The Automated Scheduling, Optimisation and Planning (ASAP) research group carries out research into models, heuristics and algorithms for automatically producing high-quality solutions to a variety of real-world applications and optimisation problems, including scheduling, timetabling, manufacturing, logistics, space allocation, stock cutting, anomaly detection, bioinformatics and co-operative decision support.

ASAP works at the interdisciplinary interface of Operational Research and Computer Science and is setting the international research agenda in the following two strategic directions:

1. Modelling the complexity and uncertainty inherent in real-world problem solving environments across a wide range of application areas.

2. Automating the heuristic design process.