Denmark
Bent Flyvbjerg is Professor of Major Program Management, Professor Emeritus at Oxford University, the Villum Kann Rasmussen Professor and Chair at the IT University of Copenhagen, and Senior Research Fellow at St Anne's College, Oxford University. He is the most cited scholar in the world in project and program management, included on Stanford University's prestigious Top 2% of most cited scholars in the world. Flyvbjerg is the author or editor of 10 books and 250+ papers, translated into 22 languages. He has pioneered research in behavioral science, including power bias, strategic misrepresentation, uniqueness bias, the cost-benefit fallacy, optimism bias, the planning fallacy, and reference class forecasting. Nobel Laureate Daniel Kahneman called Flyvbjerg's work on the planning fallacy and reference class forecasting, "the single most important piece of advice regarding how to increase accuracy in forecasting" (Thinking, Fast and Slow, p. 251). Flyvbjerg also writes about the philosophy of social science, and especially phronesis. His latest book is HOW BIG THINGS GET DONE, named a BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR by The Economist, The Financial Times, Forbes, CEO Magazine, Inc. Magazine, and more. Flyvbjerg is founder and co-founder of a dozen highly successful research groups, degree programs, and startups, at Oxford, Delft, and Copenhagen. His passion is to build new ventures from scratch, making them flourish academically and professionally. He has received numerous honors and awards, including a knighthood, two Fulbright Scholarships, and the PMI Research Achievement Award. His research has been covered by Nature, Science, The New York Times, The New Yorker, The Wall Street Journal, The Economist, The Financial Times, China Daily, The BBC, and CNN. He is a frequent commentator in the news. Flyvbjerg is a senior advisor to government and business, including the US and UK governments and several Fortune 500 companies. He has worked on some of the largest projects and portfolios in the world, on front-end planning, delivery, rescue of failing projects, postmortems, de-biasing, audits, and as expert witness. He advises ministers, C-suites, and boards on how to deliver their programs and projects successfully. Speaking events: https://tinyurl.com/u2u2cp5y Books: https://bit.ly/3ZFgpin Papers (free pdfs): http://bit.ly/172rVR0 Google Scholar: https://bit.ly/3uCiWJ3
Researched and wrote "How Big Things Get Done" (Penguin Random House, with Dan Gardner) to explain to a wider reading public what it takes to deliver projects successfully, from home renovations to mitigating climate change, and everything in between (https://bit.ly/3Cm54Z0).
Leader of team that developed from scratch the world's first research and teaching center in megaproject management, and the first dedicated MSc in this emerging academic field. Helped win key contract from UK Cabinet Office to deliver the UK Major Projects Leadership Academy (2012-present), globally the first of its kind, training 700+ top UK civil servants, including all permanent secretaries, in major project management. Today, no one is allowed to lead a major UK government project without completing the year-long Academy. First class graduated in 2013. Significant interest from other nations, including China and Australia where similar academies were started in 2019. Served on the Saïd Business School Board (Board of Directors). Edited and co-wrote "The Oxford Handbook of Megaproject Management" (Oxford University Press). Developed and consolidated the research methodology called "phronetic social science," as described in the book "Real Social Science: Applied Phronesis" (Cambridge University Press). Supervised numerous doctoral students at Oxford, Delft, and Aalborg.
Editor of hardback, paperback, electronic, and online versions of The Oxford Handbook of Megaproject Management, published by Oxford University Press. If you're the author of a paper (or know of a paper) that you think should be included in the Handbook, please contact Bent Flyvbjerg.
Bent Flyvbjerg advices boards, C-suites, and project leaders, in business and government, to deliver their projects successfully, and to turn around failing projects. He has programmed, costed, and helped deliver some of the largest projects in the world. He has designed governance, decision-making processes, and reporting procedures for megaprojects, using his deep knowledge from hundreds of projects – from the US to China, Sweden to South Africa – to secure realistic and reliable project delivery. He has strengthened the policies and procedures of organizations delivering megaprojects and large portfolios. The Danish media has dubbed Flyvbjerg's approach "Megaprojects without Tears." His approach is described in his books "How Big Things Get Done" and "Megaprojects and Risk" and in leading journal articles. What Flyvbjerg brings to your project or portfolio of projects: • 30 years of experience as a consultant, adviser, and coach to government and business, including the UK and US governments, Fortune 500 companies, major banks, the EU, the United Nations, national audit offices, and regulatory bodies. • Sectors covered: Transportation, infrastructure, IT transformation programmes, energy, health, education, construction, urban regeneration, change management, nation building. • Consulted on some of the largest projects in the world, from high-speed rail in Europe and the US, to projects with thousands of schools and health clinics in Asia and Africa, to large dams in Canada and the Nordics, to nuclear decommissioning, to nation-building working for the UN in the Balkans, to IT-based change management everywhere. • Deep knowledge of project preparation, delivery, and turnaround as well as rich consulting experience, having worked as subject-matter expert for most of the major consultancies. Oxford Global Projects: https://www.oxfordglobalprojects.com