Diversity is the rallying cry in IFORS System Dynamics stream
The IFORS conference in Edinburgh this July contains a system
dynamics stream which covers a range of people, places and topics. The
sessions have been organised by David Lane of the London School of
Economics and the aim is to showcase system dynamics for the wider MS/OR
community.
So, Dave Ford is coming over from the US to discuss the application
of system dynamics to project management, with particular interest in
the allocation of resources. He will be joined by Ali Mashayekhi from
Iran describing theories of how to use system dynamics models to
influence managers, whilst Akira Uchino will be giving an account of his
use of a population model with the Japanese Ministry of Health.
In the second session Khalid Saeed, also from the US, will describing
how system dynamics can be used to understand the processes underlying
development, with a particular interest on the policies necessary to
provide food security. He will be joined by Frank Maier from Germany,
describing the analysis of preventative maintenance programs and Erik
Pruyt from Belgium, speaking about work which combines MCDA with a
system dynamics-based approach to policy control.
In the third session Jac Vennix from the Netherlands will draw on his
extensive experience of building system dynamics models with groups of
practitioners by exploring how messy problems can be tackled using
group model building. He will be joined by David Lane, discussing the
social psychology of dieting, and Fuensanta Arnaldos-Garcia from Spain,
who will be describing a system dynamics-based analysis of new patient
care units in hospitals.
As you may judge, diversity is the rallying cry in the system
dynamics stream, be it age, topic or geography. We hope to give IFORS
participants a chance to see some of the enormous range of work going on
across the work in system dynamics. Come along and give us some support
if you want to arrive in Europe in very good time for the Palermo
conference later that month! Details about the conference can be found
at: http://www.ifors2002.org
Dr. David C. Lane
"Lane,DC" <D.C.Lane@lse.ac.uk>
Interdisciplinary Institute of Management
London School of Economics and Political Science