The 15^th Triennial Conference of the International Federation of Operational Research Societies (IFORS ) will be held in Beijing, August 16 - 20, 1999. Our host is the Operations Research Society of China. There is a Conference Home Page , which offers a wealth of administrative and technical information. In case you are not familiar with ways and means of this kind of international conference, this is a good place to go into details and start preparations. For those who need only the keywords, such as where to register, place special requests, or make reservations, the respective links and information can be accessed from this site directly.

Starting back in 1995 at INFORMS New Orleans, and repeated twice since then (San Diego and Tel Aviv), the programmatic title for presenting research and applications in the field of Decision Analysis, Utility Theory, and Behavioral Decision Making has served successfully to gather scholars of high expertise. In Beijing, we want to push forward the integration of those foci another significant step. Thanks to all that agreed to accept the invitation to participate, we can expect to learn a lot about refined approaches, new thoughts and to participate in lively discussions.

Beijing is definitely a place you do not want to miss on your agenda of outstanding destinations. In case you have been to China and Beijing before, you will be eager to renew your experiences with the impressive culture and, of course, to witness the dynamics of change China is going through. Instead of trying to gather an appropriate range information on Beijing right here, I like to point you to 'Destination Beijing' by Lonely Planet; there you find a well-structured and very informative resource. Upon registering or by referring to the contact options listed on the Conference Home Page , you can learn more about pre- and post-conference tours the Local Organizing Committee is preparing for.