This book contains extended versions of 34 carefully selected and reviewed papers presented at the Third International Conference on Mathematical Methods in Reliability, held in Trondheim, Norway in 2002. It provides a broad overview of current research activities in reliability theory and its applications. There are chapters on reliability modelling, network and system reliability, reliability optimization, survival analysis, degradation and maintenance modelling, and software reliability. The authors are all leading experts in the field.

A particular feature of the book is a historical review by Professor Richard E Barlow, well known for his pioneering research on reliability. The list of authors also includes the plenary session speakers Odd O Aalen, Philip J Boland, Sallie A Keller-McNulty, and Nozer Singpurwalla.