Dr Atif Ansar

Dr Atif Ansar is a global megaprojects expert. Atif is the co-founder and Executive Chairman of Foresight Works, which provides Fortune 500 companies with AI technology to accelerate the delivery of big projects such as data centers, rail or power generation assets, large property or industrial developments.

Atif is the Founding Director of the Oxford’s Programme on Sustainable Megaprojects. He is a Senior Fellow on the MSc in Major Programme Management and the Major Projects Leadership Academy (MPLA) for the UK and Australian governments at the Saïd Business School, University of Oxford.

Atif's work is on the confluence of megaprojects, human psychology, and technology. In particular, he is interested in how big capital projects can increase their speed to market and total lifetime value by combining human expertise with technologies such as big data and Artificial Intelligence. Atif’s research on megaprojects is globally influential and several of his papers are among the most cited classics in the field of project management. His work features regularly in the media including in outlets such as the Wall Street Journal, the Economist, the New Yorker, the Financial Times, among others.

Atif has been recognised with a Fellowship by Special Election of Keble College at the University of Oxford, a Visiting Professorship at Tsinghua University (China’s top-ranked university) and a Visiting Scholar appointment at Stanford University’s Global Projects Center.

Atif completed his DPhil (PhD) in 2010. Studying at Brasenose College, Oxford University, he received the prestigious Clarendon Award from the Oxford University Press for his doctorate. He undertook his bachelor’s degree at the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University, where he majored in philosophy, politics, and economics.