2016 has begun with a bang for the Centre, with an important new additions and some important new directions!
First I would like to introduce you all to our two new recruits: Dr Vanessa Beanland and Amanda Clacy.
Vanessa is an Australian Research Council Discovery Early Career Research Award (DECRA) holder who joins the Centre as a USC research fellow in the area of road safety. Vanessa brings significant expertise in the study of road user behaviour in both naturalistic on-road studies and driving simulator environments. Her research interests lie in the areas of visual search, inattention and distraction, and driver behaviour generally. She will make a considerable contribution to our Transport and Infrastructure theme and also to the Centre generally. Welcome Vanessa! You can contact Vanessa on (07) 5456 3565 or vbeanlan@usc.edu.au
Amanda recently started as the Sport and Outdoor Recreation theme’s new research fellow. Amanda is a sport and adventure junkie who recently completed her PhD examining concussion in rugby. She will work on all Sport and Outdoor Recreation projects and will act as the project manager for our flagship UPLOADS research program. Watch this space for Amanda’s other projects – these will include examining distributed cognition in cycling peloton’s, further research into sports-related concussion, and assessing teamwork in extreme sporting environments. Amanda is perfect for the role and we are very excited to have her on-board. Welcome Amanda! You can contact Amanda on (07) 5456 5904 or aclacy@usc.edu.au
Finally, I wanted to let you know of some exciting new directions for the centre in 2016. I have just finished working on a major grant proposal with Vanessa, Dr Kristie Young (Monash University), and Professor Neville Stanton (University of Southampton) for a research program designed to identify and remove the emergent behaviours and risks associated with advanced levels of driving automation (e.g. self-driving cars). The centre also recently welcomed five new PhD students who will examine important issues such as near miss incidents, accident investigation, analysis of performance in football, and ageing in place.
All in all its going to be an exciting 2016. Stay tuned for more news and research outputs!
Paul Salmon
Centre for Human Factors and Sociotechnical Systems 