Derek Hitchins retired from full time academic work in 1994, and is now a part-time consultant, teacher, visiting professor and international lecturer in the field of systems engineering. Previous to this, he held the British Aerospace Chairs in Systems Science and in Command and Control at Cranfield University. He has also held the position of Chair in Engineering Management at City University, London. His current research interests are in systems thinking, system requirements, social psychology & anthropology, Egyptology, command & control, system design and world-class systems engineering. He has had a wealth of experience, both in industry and in academia, having been (among a number of… other posts) an Avionics System Design Manager for Tornado F2, Systems Architect for NATO Air Command and Control System (ACCS) and Advanced Identification System, and Consultant Architect for the UK county police service command & control information system (CCIS). He has authored two books: Putting Systems to Work (Wiley, 1992) and Advanced Systems Thinking, Engineering and Management (Artech House, 2003), and has lectured extensively over a 15 year period at undergraduate and MSc level in engineering management, systems science, systems thinking and systems engineering.