Derek K. Hitchins (born 1935) is a British

systems engineer Systems engineering is an interdisciplinary field of engineering and engineering management that focuses on how to design, integrate, and manage complex systems over their life cycles. At its core, systems engineering utilizes systems thinkin ...

and was professor in

engineering management Engineering management is the application of engineering methods, tools, and techniques to business management systems. Engineering management is a career that brings together the technological problem-solving ability of engineering and the organi ...

, in command & control and in

systems science Systems science, also referred to as systems research or simply systems, is a transdisciplinary field that is concerned with understanding simple and complex systems in nature and society, which leads to the advancements of formal, natural, socia ...

Cranfield University Cranfield University is a postgraduate-only public research university in the United Kingdom that specialises in science, engineering, design, technology and management. Cranfield was founded as the College of Aeronautics (CoA) in 1946. Throug ...

Cranfield Cranfield is a village and civil parish in the west of Bedfordshire, England, situated between Bedford and Milton Keynes. It had a population of 4,909 in 2001. increasing to 5,369 at the 2011 census. The parish is in Central Bedfordshire uni ...

Bedfordshire Bedfordshire (; abbreviated ''Beds'') is a Ceremonial County, ceremonial county in the East of England. It is bordered by Northamptonshire to the north, Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Hertfordshire to the south and the south-east, and Buckin ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

Biography

Hitchins joined the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...

in 1952 as an apprentice and retired as a wing commander in 1973 to join industry. From 1975 to 1976 he worked as the system design manager of the Tornado ADV aviation company and technical coordinator for UKAIR CCIS. From 1975 to 1979 he was head of Integrated sciences in a grammar school, teaching physics, integrated science, mathematics, electronics, biology and astronomy to advanced level, with music, gymnastics and athletics as additional subjects. In 1980 he returned to industry and held posts at two leading systems engineering companies as Marketing Director, Business Development Director and Technical Director. He also worked as UK Technical Director for the

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...

Air Command and Control System (ACCS) project in

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

before becoming an academic in 1988. In 1988 he became professor in Engineering Management at

City University, London City, University of London was a public university from 1966 to 2024 in London, England. It merged with St George's, University of London to form City St George's, University of London in August 2024. The names "City, University of London" and ...

. From 1990 to 1994 he held the British Aerospace Chairs in Systems Science and in Command and Control, Cranfield University at RMCS Shrivenham. After his retirement in 1994 he continued as a part-time consultant, teacher, visiting professor and international lecturer. He was the inaugural president of the UK chapter of INCOSE, and also the inaugural chairman of the

Institution of Electrical Engineers The Institution of Electrical Engineers (IEE) was a British professional organisation of electronics, electrical, manufacturing, and information technology professionals, especially electrical engineers. It began in 1871 as the Society of Tel ...

’ (IEE’s) Professional Group on Systems Engineering. For many years he was an independent member of the UK Defence Scientific Advisory Board.

Work

His current research is into system thinking, system requirements, social psychology & anthropology, Egyptology, command & control, system design and world-class systems engineering.

Publications

Hitchins wrote several books and article.For an overview, se
Hitchins CV
, Feb 2005. A selection: * 1990. ''Conceiving Systems''. Thesis (Ph.D.) City University, 1990. * 1992. ''Draft Guide to the Practice of System Engineering''. With John C. Boarder and Patrick D. R. Moore. Institution of Electrical Engineers. * 1993. ''Putting Systems to Work'', * 2000

* 2003, ''Advanced Systems Thinking, Engineering and Management'', Norwood MA: Artech House. * 2003. ''The Pyramid Builder's Handbook'' * 2003. ''The Secret Diaries of Hemiunu'' * 2007. ''Systems Engineering: A 21st Century Systems Methodology''. Articles, a selection: * 2003
''Systems Methodology''
paper. * 2003
''What’s in a System-of-Systems?''
paper.

References

External links

Hitchins
homepage.

INCOSE 2007.

Feb 2005. {{DEFAULTSORT:Hitchins, Derek 1935 births Academics of City, University of London Academics of Cranfield University British non-fiction writers Living people Systems engineers British systems scientists British male writers British male non-fiction writers