Universidad Rey Juan Carlos
The organisation
URJC is the most modern public university in Spain. Located in Southern Madrid, it currently comprises around 25000 students and nearly 2000 lecturers. It excels in two areas relevant for this proposal: Decision Systems Engineering and Terrorism Analysis, with the best postgraduate programs in the field in Spain, comprising more than 120 students together.
Relevant skills/experience/technologies
The URJC team is multidisciplinary covering three relevant themes: risk management via stochastic optimization; the combination of game theoretic concepts and risk analysis through adversarial risk analysis; the analysis of terrorism from a socio-political point of view. They have ample experience in risk analysis applications in technological areas with quantitative models. They have ample experience in applied public policy analysis.
Role in the project
The URJC team will aid in developing risk analysis methods, model and tools of relevance in critical infrastructure protection taking into account the presence of intelligent adversaries. They will also bring in ample socio-political experience in dealing with terrorism. They will support the application of those models in the proposed case studies.
Interest in the project
The URJC team is mainly interested in testing the methods and models they have developed over the years in risk management and analysis in presence of intelligent adversaries in complex case studies and improve, in consequence, such models to make them available to a wider comunity.
Related Projects
Some of the European projects in which the team has taken part and related with this proposal are: HChLOUSO (HydroChemical Logistics Optimization under Uncertainty via Stochastic Optimization), ESPRIT, PE24897; WARSYP (Water Resource Systems Planning), INCO-ENV PL950845; SCHUMANN (Supply Chain Uncertainty Managenent Network), ESPRIT PE26267; Study on the methods through which violent radicals mobilise support for terrorism and find new recruits European Commission; European Network of Victims of Terrorism, VNET II; European Network of Victims of Terrorism, VNET I; Toward Electronic Democracy (ESF), ENRIMA (ICT FP7).
Key Personnel
David Rios Insua is Professor of Statistics and Operations Research and the youngest member of the Spanish Royal Academy of Sciences. He led the NSF program in Risk Analysis, Extreme Events and Decision Theory and leads the Madrid Excellence Group in Risk Analysis. He has been PI in 35 sponsored projects. He has written 15 books and 89 papers in his areas of interest: risk analysis, decision analysis and negotiation analysis. He has recently introduced the first framework for adversarial risk analysis in a JASA paper.
Rogelio Alonso is Associate Professor of Politics and Security Studies. He coordinates the Unit for Documentation and Analysis on Terrorism, as well as a PhD and Master programme in Terrorism. He has received several international academic awards for his publications on terrorism. He has been a member of the European Commission’s Expert Group on Violent Radicalisation. He is the author of five books on terrorism, among them The IRA and armed struggle. His latest publications include several academic articles and chapters on international terrorism and anti terrorist responses in Europe and the North of Africa, as well as the radicalization processes of Salafist Jihadist.
Laureano F. Escudero is Professor of Statistics and Operations Research. In the period 2003-04 he was the President of EURO (Association of European Operational Research Societies), and a holder of its Golden Pin. He has worked at IBM Research, Scientific and Development Centers in Madrid, Palo Alto, Sindelfingen and Yorktown Heights. He has held managerial positions at the IBERDROLA group. He is the author of several books and more than 100 scientific papers published in leading journals, and holds two patents. He has worked in risk management via stochastic optimization for nearly twenty years.