UROP Project

From Right to Reality – Analyzing and Optimizing Demand Fulfilment for Children’s Day-Care

Measure 1.2: Fostering Interdisciplinary Research

So far, day-care for small children is mostly regarded as a personal matter. However, in 2013 a new law established a right to day-care, rendering effective and efficient planning overdue. In most municipalities, children's day-care slots are assigned in a decentralized fashion. As a result, families have to either accept the first offer they get, which does not have to be the most desirable, or accept the risk of not being assigned a day-care slot at all. Most sign up for several facilities; waiting lists are processed after the first assignments and cancellations. The current process is neither effective nor efficient with regard to the number of assignments, the time to decision, and the stakeholders' satisfaction. Our aim is to improve the day-care demand fulfillment by analyzing demand data collected in Aachen, simulation, and mathematical optimization. This project includes collaboration between researchers in mathematics and business information systems.

Task

Depending on your previous experience, you get to - Analyze and visualize socio-geographic demand data - Design and build an agent-based simulation of child-care slot allocation - Model the problem mathematically and try out first solutions

Requirements

Basic statistics and math, programmers are welcome, willingness to work with software and develop new skills in data analysis and simulation.