DEA Workshop: Efficiency and Productivity Assessment in Higher Education and Public Services: DEA, Machine Learning, and AI, April 16-17, 2026, Aston University, UK
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 intelligence for Assessment of higher education and public services The papers are not restricted to this theme and other applications are also welcomed.
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 follow this link to submit an abstract.
Important Dates
- Abstract Submission Deadline: March 20, 2026 (Please follow this link to submit an abstract)
- Notification of Acceptance: March 15, 2025
- Workshop Date: April 16 – 17, 2026
Registration
- Follow this link to register (Registration opens on February 1, 2025)
- 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.
- If you have any questions about registration, please contact Akram Dehnokhalaji.
Invited Speakers
- Professor Kristiaan Kerstens (CNRS–LEM, Lille & IESEG School of Management)
- Professor Viktor Podinovski (Loughborough University)
- Dr Grammatoula Papaioannou (Loughborough University)
How to get to Aston Business School
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 follow this link)
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
Organising Committee: Akram Dehnokhalaji, Ali Emrouznejad, Majid Azadi, and Helen Higson
Contact: Akram Dehnokhalaji
Dates, times and locations
Please note, this is a two day event.
16th April start time is 10:30-17:30 followed by dinner and networking from 18:00-21:00
17th April start time is 8:30-15:30
