Dr David Lowe, Manchester Business School David Lowe is a Senior Lecturer in Commercial Management and Head of the Project and Programme Management Affinity Group in the Innovation, Policy and Management division of MBS. He is Programme Director for the blended learning MSc in International Commercial and Contract Management and several Executive Education programmes in commercial and contract management. Clients include Rolls Royce, BAE Systems, Thales, BT, the National Skills Academy Nuclear, and the Foundation Trust Network (NHS). David is a Fellow of the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors, a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and an academic advisor of the International Association for Contract and Commercial Management (IACCM). His consultancy work includes benchmarking the engineering and project management provision of an international pharmaceutical company. His teaching interests include: commercial management, commercial strategies and tactics, and contract management. Similarly his research interests focus on commercial and contract management within the context of project-based industries, ranging from ICT/telecommunications to aerospace and defence. Completed research projects include: an investigation of the cost of different procurement systems and the development of a predictive model; a project to assist medium sized construction companies develop strategic partnerships and diversify into new business opportunities offered by public and private sector clients; and an investigation into the function of commercial management in the telecommunications and construction industries. His PhD, completed at UMIST, investigated the development of professional expertise through experiential learning. His book contributions include: Contract Management, in The Wiley Guide to Managing Projects (Wiley, 2004), and Commercial Management of Projects: Defining the Discipline (Blackwell Publishing, 2006) which he edited with Roine Leiringer. The latter is the first book to establish a theoretical framework for commercial management.