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Doctoral education (DE) is central to the development and application of operations management (OM) thinking. The European Doctoral Educational Network (EDEN) seminar on research methodology in OM is a structured initiative developed in 1999 by European Operations Management Association (EurOMA) and European Institute for Advanced Studies in Management (EIASM). This intensive five-day seminar has run annually since and, to date, has engaged 486 students. The purpose of this paper is to ask: what role has the OM EDEN seminar played in the formation and academic career development of doctoral researchers, and how has it contributed to the development of EurOMA as a community of practice?

The authors developed a retrospective case on the design, launch and growth of the OM EDEN seminar employing two data gathering methods (collecting secondary and archival data, and a survey of four selected seminar participants) and a social network analysis.

The EDEN seminar is an effective educational intervention in developing doctoral researchers and their subsequent academic careers. The seminar has also contributed to EurOMA as a community of practice, bringing faculty together to teach, write and publish leading edge contributions in research methods for OM.

The case is focused on the OM EDEN seminar only, within which the survey is limited to four of the early participants. While another set of participants might respond differently in detail, the authors’ expectation is that participant perception of the role of the seminar would not change. The paper provides an exemplar for European academic associations to guide how they might explore the formation and academic career development of doctoral candidates within a community of practice.

The seminar merits the ongoing support of EurOMA and EIASM, not just in educating doctoral students but also in bringing faculty together to publish leading edge contributions to the OM domain.

The paper draws on the areas of student formation, academic career development and communities of practice to illustrate the role played by the OM EDEN seminar.

This paper is the first description, analysis and reflection on the role played by the OM EDEN seminar.

In 2009, the European Operations Management Association (EurOMA) celebrates its 15th anniversary and its precursor, the UK OMA, its 25th anniversary. The purpose of this paper is to review the origins and foundations of today's EurOMA and how it has progressed to being a vibrant and successful organisation.

The review draws on archived documents, especially newsletters and board minutes, as well as memories of all of those involved.

The review shows an important evolution from two groups of like minded individuals, through building annual conferences and brings these together as one. It then shows how it has evolved both through formalisation of its activities, building international links and, most importantly, developing a portfolio of activities to develop and support young researchers.

Where records are not available, the paper draws on individual memories of events from a long time ago.

As well as providing an invaluable record, it can provide a model for the development of similar organisations.

The purpose of this article is to discuss the role of operations management in society. The article detects trends, raises critical questions to operations management research and articulates a research agenda to increase the value of such research in addressing societal problems.

This paper evaluates the papers presented at the EurOMA 2019 conference to detect trends and discuss the contributions of operations management research to society. It further goes to identify gaps in the research agenda.

The article finds several important streams of research in operations management: sustainable operations and supply chains, health care and humanitarian operations, innovation, digitalisation and 4.0, risk and resilience. It highlights new trends such as circular economy research and problematises when to stop implementing innovation and how to address and report their potential failure. Importantly, it shows how it is not just a question of offshoring vs reshoring but of constant change in manufacturing that operations management addresses.

The article highlights not just novel research areas but also gaps in the research agenda where operations management seeks to add value to society.

Based on the combined experiences of operations and supply chain management (O&SCM) scholars and a reflective practitioner, the paper compares, contrasts and reconciles the competences needed to research O&SCM practice and to practice O&SCM research. The purpose of this paper is to locate these competences for young faculty in relation to their ambitions and career choices.

The paper is based upon the contributions made at European Operations Management Association 2014 Young Scholars Workshop (YSW). The theme and programme of the workshop was “Operations management – research and practice”.

The paper outlines first the concept of the YSW, the evolution of themes and the specific focus of the 2014 workshop. It concludes with a reflection on the career development of O&SCM scholars, their potential role, as academics or practitioners, in the development of O&SCM theory and practice, and the role of collaborative research in that development.

This paper shows what it takes for O&SCM researchers to engage with “the world around us” involves and, vice versa, how “doctorate” OM and SCM practitioners may successfully solve practical problems and engage with the O&SCM world surrounding them in doing so.

The paper presents a collection of viewpoints of O&SCM scholars and a reflective practitioner on the competences needed to research OM practice and to practice OM research.