Bent Flyvbjerg is the first BT Professor and inaugural Chair of Major Programme Management at Oxford University’s Saïd Business School and a Professorial Fellow of St Anne’s College. He works for better management of megaprojects and cities.
He is the most cited scholar in the world in megaproject management, and among the most cited in research methodology. He is the author or editor of 10 books and 200+ papers in professional journals and edited volumes. His publications are translated into 20 languages.
Flyvbjerg has pioneered research in behavioral science, including research on optimism bias, strategic misrepresentation, the planning fallacy, and reference class forecasting. Nobel Laureate Daniel Kahneman calls Flyvbjerg’s work on reference class forecasting and how to deal with the planning fallacy, “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 and methodology of social science, and especially phronesis. Clifford Geertz, of Princeton’s Institute of Advanced Study, called Flyvbjerg a “leading figure” in this field. Pierre Bourdieu, of Collège de France, said Flyvbjerg’s work is “social science that matters.”
Flyvbjerg’s 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, CNN, Charlie Rose, etc. He is a frequent commentator in the news.
He has 25+ years of experience as advisor and consultant to government and business, including the US and UK governments and several Fortune 500 companies. He is an external advisor to McKinsey and other consultancies. He has worked on some of the largest projects in the world, on all aspects from front-end planning, delivery, audits, due diligence, and rescue of failing projects.
Flyvbjerg has received numerous honors and awards, including a knighthood and two Fulbright Scholarships.