Courses taught

MSc in Major Programme Management

Expertise

Bent Flyvbjerg's research covers cost overruns and benefit shortfalls in major programmes, theories of success and failure, complexity and innovation, optimism bias and strategic misrepresentation, cost and demand forecasting in high-risk environments, risk assessment and management, and governance of major programmes. He is author and co-author of key references in the field of major programme management, including the books Megaprojects and Risk and Decision-Making on Mega-Projects.

Overview

Bent Flyvbjerg is BT Professor and Chair of Major Programme Management and Director of Oxford University's BT Centre for Major Programme Management. He is a leading international expert within the field of major programme management and planning.

Flyvbjerg has worked as a consultant to government, regulators, corporations, banks, national audit offices, the EU Commission, and the United Nations. He has been adviser to the UK, Dutch, and Danish governments in formulating national policies for infrastructure, environment, transportation, and science.

Flyvbjerg has received numerous honors and awards, including two Visiting Fulbright Scholarships to the USA, where he did research at the University of California at Los Angeles and Berkeley and at Harvard University. He has been a Visiting Fellow with the European University Institute in Florence. In 2002, Queen Margrethe II of Denmark conferred upon Bent Flyvbjerg the Knighthood of the Order of the Dannebrog for his professional accomplishments.

Before coming to Oxford, Flyvbjerg held professorships at Aalborg University, Denmark and Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands. He received his Ph.D. from Aarhus University, Denmark, and holds two higher doctorates from Aalborg University in engineering (Dr. Techn.) and science (Dr. Scient.), respectively.

Bent Flyvbjerg is a Professorial Fellow of St Anne's College, Oxford.

Research interests

Major programme management and planning.
Major programme finance and risk.
Regulation of major programmes.
Philosophy of social science

Books:

Hugo Priemus, Bent Flyvbjerg, and Bert van Wee, eds., Decision-Making On Mega-Projects: Cost–benefit Analysis, Planning, and Innovation. Cheltenham, UK and Northampton, MA, USA: Edward Elgar, 2008.

Bent Flyvbjerg, Nils Bruzelius, and Werner Rothengatter, Megaprojects and Risk: An Anatomy of Ambition. Cambridge University Press, 2003.

Bent Flyvbjerg, Making Social Science Matter: Why Social Inquiry Fails and How It Can Succeed Again. Cambridge University Press, 2001.

Bent Flyvbjerg, Rationality and Power: Democracy in Practice. The University of Chicago Press, 1998.

Book chapters:

"Optimism and Misrepresentation in Early Project Development" In Terry Williams, Knut Samset, and Kjell Sunnevag, eds., Making Essential Choices with Scant Information: Front-end Decision Making in Major Projects. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2009, pp. 147-168.

"Phronetic Organizational Research." In Richard Thorpe and Robin Holt, eds., The Sage Dictionary of Qualitative Management Research. Los Angeles: Sage Publications, 2008, pp. 153-155.

"Making Sociology Matter: Phronetic Sociology as Public Sociology." In Michael Hviid Jacobsen, ed., Public Sociology. Aalborg University Press, 2008, pp. 77-117.

"Introduction: Scope of the Book." Co-authors Hugo Priemus and Bert van Wee. In Hugo Priemus, Bent Flyvbjerg, and Bert van Wee, eds., Decision-Making On Mega-Projects: Cost-benefit Analysis, Planning, and Innovation. Cheltenham, UK and Northamton, MA, USA: Edward Elgar, 2008, pp. 1-20.

"Public Planning of Mega-projects: Overestimation of Demand and Underestimation of Costs." In Hugo Priemus, Bent Flyvbjerg, and Bert van Wee, eds., Decision-Making On Mega-Projects: Cost-benefit Analysis, Planning, and Innovation. Cheltenham, UK and Northamton, MA, USA: Edward Elgar, 2008, pp. 120-144.

"How Optimism Bias and Strategic Misrepresentation in Early Project Development Undermine Implementation." In Kjell J. Sunnevåg, ed., Beslutninger på svakt informasjonsgrunnlag: Tilnærminger og utfordringer i projekters tidlige fase (Decisions based on weak information: Approaches and challenges in the early phase of projects). Trondheim, Norway: Concept Program, The Norwegian University of Science and Technology, 2007, pp. 41-55.

"Eliminating Bias in Early Project Development through Reference Class Forecasting and Good Governance." In Kjell J. Sunnevåg, ed., Beslutninger på svakt informasjonsgrunnlag: Tilnærminger og utfordringer i projekters tidlige fase (Decisions based on weak information: Approaches and challenges in the early phase of projects). Trondheim, Norway: Concept Program, The Norwegian University of Science and Technology, 2007, pp. 90-110.

"Megaprojects and Risk." In William L. Richter and Frances Burke, eds., Combating Corruption, Encouraging Ethics: A Practical Guide to Management Ethics. Second Edition. Principal author: Bent Flyvbjerg; co-authors: Nils Bruzelius and Werner Rothengatter. Published in cooperation with The American Society for Public Administration. Lanham, MA and Plymouth, UK: Rowman and Littlefield, 2007, pp. 52-58.

"Five Misunderstandings about Case-Study Research." In Clive Seale, Giampietro Gobo, Jaber F. Gubrium, and David Silverman, eds., Qualitative Research Practice: Concise Paperback Edition. London and Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 2007, pp. 390-404.

"A Perestroikan Straw Man Answers Back: David Laitin and Phronetic Political Science." In Sanford F. Schram and Brian Caterino, eds., Making Political Science Matter: Debating Knowledge, Research, and Method. New York and London: New York University Press, 2006, pp. 56-85.

"Making Organization Research Matter: Power, Values, and Phronesis." In Stewart R. Clegg, Cynthia Hardy, Thomas B. Lawrence, and Walter R. Nord, eds., The Sage Handbook of Organization Studies. Second Edition. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, July 2006, pp. 370-387.

Journal articles:

"Delusion and Deception in Large Infrastructure Projects: Two Models for Explaining and Preventing Executive Disaster." Co-authors: Massimo Garbuio and Dan Lovallo. California Management Review, vol. 51, no. 2, Winter 2009, pp. 170-193.

"Comparison of Capital Costs per Route-Kilometre in Urban Rail." Principal author: Bent Flyvbjerg; co-authors: Nils Bruzelius and Bert van Wee. European Journal of Transport and Infrastructure Research, vol. 8, no. 1, March 2008, pp. 17-30.

"Curbing Optimism Bias and Strategic Misrepresentation in Planning: Reference Class Forecasting in Practice." European Planning Studies, vol. 16, no. 1, January 2008, pp. 3-21.

"Policy and Planning for Large-Infrastructure Projects: Problems, Causes, Cures." Environment and Planning B: Planning and Design, vol. 34, 2007, pp. 578-597. This article was awarded the Association of European Schools of Planning (AESOP) Prize for Best Published Paper, July 2008.

"Planning and Design of Large Infrastructure Projects." Guest editorial. Co-author: Hugo Priemus. Environment and Planning B: Planning and Design, vol. 34, 2007, pp. 576-577.

"Cost Overruns and Demand Shortfalls in Urban Rail and Other Infrastructure," Transportation Planning and Technology, vol. 30, no. 1, February 2007, pp. 9-30.

"From Nobel Prize to Project Management: Getting Risks Right." Project Management Journal, vol. 37, no. 3, August 2006, pp. 5-15.

"Five Misunderstandings About Case-Study Research." Qualitative Inquiry, vol. 12, no. 2, April 2006, pp. 219-245.

"Measuring Inaccuracy in Travel Demand Forecasting: Methodological Considerations Regarding Ramp Up and Sampling." Transportation Research A, vol. 39, no. 6, July 2005, pp. 522-530.

"How (In)accurate Are Demand Forecasts in Public Works Projects? The Case of Transportation." Principal author: Bent Flyvbjerg; co-authors: Mette Skamris Holm and Søren L. Buhl. Journal of the American Planning Association, vol. 71, no. 2, Spring 2005, pp. 131-146.

"Design by Deception: The Politics of Megaproject Approval." Harvard Design Magazine, no. 22, Spring/Summer 2005, pp. 50-59.

Working papers:

"Truth and Lies About Megaprojects." Faculty of Technology, Policy, and Management, Delft University of Technology, September 2007, 27 pp.

"Megaproject Policy and Planning: Problems, Causes, Cures." Summary of dissertation for higher doctorate in science (Dr. Scient.). Aalborg: Uni.print, Aalborg University, 2007, 62 pp.

"Policy and Planning for Large Infrastructure Projects: Problems, Causes, Cures." Policy Research Working Paper, WPS 3781, World Bank, Washington, DC, 2005, 32 pp.