About the Group
Management Science (formerly known as Operational Research) has been taught at LSE for over 50 years. Although relatively small, the Group maintains useful links in both teaching and research with related disciplines.
Our emphasis is primarily on graduate work and our MSc programme, with its two streams in Operational Research and Decision Sciences, reflects our interests in both 'hard' optimisation techniques and 'soft' problem structuring methods, including decision analysis and system dynamics.
Our particular strengths lie in the well established school of mathematical programming, and decision sciences and applied research in public policy. The students in the Group come from a wide range of countries, giving a highly international flavour to the study environment.
Graduates from the Group generally find ready employment in financial institutions, consultancies, government departments and software houses. Recent commercial employers of our students include Accenture, Arup, BAE Systems, Barclays, BNP Paribas, The Boston Consulting Group, British Airways, Citigroup, Debenhams, Dresdner Bank, Elexon, El Paso Europe, Ernst & Young, Federal Express, Goldman Sachs, Johnson & Johnson, KPMG, Lloyds TSB, Logica, London Stock Exchange, Morgan Stanley, PA Consulting, PWC Consultants, Proctor & Gamble, Rothschilds, Royal Bank of Scotland, Schroeders, Virgin Holidays and equivalent organisations overseas. Some students go on to pursue academic careers.
Staff and their academic interests
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Dr Nikolaos Argyris: Multi-objective optimisation; mathematical programming; multi-criteria decision analysis; data envelopment analysis.
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Dr David Lane: System dynamics for group decision support; social theoretic foundations of 'soft operational research (OR)'; synthesis of 'soft OR' approaches; applications of system dynamics to strategy and healthcare policy.
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Dr Gilberto Montibeller: Links between problem structuring methods and decision analysis; research frameworks for facilitated decision analysis interventions; decision support under uncertainty; real-world applications of decision analysis in strategic decision making.
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Dr Alec Morton: Decision analysis; problem structuring methods; decision support for dynamic decisions; complementarity in static and dynamic models.
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Dr Katerina Papadaki: Discrete stochastic dynamic programming; online estimation of discrete monotone functions; price directed methods.
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Professor Gregory Sorkin: Random structures and algorithms; combinatorial optimisation.
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Professor Richard Steinberg: Combinatorial auctions and mechanism design; internet economics; the marketing/manufacturing interface; transportation networks.
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Dr Giacomo Zambelli: Polyhedral combinatorics; integer programming; combinatorial optimisation, 0/1 matrices; graph theory.
Opportunities for research
Applicants for the PhD Management: Management Science track should usually have done well at MSc level, at LSE or elsewhere, in an appropriate subject.
As is usual at LSE, you would be registered in the first instance for the MPhil from which you may be transferred to the PhD depending on the progress of your research. You should define your research interest as precisely as possible when you apply so that appropriate supervision can be ensured. Applications for research in any of the areas covered by the Group's staff are welcome. All our graduate students are encouraged to participate in the intellectual life of the Group and the Department.
Students registered for a PhD at an overseas university may register for a period as a visiting research student, if the area of their research matches the interests of a staff member who is willing to act as supervisor. Before applying formally, you should discuss your plans informally with a potential supervisor.
Taught programmes