A novel strong interaction beyond the standard model could provide a
dynamical explanation of electroweak symmetry breaking. Experimental results
strongly constrain properties of models that realise this mechanism. Whether
these constraints are obeyed by any strongly interacting quantum field theory
is a non-perturbative problem that needs to be addressed by first-principle
calculations. Monte Carlo simulations of lattice regularised gauge theories is
a powerful tool that enables us to address this question. Recently various
lattice investigations have appeared that have studied candidate models of
strongly interacting dynamics beyond the standard model. After a brief review
of the main methods and of some recent results, we focus on the analysis of
SU(2) gauge theory with one adjoint Dirac fermion flavour, which is shown to
have a near-conformal behaviour with an anomalous dimension of order one. The
implications of our findings are also discussed
