Past research projects

Human Factors Methods in Design July 1995 - July 1997 EPSRC/DTI (with matching funds from Jaguar and Ford)
N. A. Stanton
Development of a methodology for improving safety of in-car devices. This led to the publication of a book entitles: ‘A Guide to Methodology in Ergonomics’ published by Taylor and Francis in 1999.

Team-work in HSC November 1995 - July 1997 British Gas
N. A. Stanton
A systems analysis of team behaviour in four new human supervisory control rooms. This research led to a research paper published in the journal Ergonomics.

Adaptive Cruise Control September 1997 - December 1999 ESRC/DTI (with matching funds from Jaguar and Ford)
N. A. Stanton
The development of a psychological model of the driver's representation of Adaptive Cruise Control. The results from the research were published in the research journal Theoretical Issues in Ergonomics Science. The project was graded as ‘outstanding’ from peer review by the ESRC. This led to a paper published in Ergonomics.

Team-work October 1997 - December 1997 DERA
N. A. Stanton
Assessing the effects of location, media and task type on team performance. The largest performance effect was found for media and task type. The results of this study were published in the Journal of Defence Studies.

VR in HSC January 1998 - January 2000 ESRC/National Grid/British Gas
N. A. Stanton and A. D. Roberts
Assessment of virtual reality in human supervisory control. Two aspects of virtuality were investigated: virtual interfaces and virtual teams. The largest effect on performance was found in virtual teams rather than virtual interfaces, for a gas network control task. This led to a paper published in Ergonomics.

ERRORPRED April 2001 - March 2003 DTI
A. Marshall, D. Harris, N. A. Stanton, S. Decker & T. Waldmann
Prediction of Human Errors on Civil Flight Decks. This research was initiated in response to the need to assess the potential for design-induced errors in modern flight decks. A range of human error identification techniques have been assessed (i.e., SHERPA, TAFEI, THERP, HAZOP and HEIST). Following a study of pilot error, a new template-based approach was developed and validated. This led to four papers and the Hodgson Award from the Royal Aeronautical Society.

HFI-DTC 2003 – 2006 (phase 1) MoD/DSTL
D. Morris, N. A. Stanton, D. Harris, C. Baber, G. Hone, P. Newman, B. Stone, M. Fuchs, and M. Goom.
Human Factors Integration Defence Technology Centre (HFI-DTC). This consortium comprises three universities (Brunel, Birmingham and Cranfield) and five defence companies (Aerosystems, MBDA, SEA, Lockheed Martin and VP Defence). Four major research themes were identified: C4-ISTAR, Determining Future Training Requirements, Updating HFI Processes, and HFI Programme Information Dissemination.

Driver Coaching 2004 – 2006 Institute of Advanced Motorists
N. A. Stanton and G. H. Walker
Evaluation of the effects of advanced driving training programmes on driver skills, behaviour and attitudes. A controlled study of drivers who undertake the IAM course is compared two control groups in order to determine the benefits of advanced driving training. This led to a paper published in Ergonomics.

HFI-DTC 2006 – 2009 (phase 2) MoD/DSTL
D. Morris, N. A. Stanton, D. Harris, C. Baber, G. Hone, P. Newman, B. Stone, M. Fuchs, and C. Mason.
Human Factors Integration Defence Technology Centre (HFI-DTC). This consortium comprises three universities (Southampton (formally Brunel), Birmingham and Cranfield) and four defence companies (Aerosystems, MBDA, SEA, and Lockheed Martin). This is the continuation of the phase 1 contract. The main themes of the research for the second phase are: Command and Control, Training, Human Factors methods, integration of Human Factors, and Multinational Operations.

HFI-DTC 2009 – 2010 (phase 3) MoD/DSTL
K. Lane, N. A. Stanton, D. Harris, C. Baber, G. Hone, P. Newman, B. Stone, M. Fuchs, and C. Mason.
Human Factors Integration Defence Technology Centre (HFI-DTC). This consortium comprises three universities (Southampton (formally Brunel), Birmingham and Cranfield) and four defence companies (Aerosystems, MBDA, SEA, and Lockheed Martin). This is the continuation of the phase 2 contract.

HFI-DTC 2010 – 2011 (phase 4) MoD/DSTL
K. Lane, N. A. Stanton, D. Harris, C. Baber, G. Hone, P. Newman, B. Stone, M. Fuchs, and C. Mason.
Human Factors Integration Defence Technology Centre (HFI-DTC). This consortium comprises three universities (Southampton, Birmingham and Cranfield) and four defence companies (Aerosystems, MBDA, SEA, and Lockheed Martin). This is the continuation of the phase 3 contract.

HFI-DTC 2011 – 2012 (phase 5) MoD/DSTL
K. Lane, N. A. Stanton, D. Harris, C. Baber, G. Hone, P. Newman, B. Stone, M. Fuchs, and C. Mason.
Human Factors Integration Defence Technology Centre (HFI-DTC). This consortium comprises three universities (Southampton, Birmingham and Cranfield) and four defence companies (Aerosystems, MBDA, SEA, and Lockheed Martin). This is the continuation of the phase 4 contract. The project finished after 10 years work which resulted in 10 books in the ‘Human Factors in Defence’ series and over 100 journal papers including special issues in Ergonomics, Safety Science, Battlespace Technology, and Cognition, Technology and Work.

FOOTlite 2007-2011 Future Intelligent Transport Systems project: EPSRC
M. McDonald and N. A. Stanton
Foot-LITE comprises MIRA Ltd, Hampshire County Council, the IAM, Transport for London and Sussex Police, as demonstrators of innovation provided by the University of Southampton, TRW Conekt, Brunel University, Nissan, RDM, Ricardo, TORG and Zettlex. Footlite will receive funding of £2.6m and the partners will contribute £1.4m of their own funds. The project aims to develop and test technologies that will encourage safe and efficient driving of motor vehicles.

MAMOOSE 2011 DfT
N. A. Stanton and M. McDonald
Led by XPI Simulation Ltd. in partnership with the Transportation Research Group under a contract for the Department for Transport (DfT) to develop “Synthetic Environments in Managed Motorways”, along with the Highways Agency and Technology Strategy Board under the Small Business Research Initiative (SBRI).

Daylight Dimming of Traffic Signals 2011 Radix
N. A. Stanton
The main aim of this study is to investigate if there is any significant difference in driver behaviour with the provision of dimmed road traffic signals under conditions of lower ambient lighting, compared to road traffic signals of normal intensity. The results of the study showed that whilst there were significant differences in drivers’ perception of the signal intensities, there was no sufficient evidence to suggest any differences in their driving behaviour between normal and dimmed conditions.

SAREBECOMS 2010-2011 EPSRC (RRUK)
N. A. Stanton and B. Ryan
The project took a step back from solutioneering – to consider the big picture of how to transform the current version of the rail socio-technical system to a future version with an increased take-up of 30 percent or more modal shift from road transport. The proposed approach is grounded in socio-technical-economic analysis of the constraints that are preventing modal shift, using Cognitive Work Analysis (CWA) to analyse the present system and consultation with representative passenger groups identify what the future system might look like. An aim of this part of the work has been to collect information from a sample of commuters, to add depth to the understanding of the constraints that have been identified in the CWA and help to develop a better understanding of the barriers to modal shift to rail travel in this group and how these barriers can be removed. This led to a paper published in Ergonomics.