Dr Chefi Triki

Chefi Triki is a Senior Lecturer of Operational Research and Logistics Systems. He holds a PhD in Systems Engineering and Informatics from the University of Calabria (Italy) and an Electro-Mechanical Engineering Degree from the National Engineering School of Tunis (Tunisia). Chefi has a strong background in developing optimization tools for network design with application to the transportation procurement, freight distribution, waste collection, groundwater management, and to the food and tourism industries.  

Along his carrier, he was awarded several research, teaching and service recognitions for his academic commitment. The most recent ones are: 

• Best Research Paper Award, "A Novel Air Delivery Approach Using Crowdshipping and Commercial Flights". Track Future of Logistics in the Smart Mobility and Logistics Ecosystems Conference (SMILE), Dharan (Saudi Arabia), Sept. 2024 

• Best Research Group Award, member of the research group on "Water Resources management" awarded by Sultan Qaboos University, May 2024 

• Best Research Paper Award, "An Effective Mitigation Strategy to Hedge Against Absenteeism of Occasional Drivers" awarded by the University of Palermo, Dec. 2023 

Chefi’s major research interests lie in the field of optimisation and stochastic programming with application to logistics, transportation and resources management. He has published in top scientific journals and served as a keynote speaker in a variety of international conferences. His research portfolio includes also several research grants that he led or participated in with success in the UK, Italy, Oman and Qatar. 

Current Research and Innovation Grants 

• Smart Electrification of Short Straits Ferries, Investigator, Smart Shipping Acceleration Fund, Innovate UK (140,000 GBP) 

• Robust and Data-driven Optimization for instant Logistics, Principal Investigator, Academic Research Grant, Qatar Research, Development and Innovation Fund (60,000 USD) 

• Exchange of Teaching and Research Experiences in the Context of Business Analytics, Co-Investigator, KBS’s Global Engagement Fund, Kent Business School (3980 GBP) 

• Optimization tools for designing and planning the touristic supply chains (Awarded), Main Investigator, Post-Covid Mitigation Fund, Kent Business School (1000 GBP) 

Chefi’s teaching activities consist of a wide range of undergraduate and graduate courses on logistics, simulation and optimization for business, engineering, mathematics, computer science and management students. Currently, he is convenor/teacher of the following modules: 

• BUSN9960: Logistics and Supply Chain Planning
• BUSN7500: Project Management
• BUSN9175: Dissertation and Industry-based Project 

Chefi is keen to get involved in supervising students who are interested in working on topics that fall within his research interests. 

   Current supervisees (as the main supervisor): 

• Faten Afandi: Optimizing Freight Distribution in a Retailer’s Network Through Sponsored Search Advertising 

• Hoang Huy Nguyen: Collaborative logistics for retail delivery using game theory approaches and auction mechanism 

• Involved in the organisation of 17 international conferences 
• Member of scientific committee of more than 20 international conferences 
• External examiner of several postgraduate degrees 
• Member of the editorial boards and guest editor of 10 journals  
• Member of several professional societies from 1998 till the present