Webinar Wendy Rogers

We had a very nice online event with Wendy Rogers. Her talk was entitled “Recent advances in design of robots to support successful ageing”, took place on December 2nd, 2021. A recording of this webinar is available to our members after login.

The HFES EC Executive Committee

Stephen Fairclough’s webinar

A recording of Steve Fairclough’s webinar “The Role of the Prefrontal Cortex & Functional Connectivity during Watchkeeping and Collision Avoidance during Maritime Operations: An fNIRS study” is now available.

 

A discussion with Don Norman

We are happy to announce a Spring online event ” A Discussion with Don Norman” that will take place on April 27th, 2021 at 5 PM (CEST).
If you want to attend, please, subscribe before April 23th here

The online meeting is limited in number of attendees!

We are looking forward to meeting Don and you,
The HFES EC Executive Committee

Executive committee 2021 – 2023

Officers 2021-2023

In 2020 new officers were elected for the period 2021-2023. The new president of the HFES Europe Chapter is Antonella Toffetti from STELLANTIS – CRF From 2014-2016 Antonella was also president of the Europe Chapter.

antonella

Antonella Toffetti, president

Stephen Fairclough (Liverpool John Moores University) is secretary

Stephen Fairclough, secretary

Karel Brookhuis (University of Groningen) is treasurer

karel 

Karel Brookhuis, treasurer

Three directors serve the chapter: Linda Onnasch (Humboldt Univerity Berlin), Rebecca Wiczorek (TU Berlin), and Denis Coelho (Jönköping University)

  

Linda Onnasch, Rebecca Wiczorek, and Denis Coelho, directors

Apart from the president, treasurer and the three directors the past-president (Stefan Röttger, German Naval Medical Institute), and past secretary (Dick de Waard, University of Groningen) are also members of the executive council

 dick

Stefan Röttger, past president, and Dick de Waard, past secretary

2023 Annual Meeting Keynote Speaker

The 2023 Annual Meeting  keynote speech will be delivered by Frank Flemisch, Professor of Human Systems Integration, RWTH Aachen University.

Human Factors, Ergonomics and Human Systems Integration for biological and artificial intelligence and cognition

Both Human Factors & Ergonomics as the meanwhile classical discipline to address human issues with technology, and it’s younger sister discipline human systems integration, addressing the systemic integration of human, technology, organization and the environment, started in the last millennium where the human was thought to be the only source of intelligence in a system.

At the end of the last millennium, with the conception of cybernetics and AI in the 1950ties, more and more researcher started to dream that machines might become intelligent as well. Now, still at the beginning of a new millennium, humans develop machines with cognitive capabilities, which surpasses human capabilities in more and more domains. While one part of the scientific community and of the public still thinks that machines will never outsmart the human, another part of the community is already developing autonomous systems which replace humans, and intelligent chat programs, which becomes virtually undistinguishable from humans.

I will at first try to shake up the sleeping part of the community with a couple of striking recent examples. Bypassing the discussion on whether machines can really have human intelligence, it will base the discussion on the scientifically more grounded concept of cognition and its role in cybernetic feedback loops. Inspired by Wieners book on cybernetics as the control in animals and machines, a model is introduced, which originally started in the military domain and its discussion about the control of AI, and generalize this into a holistic model of biological and artificial cognition.

Instead of talking about an unavoidable fate of technology, e.g. in form of a singularity (Kurzweil) or Superintelligence (Transhumanism/Nick Bostrom), I will develop a perspective of critical optimism that we humans still have an influence on how non-biological cognition is used. A couple of key challenges and potential solutions like joint and cooperative cognition and its technical and ergonomics counterparts cooperative automation, cooperative AI and reversible symbiotic systems are sketched. Not surprisingly, Human Factors & Ergonomics and Human Systems Integration can contribute significantly to balance human, technical, organizational and environmental cognition in a way that we can assert our role as homo sapiens but only if we wake up. It is not too late, but time is up.

 

Photos taken at the Torino conference

I’ve uploaded a few photos of the April conference in Turin. If you have more (or nicer ones) to add, please email me: d.de.waard<at>hfes-europe.org! (Photos are here). Size was reduced quite a lot, just email me if you would like to receive one or a couple in higher quality.

 

HFES Europe Chapter Early career best paper award

Patrick Ebel received the 2023 early career award in Liverpool, England, and Olger Siebinga received the 2nd prize. Information about the 2024 award will appear this page.

Year rank Name Paper
2023 1st Patrick Ebel On the Forces of Driver Distraction: Explainable Predictions for the Visual Demand of In-Vehicle Touchscreen Interactions
2nd Olger Siebinga A Human Factors Approach to Validating Driver Models for Interaction-aware Automated Vehicles
2022 1st Nadine Schlicker What to expect from opening up ‘black boxes’? Comparing perceptions of justice between human and automated agents
2nd Vivien Moll Biased energy efficiency perception based on instantaneous consumption displays – Indication for heuristic energy information processing
2020 1st Sarah Meßen Trust is essential: positive effects of information systems on users’ memory require trust in the system
2nd Stefanie Faas External HMI for self-driving vehicles: Which information shall be displayed?
2019 1st  Anna Zirk Do We Really Need More Stages?
Comparing the Effects of Likelihood Alarm Systems and Binary Alarm Systems
2nd Carli Ochs The usefulness of VR for learning –
The role of presence, cybersickness and context factors
2018 1st  Dietlind Helene Cymek Redundant Automation Monitoring:
Four Eyes Don’t See More Than Two,
if Everyone Turns a Blind Eye
2nd Christina Kaß Towards an Assistance Strategy that Reduces Unnecessary Collision Alarms –
An Examination of the Driver’s Perceived Need for Assistance
2017 1st  Ignacio Solis-Marcos Performance of an additional task during Level 2 automated driving: An on-road study comparing drivers with and
without experience with partial automation
2nd Frank Westerhuis Using optical illusions in the shoulder of a cycle path to affect lateral position
2nd Alberto Morando Drivers anticipate lead-vehicle conflicts during automated longitudinal control: Sensory cues capture driver attention and promote appropriate and timely responses
2016 1st Felix Siebert The exact determination of subjective risk and comfort thresholds in car following
2015 1st Francesco Biondi Advanced driver assistance systems: multimodal redundant warnings to enhance road safety
2nd Isabel Neumann Eco-driving strategies in battery electric vehicle use  – how do drivers adapt over time?
3rd Frederik Naujoks Effectiveness of advisory warnings based on cooperative perception
3rd Lena Rittger Masking action relevant stimuli in dynamic environments – the MARS method
2014 1st  Romy Lorenz  Towards a Holistic Assessment of the  User Experience with Hybrid BCIs
2nd  Rebecca Wiczorek Investigating User’s Mental Representation of likelihood alarm systems with different thresholds
3rd  Linda Onnasch Operators’ Adaptation to imperfect automation – impact of miss-prone alarm systems on attention allocation and performance

 

HFES Europe Chapter Winners – Best Poster Award Winners since 2009

 

Marc Schwarzkopf, winner 2023 in Liverpool

Year, Conference Location Winner Paper
2023, Liverpool Marc Schwarzkopf, Chemnitz University of Technology Do you plan virtually safe? Recommendations for a VR application that rates the perceived safety of bicycle infrastructure for urban planners
2022, Torino Mirjam Lanzer, Ulm University How media reports influence drivers’ perception of safety and trust in automated vehicles in urban traffic
2019, Nantes Yu-Jeng Kuo, Kempten University of Applied Science Objective Workload Evaluation with Lane Keeping Assistance System using Physiological Signal and Driving Performance Metrics
2018, Berlin Orlando Ricciardi, Sapienza University Rome Fidgeting as a sensory reinforcement strategy for overcoming boredom
2017, Rome Susann Winkler, Technische Universität Braunschweig Practice makes perfect – driving experience with a multi stage warning system
2016, Prague Sven Bock, Technische Universität Berlin Quality of reactions on peripheral given stimuli while driving
2015, Groningen Isabel Neumann,  Technische Universität Chemnitz
Eco-Pedaling: Manpower versus support level assistance
2014, Lisboa Sven Schmutz, University of Fribourg Barrier-free web design and non-disabled users
2013, Torino Dafne Piersma, University Groningen Shifting from manual to automatic gear when growing old: good advice? Results from a driving simulator study
2012, Toulouse Nina Gross, University Duisburg-Essen “Why don´t you share what you know?” – Factors influencing workers´ knowledge sharing behaviour
2011, Leeds Ingo Totzke, Centre for Traffic Sciences (IZVW), University of Würzburg Precision of congestion warnings: Do drivers really need warnings with precise information about the congestion tail´s position?
2010, Berlin Tessa-Karina Tews, Leuphana University of Lüneburg Emotional Interfaces in Cars: Cues from Facial Expressions
2009, Linköping Nora Wittbrodt, Technical University Berlin Identification of performance parameters in complex and dynamic work environments: the example of aerodrome Air Traffic Control