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THE LONDON SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS AND POLITICAL SCIENCE CHAIR IN OPERATIONAL RESEARCH Applications are invited for a Chair in Operational Research. This is a new position. The Chair will be held in the Department of Operational Research, and is seen as an important strengthening of the Department. Applications from those researching in any of the constituent areas of Operational Research will be welcomed, with that field defined as encompassing model-based approaches to the support of decision-making, rather than applicable mathematics. The closing date for applications is November 30th 2000. We are keen to make an early appointment and it is hoped that the successful candidate will be in post by 1st January 2001. It is intended to hold interviews on the 12th December. For further information contact Professor Jonathan Rosenhead on tel (+44)-20-7955 7637, or email [log in to unmask] FURTHER PARTICULARS AND JOB DESCRIPTION FOR THE POST OF LECTURER IN OPERATIONAL RESEARCH 1. POST DETAILS Post: Professor Department: Operational Research Closing date for the receipt of applications: 30th November 2000 Interviews: It is planned to hold interviews with shortlisted candidates at the School on December 12th, 2000. Start date: 1st January 2001 if possible Details of post: This post is a full-time permanent position in principle to the age of retirement, located in the Department of Operational Research at the School. Salary: To be determined by the Director 2. ORGANISATION The post-holder is responsible to the Director of the School via the Convener of the Department, who relies on the professoriat and other senior members of the Department to advise him or her. 3. JOB DESCRIPTION This second chair in the Department of Operational Research is a new position, and one which is seen as an important strengthening of the Department. For this appointment, the overriding criterion is that of high achievement in research. Expertise and contribution in any of the constituent sub-fields of Operational Research (OR) will qualify an applicant for consideration, with no prioritisation between them. While the definition of OR will be taken broadly to include the growing points of the discipline, it does not include fields which are better described as applicable mathematics. The research fields of existing staff are described in the Annex below. The appointed applicant will be expected to play a full part in the general teaching of the department - which includes introductory courses in basic OR techniques and methodology, at Masters, undergraduate specialist, and undergraduate non-specialist levels. The Masters degrees incorporate compulsory practical student projects in external organisations which run from June to September; all members of the department participate in obtaining and supervising these projects. The Professor will be expected to provide academic leadership within the Department, in conjunction with other senior members. The Department functions as a team especially in carrying out its teaching-related activities. Nevertheless the appointed applicant will be expected to play a leading role in its management. 4. GENERAL INFORMATION 4.1 The London School of Economics and Political Science The London School of Economics and Political Science is an independent and autonomous institution with the status of a School within the federal University of London. The School was founded in 1895 and since 1901 has been incorporated under the Companies Act as a company limited by guarantee. It occupies a compact site in the heart of London close to Westminster, Whitehall, the City, the Law Courts and the media. As well as the main complex of School buildings in, and adjacent to, Houghton Street, the School has eight halls of residence and a sports ground located in New Malden, Surrey. At present there are eighteen academic departments, five interdisciplinary institutes, and several research centres. The subjects taught and researched are all in the sphere of the social sciences, broadly conceived. The School also houses the British Library of Political and Economic Science, one of the finest collections in the world of social science materials. Several chairs at the School are sponsored by business. The School seeks to maintain close links with government, industry and the professions (many of which are situated close by in the City of London, Whitehall and the West End), through public meetings and seminar programmes concerned with the dissemination of research findings in the context of public policy. The LSE is a collegial body that encourages and fosters interdepartmental research. While most research is conducted by individuals, or by small groups of collaborating researchers, a significant proportion is organised in the form of projects or programmes, often under the umbrella of a research unit or centre employing several research staff. There are currently nineteen active research centres and units at the School, ranging in size from large multidisciplinary centres with substantial financial support to small centres with more modest resources. Most of LSE's research centres and units are entirely financed by industry, commerce, research councils or charitable foundations. The largest research centre is the Suntory-Toyota International Centre for Economics and Related Disciplines (STICERD) which is a wholly LSE-managed centre financing a wide variety of research by members of the School's staff. In December, the School formally launching an important new Centre for the Analysis of Risk and Regulation (CARR), and has appointed its first Chair in this area. Other appointments are expected to follow related to this initiative, which has attracted funding of over £10m from various sources including ESRC and Deutsche Bank. The School has approximately 7,000 students, and is one of the largest colleges in the University of London. About half of the School's full-time students are post-graduate, and over 40% of the student cohort are from overseas. The School employs about 1,000 staff. In the 1996 Research Assessment Exercise the School was ranked second or third (depending on the measures taken) in the UK with 83% of its staff in 5 or 5* units of assessment. Depending on the circumstances of the successful candidate, the School may, at the Director's discretion, be able to offer assistance with relocation and removal expenses, and a housing loan. The School is unable to provide housing for members of staff. The person appointed will enjoy the facilities and benefits open to full-time members of the academic staff of the School. 4.2 The Department of Operational Research LSE has had an Operational Research group for over 40 years. It became an independent Department in 1997. The Department's strength, in teaching and research, is its expertise across the spectrum of 'hard' to 'soft' methods of operational research. The Department's teaching was rated 'excellent' by the HEFCE quality assessment in 1994. In the 1996 Research Assessment Exercise the two units of assessment in which departmental members were entered were rated 5* and 5. The Department runs an undergraduate degree in Management Sciences, and two postgraduate degrees in Decision Sciences and in Operational Research. Our courses also attract large numbers of students from other departments. The existing established academic staff of the department consists of one Professor, one Reader, three Senior Lecturers (two of which are joint appointments with the Department of Statistics and the Interdisciplinary Institute of Management respectively), two Lecturers, an unfilled vacancy and a temporary Senior Teaching Fellow. In addition, three Visiting Professors, a School Centennial Professor and a Junior Research Fellow are based in the Department. From time to time there are also additional research staff funded through outside research contracts. The Departmental Convenor is Professor Jonathan Rosenhead. The Department operates from attractive accommodation, located below the Interdisciplinary Institute of Management, with which we have close relations. The Department's facilities include a common room for students and shared access to a seminar room. Current research students are working on subjects that include: problem structuring methods for knowledge acquisition; a community OR approach to health service planning in a developing country; comparison of constraint logic programming and integer programming; data envelopment analysis; resource allocation to health care in Portugal. The Department has formal links with LSE Health, which has developed over recent years into a major research centre employing over 30 staff. The Department was one of ten collaborating bodies in a multi-disciplinary four-year study to evaluate the Total Purchasing Pilot by General Practitioners in the NHS. This was financed by the Department of Health, the Scottish Office and the Welsh Office and a book on this study is in press. The Department is also one of five collaborators in a multi-disciplinary three-year study evaluating the cost-effectiveness of mediation for resolving disputes for separating and divorcing couples. This is part of the Family Law Act of 1996, financed by the Legal Aid Board, and is due to report next year. Another collaborative project has been established with the University of Wales College of Medicine and Gwent Health Authority on analysis of resource use, and variations in health and health care. Other recent and current funded research projects concern the application of Problem Structuring Methods to risk management, and to multi-organisational decision taking. Among the other activities associated with Operational Research at LSE are · an Advisory Board of senior practitioners who offer guidance on the department's teaching and research strategy, as well as providing valuable practical contacts; · a Departmental seminar series; · a Working Paper series providing a vehicle for early circulation of papers by group members. 4.3 CONTACT For further information about this post, please contact Professor Jonathan Rosenhead on tel: 020-7955-7637, or email: [log in to unmask] This job description sets out the requirements of the post at the time it was drawn up. The details of the duties may change over time without changing the general character and purpose of the post or the level of responsibility encompassed. Annex: Research Interests of Academic Staff of the Department of Operational Research Dr Gautam Appa (Senior Lecturer in Operational Research): linear programming; mixed integer programming; combinatorics; data envelopment analysis; location of undesirable facilities; robust regression. Professor Carlos Bana e Costa (LSE Centennial Professor, Department of Operational Research): multicriteria decision analysis; problem structuring; strategic choice; preference modelling. Mr Gwyn Bevan (Reader in Policy Analysis): reforming quasi markets for health and legal services; variations in use of health services and in the 'avoidable' burden of disease; cost-effectiveness of mediation as an alternative means of dispute resolution; costs and finance of teaching hospitals. Dr John Howard (Senior Lecturer in Operational Research and Statistics): decision theory; social choice; game theory; foundations of statistical inference; random sequences. Professor Ailsa Land (Professor Emeritus of Operational Research): linear programming and its extensions; analysis and formulation of operational problems and the development of solution methods; data envelopment analysis; 'travelling salesman' and other combinatorial optimisation and routing problems. Dr David Lane (Senior Lecturer in Operational Research): Expertise: system dynamics modelling; group decision support; participative modelling; problem structuring methods; methodology choice; strategic decision making; management games and simulations; systems thinking; social theory of systems approaches; model validation. Professor George Mitchell (Visiting Professor of Operational Research): the use, practice and management of Operational Research. Professor Lawrence Phillips (Visiting Professor of Operational Research): strategic management; management of change in organisations; teamworking; evaluation of options; prioritisation and resource allocation; decision and risk analysis. Dr Susan Powell (Lecturer in Operational Research): the development of computer-based algorithms to solve linear and integer programs. Dr Daniel Read (Lecturer in Operational Research): behavioural aspects of human judgement and decision making; intertemporal choice. Professor Jonathan Rosenhead (Professor of Operational Research): planning methods under uncertainty; health services planning; problem structuring methods; policy analysis; community operational research; operational research in less developed countries; the history and social relations of operational research. Professor Maurice Shutler (Visiting Professor of Operational Research): efficiency; performance measurement; monopoly; private medical practitioners; privatisation; quality of service; air traffic services; sewage; water. Dr Peter Sozou (Junior Research Fellow): mathematical modelling of discounting and evolution. %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%