact information
Organising Committee: Akram Dehnokhalaji, Ali Emrouznejad, Majid Azadi, and Helen Higson
Contact: Email | LinkedIn | Twitter | Facebook | Website
Previous Workshops:
DEA Workshop 2025: https://dataenvelopment.com/workshop/deaw2025/
DEA Workshop 2024: https://dataenvelopment.com/workshop/deaw2024/
The Microsoft CMT service was used for managing the peer-reviewing process for this conference. This service was provided for free by Microsoft and they bore all expenses, including costs for Azure cloud services as well as for software development and support.