Role
Antuela Tako is a Professor of Operations Research at Nottingham Business School. Her research focuses on developing systems modelling approaches, including simulation, systems modelling and problem structuring methods to solve important societal problems, primarily in healthcare, police custody, sustainability, circular economy and supply chains.
Career overview
Prior to joining Nottingham Trent University, Antuela was a Professor at Loughborough Business School where she held a significant leadership role as Director of Programme Quality and led the Simulation Practice Research Interest Group.
Antuela has a background in management science and operational research. She holds a bachelor’s degree from Athens University of Economics and Business (2002), MSc (with Distinction) in Operational Research and Management Sciences (2003), and a PhD in Operational Research (2009) from the University of Warwick. Prior to completing her PhD, Antuela worked in consultancy.
Antuela is an expert in developing quantitative and qualitative modelling approaches to support stakeholder engagement, primarily in Health and Social Care. She also works in Circular Economy and Net Zero.
Research areas
Antuela undertakes research on the practice of simulation modelling in Operational Research. Her research focuses on developing systems modelling approaches, including simulation, systems thinking and problem structuring methods to solve important societal problems, primarily in healthcare, police custody, sustainability, circular economy and supply chains.
Her research has appeared in the European Journal of Operational Research, Decision Support Systems, Journal of the Operational Research Society, Journal of Simulation and BMJ Quality and Safety.
Antuela's research interests include:
- Alternative simulation approaches (Discrete-Event Simulation, System Dynamics and Agent-based Modelling)
- Participative and facilitated simulation (and conceptual) modelling
- Behavioural Operational Research/Simulation.
- Problem structuring methods and systems thinking.
Antuela is an expert in developing quantitative and qualitative modelling approaches to support stakeholder engagement in process improvement initiatives. She has worked with a range of stakeholders in Health and Social Care organisations. She has over 20 years’ experience of running workshops with various stakeholder groups, primarily in the health sector. Example organisations include the Strategy Unit, East Midlands Ambulance Service, NHS Wales, Leicestershire County Council (the SIMTEGR8 project) which evaluated the design of integrated community-based health and social care services.
Antuela’s work on alternative simulation methods, started with her PhD on the comparison of simulation approaches (Discrete-Event Simulation and System Dynamics). This work was empirical in nature look at two different perspectives: how people go about modelling and using simulation models.
- As a result of this work, a number of leading academic publications have appeared on the comparison of Discrete-Event Simulation and System Dynamics.
- Antuela’s research has received international recognition. She received the Dana Meadows Award at the International System Dynamics Society Conference 2008.
- Antuela’s PhD thesis was also chosen as a finalist for the PhD Prize 2009 by the UK’s OR Society. Antuela continues to work in this area focusing on developing tools to support the choice of simulation methods.
Antuela’s works in the field of participative and facilitated simulation modelling aspires to involve stakeholders in the modelling process through client-oriented workshops. Antuela is co-founder of the PartiSim approach, an EPSRC-funded project. This stream of research brings an innovative approach to undertaking conceptual modelling and simulation modelling by introducing tools to support facilitated and participative modelling.
She also led the SIMTEGR8 project, which involved supporting and evaluating the set-up of integrated health and social care services for the elderly and frail, aimed at avoiding A&E referrals. As a result of this work, Antuela received the prestigious OR Society President Medal 2021 in the Operational Research field in the UK, awarded at the OR63 Annual Conference, (2021) for the best practical application of operational research work submitted, that demonstrates benefit, novelty, longevity of solutions and excellence of process.
Antuela works also in the field of behavioural OR, where she investigates how people learn from using simulation models and how emerging human behaviour is represented in models.
Antuela welcomes applications from prospective PhD students. Some example topics, but not exhaustive, are listed below:
- Circular Economy, NetZero and sustainability
- Equality, Diversity and Inclusion in STEM professions
- Learning from using simulation models
- Facilitated simulation and group-based decision making
- Healthcare modelling
- Problem structuring and systems thinking to improve policy and decision making
External activity
- Associate Editor, Journal of the Operational Research Society (ABS 3) (June 2017 – present).
- Area Editor (Group Modelling and Facilitation in Healthcare) Health Systems Journal, 2020 – current
- Independent Assessor Advanced HE for L7 Systems Thinking Practitioner Apprenticeships (2024 – current)
- Member of the Committee of Professors In Operational Research COPIOR (2023 – current)
- External Examiner, Southampton Business School (2020-2023).
- Track Co-Chair for the Hybrid Simulation track Winter Simulation Conference (2019 – current)
- Co-Chair of the Operational Research Society Simulation Workshop SW21, March 2021.
- Track Co-Chair for the Simulation Education track at the 2018 Winter Simulation Conference, 9-12 December 2018, Gothenburg, Sweden.
- Co-Chair of the Operational Research Society Simulation Workshop SW20, April 2020.
- Associate Editor of the Journal of Simulation (impact factor 1.218) (September 2018 – present).
- Member of the EPSRC Peer Review College Member (February 2018- present).
- Organising Committee Member for the UK’s Operational Research Society OR59 Annual Conference (September 2017) - Programme Scheduler & Simulation Stream Co-Organiser.
- Keynote speaker for the Simulation stream at the Young OR19 Conference, Aston Business School, Birmingham, September 2015.
- Programme Committee member for a number of national and international conferences, including the Winter Simulation Conference, OR Society’s Simulation Workshop, International Conference on Simulation and Modelling Methodologies, Technologies and Applications (SIMULTECH).
- Director of the NATCOR Simulation Course (2013 – 2020).
- Member of the NATCOR Executive Committee (2013-current)
- Chair of the OR Society’s Young OR18 conference, University of Exeter, 9-11 April 2013.
- Journal reviewer of the European Journal of Operational Research, Journal of the Operational Research Society, Decision Support Systems, OMEGA, Journal of Simulation, International Journal of Production Research, System Dynamics Review, etc.
- Winner of the Early Career Researcher Dean’s Award 2013, Loughborough Business School, Loughborough University.
- Dana Meadows Award for the best student paper submitted at the International System Dynamics Society Conference 2008.
- Antuela’s PhD thesis was chosen as a finalist for the PhD Prize 2009 by the UK’s OR Society.
Sponsors and collaborators
Prof Tako has so far secured funding in excess of £1.8m. Some example projects are listed below:
- Co-Investigator, EPSRC-funded project “Circular Economy for small medical devices” (ReMed) - £1.5M
- Co-Investigator, NIHR-funded project “Kenya-UK development award to support the design of a whole system approach to facilitate the functioning of the baby friendly community initiative within the Kenyan health system” - £100K
- Health Foundation/Wales NHS Modelling Collaborative, “Exploring implementation barriers of analytics and simulation projects in healthcare” £50K
- Principal Investigator, Simulation for Greater Care (SIMTEGR8) project, £128K.
Press expertise
Antuela has expertise in issues related to:
- healthcare and process improvement;
- supply chains, sustainability, Net Zero and circular economy;
- Equity, Diversity and inclusion, women and gender bias in STEM professions.