Associate Professor Trung Hieu Tran, Reader in AI and Digital Innovation at Loughborough Business School, has received the Operational Research Society's 2026 Lyn Thomas Award for research supporting agricultural waste management and biomass energy planning in Vietnam.
The award recognises operational research combining academic novelty with demonstrated real-world impact. The research, developed with Dr Thu Ba T. Nguyen of the University of Bedfordshire and supported by funding from the UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office, created planning models to help rural authorities determine optimal locations for agricultural waste storage and treatment facilities, alongside vehicle routing between sites.
The models incorporate disruption risk factors including flooding, facility reliability and vulnerable road networks. They are designed to minimise operational costs whilst ensuring agricultural waste—particularly rice straw—is collected and converted into bio-organic fertiliser and biomass energy, supporting circular agricultural systems.
The planning approach has been implemented in Quang Tri province since 2022 as part of a 20-year sustainable agriculture and waste-management strategy, and was expanded to An Giang province in the Mekong Delta in 2024.
Evidence submitted with the award application indicates that, in Quang Tri between 2022 and 2025, the approach supported elimination of open burning for 6.5 million tonnes of rice straw, avoided 5.6 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions, and displaced 2.1 million tonnes of inorganic fertiliser through bio-organic alternatives.
The application also reports increased household income, new rural employment, and reductions in respiratory illness and smoke-related road accidents in the region.
Vietnam produces more than 76 million tonnes of agricultural waste annually, according to the award application. Open-field burning of this material—a common disposal method—contributes significantly to air, soil and water pollution.
By enabling systematic collection and repurposing of agricultural residues into biomass energy and fertiliser products, the planning framework addresses both waste management and renewable energy production simultaneously.
Associate Professor Tran commented on the recognition: "This award is recognition not only of the methodological innovation behind the research, but of what operational research can achieve when it is developed closely with the communities and public authorities who will use it. By turning complex data into practical decisions, we are helping create cleaner, more sustainable agricultural systems and better livelihoods."
The research forms part of the work of the UK Supply Chain and Logistics Excellence (UK SCALE) Centre, which focuses on applying artificial intelligence, digital innovation and operational research to complex supply chain and logistics challenges with measurable economic, environmental and societal impact.
The research team is now working to scale the planning approach more widely across the Mekong Delta and internationally. The framework has been designed for replication in other climate-vulnerable agricultural regions, with potential applications identified across Asia, Africa and Latin America.
