David Lane

Prof Lane specialises in strategic analysis using system dynamics, systems thinking and other OR/MS approaches. He has 35 years of experience helping senior managers to think through the long-term policies of their organisation.

David Lane is a working class academic. He studied Mathematics at the University of Bristol, where he was in Wills Hall. He graduated with a First. Moving to the University of Oxford, he obtained a Master of Science degree in ‘Mathematical Modelling and Numerical Analysis’. He went on to obtain a Doctorate (D.Phil.) in mathematical biology, under the supervision of James D. Murray.

He was a consultant in Shell Int. and a marketing manager in Shell UK. He was previously at City University Business School and then London School of Economics and Political Science. He has consulting and executive education experience in a range of commercial and public sector/government organisations. A member of the Home Office Science Advisory Council (HOSAC), he provides independent advice to improve the quality of the science and research informing policy development and implementation.

• 2004 - Fellow of the Operational Research Society for "outstanding contributions to the theory and practice of OR"
• 2005 - LSE award for outstanding performance and innovation in teaching.
• 2007 - Jay Wright Forrester Award "for the best contribution to the field of system dynamics in the preceding five years".
• 2008 - Student-nominated LSE Students' Union Teaching Excellence Award.
• 2010 - Advisor to the Munro Review of Child Protection for the Department for Education.
• 2011 - President of the System Dynamics Society.
• 2013 - Honorary President, LSE Students’ Union.
• 2014 - OR Society’s President’s Medal: for the application of systems modelling approaches in the child protection sector.
• 2020 - System Dynamics Society’s ‘System Dynamics Application Award’: for his public health-related epidemiological modelling work on norovirus, conducted for the Food Standards Agency

David is an Honorary Professor at the University of Hull. He greatly enjoys the works of Shakespeare and Beethoven, admires Enlightenment political philosopher Thomas Paine, and is clueless when it comes to many other things.

Specialisms

• Policy Analysis
• System Dynamics Modelling
• Complexity and Systems Thinking
• Operational Research / Management Science
• Group Decision Making

Papers:

• Hewinson, R.G., D.C. Lane, M.P.E. Slack & W.W. Nichols. 1986 The Permeability of the Outer Membrane of Pseudomonas aeruginosa Varies with the Concentration of a Test Substrate, Cephalosporin C. Journal of General Microbiology, 132: 27-33.
  
• Lane, D.C., J.D. Murray and V.S. Manoranjan 1987 Analysis of Wave Phenomena in a Morphogenetic Mechanochemical Model and an Application to Post-fertilization Waves on Eggs. IMA Journal of Mathematics Applied in Medicine and Biology 4: 309-331.
  
• Morecroft, J.D.W., D.C. Lane and P.S. Viita. 1991. Modeling Growth Strategy in a Biotechnology Startup Firm. System Dynamics Review 7(2), 93-116.
  
• Lane, D.C. 1992. Modelling As Learning: A consultancy methodology for enhancing learning in management teams. European Journal of Operational Research 59(1), 64-84.
  
• Lane, D.C. 1993. The Road Not Taken: Observing a process of issue selection and model conceptualization. System Dynamics Review 9(3), 239-264.
  
• Lane, D.C. 1993. A Comment On Prolegomena to OR Modelling of the Global Environment-development Problem. Journal of the Operational Research Society 44(12): 1257-1258.
  
• Lane, D.C. 1994. With A Little Help From Our Friends: How system dynamics and 'soft' OR can learn from each other. System Dynamics Review 10(2-3), 101-134.
  
• Lane, D.C. 1994. System Dynamics Practice: A comment on 'a case study in community care using systems thinking'. Journal of the Operational Research Society 45(3): 361-363.
  
• Lane, D.C. 1995. On A Resurgence Of Management Simulations And Games. Journal of the Operational Research Society 46(5), 604-625.