My name is John Hayward. I am a retired university lecturer in mathematics. I started my career in Astrophysics with a PhD in General Relativity. Early on in my career, I moved into mathematics, lecturing in Edinburgh Napier and then the University of Glamorgan (now called South Wales). My primary research is mathematical modelling, especially on social movements such as the growth of churches and political parties. My main modelling methodology is system dynamics. As well as teaching modelling courses, I also taught software engineering, programming, and a range of mathematics courses.

My research in system dynamics uses mathematics and physics to describe model behaviour in terms of model structure, an approach I have described as sociomechanics. I first presented the concept of loop impact in 2012 at the International System Dynamics Conference. Subsequently, there has been a number of publications and conference presentations on loop impact and its developments. See publication list
Loop impact and the Newtonian Interpretative Framework are built on previous work in system dynamics, loop dominance analysis and sociophysics.
- System Dynamics
- Sociophysics
- Loop Dominance Analysis
- Full Publication List