Centre for Human Factors and Sociotechnical Systems

From July to October 2013, I was in Kenya, residing on the edge of the spectacular Rift Valley in a small hillside town called Iten. Colloquially known as the ‘Home of Champions’, the purpose of visiting Iten, aside from improving my own endurance running ability, was to witness firsthand why the East Africans were the … More Running away from reductionism: Why the development and prevention of distance running-related injury is a complex problem

At the Centre for HF & STS, much of our work focuses on the design of new ergonomics methods to better understand safety and performance in sociotechnical systems. An “ergonomics method” is essentially a procedure for coding and interpreting qualitative data through the lens of a particular theory. For example, Rasmussen’s Accimap is a procedure … More The problem of reliability in the design of ergonomics methods…and a potential solution

Here is a short video describing the Centre for Human Factors and Sociotechnical Systems, our work, our people, and our key areas of research. Enjoy! For further inquiries or requests for research outputs please contact a relevant theme leader

Regulation is under attack. In major democracies around the world, the main set of tools used to protect the public interest from the excesses of private activity is being eroded. The starkest current example of this is in the United States, where the Trump administration has taken radical steps to reduce the powers and funding … More A systems-thinking approach to regulation

I was more of a Batman kid. I mean Superman was cool and all but there was something about that menacing black colour that got my attention. Whether it be a firefighter, ballet dancer or cape wearing villain from Marvel, we likely all had our preference and I suspect we all still do. Maybe, just … More No More Superheroes…

Special issue of the Journal of Human Factors in Manufacturing and Service Industries on Sociotechnical Systems Thinking Sociotechnical systems theory emerged in the 1950s from a program of research that focussed on the disruptive impacts of new technologies on human work (Eason, 2014; Trist & Bamforth, 1951). Primarily a work design theory, sociotechnical systems is … More Call for papers – Sociotechnical Systems Thinking in the Manufacturing and Service Industries

As technologies become more sophisticated, the onus for storing and communicating the information we need to complete work and everyday tasks is increasingly being placed on them. This reliance on artefacts in the world for critical information is nothing new – indeed it formed the basis for popular Human Factors theories such as Distributed Cognition, … More The redistribution of situation awareness: are we going too far?

Researchers from the Centre’s Sport and Outdoor Recreation theme were recently invited by the Chartered Institute of Ergonomics and Human Factors to write an article for their Ergonomist magazine to showcase some of our sports ergonomics research. The article was published in the May-June edition (with thanks to Tina Worthy for all of her help and … More Engineering victory: systems ergonomics in sport

Over the past few years Centre members have published a series of short articles outlining our human factors research via The Conversation. These quick to read and easy to digest articles cover various topics ranging from the miracle on the Hudson, the fatal five driver behaviours and accident prevention to doping in elite cycling, urban planning … More Our Conversation articles

Tony Carden, PhD candidate In our recently published paper, we argued that recognition of the led outdoor activity system as complex has implications for how outdoor programs should be regulated, managed, designed, supervised and led. What could that look like in practice? For starters, I want to suggest that complex doesn’t mean difficult. Nor does … More What difference does complexity make in the outdoors?