Lance graduated from University College Dublin (UCD) in 1974 with First Class Honours BA and MA degrees. He subsequently completed PhD (1987) and MBA (1991) degrees, also in University College Dublin. He joined Teagasc (The Irish Agriculture and Food Development Authority) from the Irish Ministry of Finance in 1980, having previously worked as a researcher in the Irish Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI).

Since joining Teagasc, Lance has worked in the areas corporate and strategic planning, programme and project planning, foresight development and research management. He was Project Manager for the major Teagasc Foresight exercise – Teagasc 2030- published in 2008. Lance has contributed widely to national research policy initiatives in Ireland and to the development of various Irish agricultural and food policy developments. He was a member of the Third EU SCAR (Standing Committee on Agricultural Research) Foresight Expert Group and has contributed foresight expertise to th