Oxford 2004
Conference Theme: Collegiality
      …a harmony that achieves consensus on the issues

Location: Keble College in the University of Oxford will provide a memorable opportunity for delegates to experience an Oxford college whilst enjoying the benefits of a state-of-the-art conference facility. The conference will bring together people from all over the globe working in system dynamics and systems thinking. Presentations by practitioners and world leaders in the field will cover a wide variety of topics.

Conference Venue
Oxford's central location makes it readily accessible from London's major airport, Heathrow, and provides an ideal base for visiting many of the UK's attractions. The historic atmosphere should make for a truly unrivalled conference and facilitate the exchange of ideas in our field. Staying at Keble College in the University of Oxford will provide a unique opportunity to experience the heritage and academic excellence of Oxford and the college. With everything on one site and in close proximity, there will be an unprecedented opportunity to network with international friends, colleagues and clients. The conference center has state-of-the-art facilities, and conference sessions will be seamlessly organised in purpose-built venues designed for maximum benefits. For more information, please visit the website at: http://www.keble.ox.ac.uk. Keble College is located in central Oxford, which can be reached very easily by fast train or express coach from central London and the primary London airports. Please note: No parking will be available at Keble College, and parking in central Oxford is very difficult. However, there are excellent 24-hour 'park and ride' facilities on all major access routes to the city.

Programme
The conference theme of Collegiality is predicated on the notion that as system dynamics is based on what are observed, deduced or presumed to be true causal interrelationships, and not on any particular management, economic or social theory, it is thus intrinsically neutral between these theories. In many applications it therefore offers the opportunity to support open debate and serve as an 'honest broker' of ideas.

In addition, submissions are welcomed for work on all topics germane to system dynamics including:

• applications of system dynamics and systems thinking in business, engineering, health care, public policy, and other areas
• policy studies emphasizing the role of feedback
• developments in simulation tools and techniques
• advances in the modeling process, including links to other techniques, and group model building
• system dynamics contributions to theory building in the social and natural sciences
• complex nonlinear dynamic systems
• contributions to system dynamics teaching materials and methods, in all forms of education for all ages and levels of expertise

   

Submissions
Papers may be submitted from January 2, 2004 to April 2, 2004 and must be in sufficient detail to make clear their meaning and value. Submissions must be in English and should be 5 - 30 pages in length (there is also a maximum 2 MB electronic file size). Abstracts will be accepted and considered for poster presentations only. Submission of models and other supporting materials is encouraged in all cases (maximum file size 2 MB in addition to the paper).

Each paper must have a designated presenter and one individual can be a designated presenter for at most two works.

All works submitted will be assigned for anonymous peer review. The results of this review, with the oversight of the programme co-chairs, will determine whether a work will be accepted for plenary, parallel or poster presentation.

Notifications of acceptance will be sent by May 14, 2004. Authors retain the copyright to all submitted work and, by submitting, grant permission for inclusion in the conference proceedings.

Proposals for workshops, tutorials, and other pre- or post- conference activities should be submitted using the Workshop Proposal Form found on the conference website. E-mail the completed form directly to the Workshop Chair, Jack Homer, at jhomer@comcast.net.

Session proposals and theme proposals for plenary or parallel sessions, and panel discussions and roundtable sessions, are welcome. Proposals should contain a brief description of the session theme, session organizer(s) and tentative list of all papers to be included in the session. Session proposals are due by May 16, 2004 to Graham Winch, Programme Co-Chair, at graham.winch@pbs.plym.ac.uk.

Submission Format
Preliminary and final submissions must be received in .pdf format. Other formats will not be accepted and will be returned to the contact author as rejected. Several free or low-cost programs to write .pdf files may be found on the web; see the conference website for links.

At the time of submission for each work, please fill out the online form (contact information for the author(s) with a 150-word abstract) and upload three files. The first will be the (updateable) body of the work with no author information for blind review; the second is the (updateable) CD version with a 150-word abstract and complete author information; and the third, any supporting material, including models, submitted as a single file or a .zip archive.

• Title of work:
• Contact author name:
• Organization:
• Complete postal address:
• Phone/Fax:
• Email address:

Materials must be submitted online via the Society website www.systemdynamics.org Authors will be asked to complete a short questionnaire about the appropriate session placement and format for their presentation at the time of submission.

Conference Proceedings
The conference pack will include the program with Printed Abstract Proceedings for all accepted papers. The Conference CD-ROM Proceedings including final versions of papers will be distributed after the conference. Full works for plenary, parallel, poster and workshop presentations will be included on the CD.

Contacts Conference Chair:
Jonathan M. Coyle
Email: jonathan@jcoyle.fsbusiness.co.uk

Programme Co-Chairs:
Michael Kennedy
London South Bank University, London, UK
Email: mike.kennedy@lsbu.ac.uk
Graham W. Winch
University of Plymouth, Plymouth, Devon, UK
Phone: +44 (0)1752 232811
Email: graham.winch@pbs.plym.ac.uk

Workshop Chair:
Jack Homer
Homer Consulting, Voorhees, New Jersey USA
Email: jhomer@comcast.net

Conference Manager:
Roberta L. Spencer, Executive Director
System Dynamics Society
Milne 300 - Rockefeller College
University at Albany
State University of New York
Albany, New York 12222 USA
Phone: +1 (518) 442-3865
Fax: +1 (518) 442-3398
E-mail: system.dynamics@albany.edu

Deadlines and Key Dates

January 2, 2004	Opening date for paper submissions and workshop proposals.
April 2, 2004	Paper submission deadline. Workshop proposals due.
May 14, 2004	Notification of acceptance.
May 16, 2004	Session proposals due.
May 21, 2004	Final abstracts due for Printed Abstract Proceedings.
May 21, 2004	Early conference registration deadline.
June 18, 2004	Conference registration deadline.
July 23, 2004	Final deadline for late registrations accepted on a space-available basis (no on-site registration).
July 25, 2004	PhD Colloquium, Policy Council Meeting.
July 26, 2004	Conference Opens in Oxford, England!
August 27, 2004	Deadline for final paper versions for CD-ROM Proceedings.
September 2004	CD-ROM Proceedings mailed to conference registrants.

Conference Sponsors to date Conference Host: HVR Consulting Services Ltd. Conference Partner: Powersim Software AS Amber Blocks Ltd. Attune Group, Inc. Forio Business Simulations GE Corporate Research & Development (GE CRD) Georgia-Pacific Corporation Global Strategy Dynamics Ltd. isee systems (formerly High Performance Systems, Inc.) John Wiley & Sons Ltd. London Business School London South Bank University Pegasus Communications, Inc. Powersim Solutions, Inc. SoL, The Society for Organizational Learning University of Salford, Centre for Operational Research and Applied Statistics Ventana Systems, Inc. Ventana Systems UK XJ Technologies

For more information, please contact:
Roberta L. Spencer, Conference Manager
System Dynamics Society
Milne 300 – Rockefeller College
University at Albany, State University of
New York, Albany, New York 12222 USA
Phone: +1 518 442-3865
Fax: +1 518 442-3398
E-mail: system.dynamics@albany.edu
www.systemdynamics.org  

The Office Web Page of System Dynamics Society