The need for automated decision-making is steadily increasing. The goal is to derive methods and data-driven models for automated decision support for practical applications in uncertain and changing environments. Solving problems in practical applications requires bringing together data management, analytics, optimization, and computer science.

Our research group Data-Driven Decision Support focuses on automated decision-making in the areas of Operations Management and beyond using quantitative methods of operations research (cf. modelling, simulation, and optimization) and data science (cf. AI/ML). Our research has been published in over 100 peer-reviewed publications including renowned Journals (EJOR, IJPE, IJPR, COR, JEDC, DGAA, ITOR, ORP, JIMS, JCLP, RCR, BISE), distinguished data science conferences (ICML, ICLR, KDD, IJCAI, RECSYS, ICDM, ECAI, ECML), and leading computer science venues (VLDB, ICDE, EDBT, DAPD, CIKM, EDOC, SSDBM). Rainer serves as a reviewer for over 100 Journals and conferences in the areas of AI/ML, operations management, and information systems.

Keywords: Data-Driven Decision Support, AI & Sustainability, Bayesian Learning, Risk & Robustness, Markov Decision Processes, Reinforcement Learning, Revenue Management & Pricing, Resource Allocation, Circular Economy

• Approximate Message-Passing
• Optimal Control of Aging Batteries
• Self-Learning Agents in the ReCommerce Industry
• Risk-averse Control of Markov Decision Processes
• Optimal Product Replacement & Recycling
• Approximate Dynamic Programming & Reinforcement Learning
• Circular Economy & Sustainable Revenue Management
• Dynamic Pricing on Amazon Marketplace
• Price Wars: An Interactive Simulation Platform

• "Reinforcement Learning in Revenue Management: Challenges & Opportunities", 22^nd conference of the GOR working group „Pricing & Revenue Management", March 2025, Pullach, Germany (Invited Talk)
• "Reinforcement Learning for Dynamic Pricing Strategies in Competitive Markets with Strategic Customers", OR 2024, Sep 2024, Munich, Germany
• "Dynamic Pricing in Circular Markets under Competition", INFORMS Revenue Management & Pricing Conference, July 2024, UCLA, USA
• "AI meets Sustainability: Using Digital Twins to Leverage Reinforcement Learning – Based Dynamic Pricing in Circular Markets under Competition", EURO 2024, July 2024, Copenhagen, Denmark
• "Mean-Variance Optimization for Finite Horizon Markov Decision Processes", Research in Operations Management Seminar, Nov 2023, UZH, Switzerland (invited talk)
• "Dynamic Pricing under Competition: Challenges & Opportunities", Keynote presentation at ICORES 2023, Feb 2023, Lisbon, Portugal (Invited Talk)
• "A Conceptual Framework for Studying Self-Learning Agents in Recommerce Markets", at OR 2022, Sep 2022, KIT, Germany (Invited Talk)
• "Risk-Averse Revenue Management using Mean-Variance and Mean-Semivariance Optimization", INFORMS Revenue Management & Pricing Conference, June 2021, Johns Hopkins Carey Business School, USA
• "Dynamic Pricing on Online Marketplaces – Theory and Applications", 17^th conference of the GOR working group „Pricing & Revenue Management", Feb 2020, Munich, Germany (Invited Talk)
• "Dynamic Pricing Competition in E-Commerce with Data-Driven Price Anticipations", ICIAM 2019, July 2019, Valencia, Spain (Invited Talk)
• "Risk-Sensitive Control of Markov Decision Processes in Revenue Management: A Moment-Based Approach with Target Distributions", INFORMS Revenue Management & Pricing Conference, June 2019, Stanford Graduate School of Business, CA, USA
• "Efficient Scalable Multi-Attribute Index Selection Using Recursive Strategies" and "Workload-Driven Fragment Allocation for Partially Replicated Databases Using Linear Programming", ICDE 2019, April 2019, Macao SAR, China
• "Dynamic Pricing under Competition on Online Marketplaces: A Data-Driven Approach", KDD 2018, Aug 2018, London, UK
• "How To Survive Dynamic Pricing Competition in E-commerce", RecSys 2016, Sep 2016, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and the IBM Research campuses in Boston, MA, USA

• "Dynamic Pricing with Time-Dependent Elasticities", INFORMS Revenue Management & Pricing Conference, June 2015, Columbia University, New York, USA

• Ph.D. in Operations Research (summa cum laude), Humboldt-University of Berlin, Germany (05/2014), Topic: Dynamic Pricing and Advertising Models
• Master's degree (Dipl.-Math.) in Mathematics (very good), Humboldt-University of Berlin, Institute of Applied Mathematics, Germany (10/2010), Focus: Optimization, Stochastic Models, Numerical Analysis
• Master's degree (Dipl.-Kfm.) in Business Administration (very good), Humboldt-University of Berlin, School of Business and Economics, Germany (02/2010), Focus: Operations Research, Econometrics, Risk Management

• Planned Research Stay: University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Canada (2026)
• Co-Chair: ICORES Conference (Feb 2025, March 2026)
• Grant Application: ORA 8 Grant Application (with UK, Canada & France):  “A Unified Approach to Green Innovation by Fossil Fuel Companies”, Nov 2023 (role: Co-Director)
• Research Stay: University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland (Nov 2023)
• Travel Grant: for ICORES 2023, Lisbon, Portugal (Feb 2023)
• Grant Application: BMBF Project Proposal "AI for Recommerce Markets", Feb 2022 (Role: Coordinator)
• Grant: Funding for one PhD Position over 3 years (HPI Research School, Dec 2020)
• Research Stay: KEDGE Business School, Marseille, France (Oct 2019)
• Research Stay: CESIT Center of Excellence, Bordeaux, France (Oct 2019)
• Travel Grant: for ICIAM 2019, Valencia, Spain (Invited Talk); Grant managed within CEREMADE Department of the University Paris Dauphine (July 2019)
• Best Paper Award: Schlosser, R. "Stochastic Dynamic Pricing with Strategic Customers and Reference Price Effects", 8^th International Conference on Operations Research and Enterprise Systems (ICORES 2019), Prague, Czech Republic
• Best Paper Award: Schlosser, R., Richly, K. "Dynamic Pricing Strategies in a Finite Horizon Duopoly with Partial Information", 7^th International Conference on Operations Research and Enterprise Systems (ICORES 2018), Funchal, Portugal
• Program: OR 2015 Emerging Scholar Program, GOR
• Grant: Postdoctoral Scholarship, 2014 - 2015, Humboldt Graduate School
• Award Nomination:  Ph.D. Thesis nominated for Humboldt Prize 2014
• Ph.D. Grant: Elsa-Neumann-Scholarship, 2011 - 2013, Berlin Senate

At HPI:

• Introduction to Probabilistic Machine Learning (with Herbrich, SS26, Evaluation tbd)
• Advanced Probabilistic Machine Learning (with Herbrich, WS25/26, Evaluation 1,3)
• Mathematik III: Stochastik & Statistik (with Renard, WS25/26, Evaluation 1,7)
• Introduction to Probabilistic Machine Learning (with Herbrich, SS25, Evaluation 1,7)
• Mathematik III: Stochastik & Statistik (with Herbrich, WS24/25, Evaluation 1.6)
• Reinforcement Learning & Algorithm Discovery (WS24/25, Evaluation 1,3)
• Introduction to Probabilistic Machine Learning (with Herbrich, SS24, Evaluation 1.6)
• Mathematik III: Stochastik & Statistik (with Herbrich, WS23/24, Evaluation 1.5)
• Dynamic Programming and Reinforcement Learning (SS23, Evaluation 1.2)
• Bachelor's Project 2021/22 Part II: Recommerce Market Simulation & Reinforcement Learning (SS22, Evaluation 1.1)
• Dynamic Programming and Reinforcement Learning (SS22, Evaluation 1.2)
• Bachelor's Project 2021/22 Part I: Recommerce Market Simulation & Reinforcement Learning (WS21/22, Evaluation 1.1)
• Master's Project 2021/22: GPU-Accelerated Causal Structure Learning (WS21/22, Evaluation 1.1)
• Dynamic Programming and Reinforcement Learning (SS21, Evaluation 1.2)
• Data-Driven Decision-Making in Enterprise Applications (SS20, Evaluation 1.3)
• Data-Driven Decision-Making in Enterprise Applications (SS19, Evaluation 1.3)
• Data-Driven Demand Learning and Dynamic Pricing Strategies in Competitive Markets (SS18, Evaluation 2.3)
• Data-Driven Demand Learning and Dynamic Pricing Strategies in Competitive Markets (SS17, Evaluation 1.8)
• Master Project 2016/17: How to Survive Dynamic Pricing Competition (WS16/17, Evaluation 1.2)
• Dynamic Pricing on Online Marketplaces: Strategies and Applications (SS16, Evaluation 1.2)
• Trends and Concepts Exercise: Developing In-Memory Applications (Fraud Detection) (SS16, Tutor)
• Trends and Concepts Exercise: Developing a Product Recommendation System for the Retail Industry (SS15, Tutor)

At Humboldt University Berlin, School of Business and Economics:

• Software in Operations Research (SS14, Evaluation 1,0)
• Excel Seminar (SS14, Evaluation 1,4)
• Software in Operations Research (WS13/14, Evaluation 1,4)
• Excel Seminar (WS13/14, Evaluation 1,3)
• Teaching Assistant for Revenue Management, Operations Management (WS11/12-SS14)
• Teaching Assistant for Operations Research I, II, III, IV (WS10/11-SS14)

• Jan Kossmann (finished Q2 2022)
• Christopher Hagedorn (finished Q2 2023)
• Stefan Halfpap (finished Q4 2023)
• Keven Richly (finished Q2 2024)
• Johannes Huegle (finished Q2 2024)
• Martin Boissier (finished Q3 2024)
• Alexander Kastius (submitted Q1 2026)

• Nika Nizharadze

• Nikolas Alder

• Anna Kazachkova

• Leonhard Hennicke

• Jan Lemcke

• Johann Ukrow

• N.n. (apply for open position)

Analytics & Data Science

• IEEE Transactions on Knowledge & Data Engineering
• IEEE Transactions on Neural Networks & Learning Systems
• Expert Systems with Applications
• Engineering Applications of Artificial Intelligence
• The Knowledge Engineering Review
• ACM Transactions on Knowledge Discovery from Data
• Journal of the Royal Statistical Society
• Information Sciences

Management Science & Economics

• Management Science
• Production & Operations Management
• International Journal of Production Economics
• International Journal of Production Research
• Omega
• Journal of Revenue & Pricing Management
• Transportation Research (Part E)
• International Journal of Operations & Quantitative Management
• Journal of Retailing & Consumer Services
• Applied Stochastic Models in Business & Industry
• Journal of Open Innovation: Technology, Market, and Complexity
• Production Planning & Control
• Managerial & Decision Economics
• Economics E-Journal
• Applied Economic Letters
• Journal of Applied Economics
• Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management
• Flexible Services and Manufacturing Journal
• Electronic Commerce Research and Applications
• Dynamic Games & Applications
• Journal of Economic Dynamics & Control

Operations Research

• European Journal of Operational Research
• Journal of the Operational Research Society
• Operations Research Perspectives
• IMA Journal of Management Mathematics
• Operational Research
• Optimal Control, Applications & Methods
• RAIRO - Operations Research
• TOP
• OR Spectrum
• Applied Mathematics & Computation
• Simulation Modelling Practice and Theory
• Journal of Computational and Applied Mathematics
• Mathematical Methods of Operations Research
• Computers & Operations Research
• Naval Research Logistics

Information Systems & Engineering

• Business & Information Systems Engineering
• Computers & Industrial Engineering
• Information Processing and Management
• ACM SIGMOD Record
• Systems Science & Control Engineering
• Journal of Systems Science & Systems Engineering
• Science China Information Sciences
• Journal of Process Mechanical Engineering
• Heliyon
• Springer Nature Applied Sciences
• IISE Transactions
• IEEE Transactions on Systems, Man & Cybernetics
• IEEE Access
• Expert Systems
• Simulation Modelling Practice and Theory
• Applied Soft Computing
• ACM Computing Surveys
• Computer Networks

Research Foundations & Programs

• Czech Science Foundation (GACR)
• Dutch Research Council (NWO)
• German Research Foundation (DFG)
• Ellis PhD Program

Sustainability

• Journal of Cleaner Production
• Resources Conservation & Recycling
• Mathematical Biosciences & Engineering
• Maritime Policy & Management
• Green Finance
• Environmental Quality Management
• Sustainable Computing: Informatics & Systems
• Energy and Built Environment
• Journal of Energy Storage

Program Committees

• ECML 2026
• ICML 2026
• AISTATS 2026
• ICLR 2026
• AAAI 2026
• NIPS 2025
• KDD 2025
• ICML 2025
• ICLR 2025
• IJCAI 2024
• ECML-PKDD 2024
• ICDE 2024
• KDD 2024
• ICORES 2024
• IJCAI 2023
• ECML-PKDD 2023
• HICSS 2023
• IJCAI-ECAI 2022

Program Co-Chair

• ICORES 2026
• ICORES 2025

Scientific Communities: INFORMS, ACM, IEEE, GOR (AG PRM), DHV

• Kossmann, J., R. Schlosser, A. Kastius, M. Perscheid, H. Plattner (2022). Training an Agent for Iterative Multi-Attribute Index Selection, Patent Submission App.(EP4227821A1, pending; US12/141117B2, US accepted Nov 2024, and US12530336B2, US accepted Jan 2026)
• Schlosser, R., J. Kossmann, M. Boissier, M. Uflacker, H. Plattner (2020). Iterative Multi-Attribute Index Selection for Large Database Systems, Patent SubmissionApp. (EP3719663A1, EP accepted Oct 2022; US12/282478B2, US accepted Apr 2025; CN111797118B, CN accepted Feb 2025)
• Plattner, H., M. Uflacker, M. Boissier, R. Schlosser (2019). Data Placement in Hybrid Data Layouts for Tiered HTAP Databases, Patent Submission App. (EP3547166A1,EP accepted Nov 2020; US11/256718B2, US accepted Feb 2022; CN110362566A, CN accepted Mar 2024)