David WOZABAL

Academic Career

I am Full Professor of Business Analytics and Decision Sciences at WU Vienna. Previously, I held professorships at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and the Technical University of Munich. I am Department Editor for Energy Markets at OR Spectrum and was Associate Editor of Operations Research.

Research Interest

My research is about decision making under uncertainty: How should firms and individuals act when important information about the future is unknown, decisions are interdependent, and mistakes can be costly? A battery storage operator, for instance, must trade electricity while prices change by the minute, and an investor must build a portfolio without knowing future returns.

I develop quantitative methods that help answer such questions and manage the associated risks. Methodologically, my work draws on stochastic programming, risk-averse and distributionally robust optimization, game theory, and machine learning. I focus on approaches that combine sound theory with scalability to realistic problem sizes.

Much of my applied research addresses challenges arising from the energy transition. I develop trading and operating strategies for batteries, wind and solar farms, and virtual power plants, value power purchase agreements, and study the design of electricity markets. I also frequently work on applications in finance and logistics.

My research has been published in journals including Operations Research, Mathematical Programming, Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, and the European Journal of Operational Research.

I work closely with utilities, energy traders, as well as financial and industrial firms and welcome inquiries about possible collaborations. I am happy to hear from students with a strong quantitative background who are interested in a thesis at the intersection of decision making under uncertainty, machine learning, and energy markets.