Who's broken new ground?
The Innovation Award is for significant contributions to ergonomics and human factors. Perhaps you or a colleague have been involved in the design of a product that has incorporated new ways of interaction, a working environment that enhances productivity, or a process that improves safety? If so, that deserves recognition – the more people who know about it, the more your innovation can spread!
Recent winners of this award have included a virtual reality system that enhances and improves simulation training for medical emergency response teams working in unusual environments and a programme that optimised the safety critical systems in play around railway crossings. If you know of an innovation that has pushed the boundaries of what has been done before, nominate it for this award!
Criteria
- The Award is for any individual or group who has made, via a single project or programme of work, a significant and innovative contribution to ergonomics and human factors, in relation to a product, system or facility.
- The project or programme of work must be of demonstrably high quality and impact.
- The activity or project would normally have been completed no more than two years prior to the nomination being made.
- The activity should be of a quality that it could be included in a publication of case studies such as ‘The Human Connection’, although publication is not a requirement for receiving the award.
- The nomination must include a maximum two-page description of the completed project, with clear indication of the impact that the work had in a real-world context.
This year's winner
Neil Clark, Melanie Mertesdorf and Sadaf Bader from Integrated Human Factors won this year's CIEHF Innovation Award. They demonstrated outstanding human factors work in developing a game-changing, next-generation wearable device that proactively predicts human fatigue in its wearers. Congratulations Neil, Melanie and Sadaf!
Origins of the award
This was formerly the William Floyd Award.
William Floyd was born in 1910 and graduated from Queen Mary College, London with a BSc in Mathematics in 1931. After a teaching diploma and work on mathematics applied in engineering and physics, he undertook research into the galvanic skin reflex and became a demonstrator in physiology at the Middlesex Hospital Medical School. After war service, radar with the RAF, he returned to the Medical School, extending his studies of physiology, particularly into muscular action. He also served as part-time consultant to the Post Office, possibly the first consultant ergonomist appointment in the UK. He was a founder member of the Ergonomics Society, and joint Honorary Secretary until 1954.
He played an important part in the Society’s publishing role, as joint editor of the early proceedings and of ‘Ergonomics’. From 1960 to 1975 he was head of the new Department of Ergonomics and Cybernetics at Loughborough University of Technology and was appointed Professor in 1964, the first to hold the position with ergonomics in the title in the UK, probably the world. William founded the first undergraduate course in ergonomics, as well as being influential in starting the Institute of Consumer Ergonomics and the HUSAT Research Institute, both at Loughborough. The major department which he founded has trained students and research scientists from all over the world and is certainly the largest source of ergonomists in the UK.
This award was set up to recognise his pioneering work.
Roll of honour
2023 Not awarded
2022 Mima, CIEHF Registered Consultancy
2021 Francesca Oldfield & Miranda Newbery
2020 Human Interface Technologies Team, University of Birmingham
2019 Paul Salmon, Gemma Read, Michael Lenné, Thomas Triggs & Neville Stanton
2018 Arthur Stewart, Emily Taylor and Robert Ledingham
2017 Waldemar Karwowski
2016 Rachel Benedyk
2015 Peter Hancock
2014 Patrick Waterson
2013 Not awarded
2012 Martin Anderson
2011 Not awarded
2010 John Clarkson & Roger Coleman
2009 Denis O’Brien
2004-8 Not awarded
2003 John Wood; T K Courtney, W Chang, R Gronqvist, and M Redfern
2002 Mike Goom; Sylvia Horner
2001 Prof David Stubbs
2000 Dr R H McCaig
1999 Ms Janette Edmonds
1998 Mr R G Sell
1997 Prof N S Kirk
1996 Not awarded
1995 Richard Steele, Taylor & Francis
Formerly the Ergonomics Society Special Award (1985-1993)
1993 Mrs Joan Ward; Prof Emeritus W F Floyd; Richard Holman (posthumous)
1992 Mr R S Benson, Courtaulds Textiles plc
1991 Gwen M Rutherford, for long and devoted service to the Society
1989 Paul A Wilson, Computer Sciences Company Limited for his valuable contribution in establishing and running HICOM
1985 Dr Otto G Edholm, in recognition of his substantial research work and publications contributing to the development of ergonomics and his many contributions to the Society