IEHF Student Conference 2011: towards a career in ergonomics
Wednesday 16th November, Duxford, Cambridgeshire
This year's Student Conference was bigger and better than ever before, with more delegates and more exhibitors than we've ever had. Over 130 students arrived from Loughborough, London, Nottingham and other areas. Most were studying ergonomics but students from other disciplines came who were keen to find out more about careers in ergonomics and human factors.
The conference was held at the Imperial War Museum, Duxford in Cambridgeshire, in a huge aircraft hangar filled with planes and helicopters. There was a packed programme from start to finish with talks from ergonomists and human factors specialists who showed the wide variety of careers that students can embark upon.
Alex Stedmon from Nottingham University kicked off the day with his talk 'From the Berlin Airlift to the present day; a personal journey'.
Next on was Lauren Morgan from Oxford University who spoke about ergonomic issues in healthcare. Download Lauren's presentation.
John Lovegrove from Canary Designs Ltd gave an insight to his career path from university to working in ergonomics. Download John's presentation.
After the break Stuart Shirreff from KDC Contractors Ltd, who kindly sponsored the conference, gave a presentation about his job working with 'Tonka Toys' and spoke about the human factors issues in the demolition industry. Download Stuart's presentation.
Gerry Newell from General Dynamics UK Ltd spoke to the students about work in the defence industry. Download Gerry's presentation.
There was plenty of time to network in the lunch break and there was a real buzz around the exhibitors' stands at our first jobs fair. Our thanks go to ARCADIS, EDF Energy, Jaguar Land Rover, RSSB, Atkins, AWE and DSTL who came along to speak to students about work at their company.
Ella Hubbard from Loughborough University started the afternoon session by speaking about how students can get involved in the running of the IEHF through the student committee.
Another new development this year was the Mobile App Competition. The winner was Katarzyna Stawarz from University College London, who submitted an idea for an app called the "Posture Analyser". Katarzyna was presented with £100 iTunes voucher. Read about the winning entry.
The interactive workshop session was run this year by Simon MacMull and Laura Lewis of Davis Associates. Students were split into groups of 10 and each given a case study to work on. They then discussed their results with the audience.
After the break, Richard Farry from QinetiQ talked about Human Computer Interaction in the workplace.
This was followed by Janette Edmonds from The Keil Centre who gave a talk about her life as a ergonomics consultant and the challenges she faces in her job. Download Janette's presentation.
Tim Hughes from BAE Systems then spoke about human factors in the military which was relevant to the venue and he had even worked on some of the aircraft in the hangar!
Last but not least, Alex Morley from ARCADIS finished off the day with his light hearted talk on "Runners' Ice Baths and Middle East Ergonomists".
But what did the students think of it?
"Whilst providing a great opportunity to explore professional opportunities of ergonomics, the IEHF Student Conference also acted as an ideal networking platform with companies, students, and experienced consultants alike. Deciding which professional avenue to pursue after studies can be overwhelming but this event gave us the chance to mingle and chat with some contrasting industry representatives, and certainly inspired me to begin thinking about possible career paths that I hadn't envisaged before. The interactive workshop in the afternoon separated the day nicely, and students could apply some taught theory within a mock-up scenario. It was good practice to be able to work and debate with other like-minded students, and particularly rewarding to have the chance to present and justify the final output to a large audience at the end." Morgan Banks, UCL.
"The Student Conference "towards a career in ergonomics" lived up to its name with talks displaying just how broad and varied a career in ergonomics can be. Lydia Saunders and Kate Dixon (2nd year BSc Ergonomics, Loughborough) commented: "great to hear about the various careers involved as we didn't realise the range you could get involved in within ergonomics." With talks varying from "what is it you do again?" an issue ergonomists often experience, to risk management in construction and issues with implementing improved HCI in the workplace, there was a good balance between explaining the journey a graduate takes into research, international companies specialising in particular industries, and smaller consultancy firms that are expanding into emerging fields. Helen Thomas (2nd year BSc Ergonomics, Loughborough) said: "they covered lots of different areas of ergonomics and gave useful insights into their jobs and the things they expect of people working in their companies." There is no doubt that professional ergonomists are able to build a broad portfolio of activities and with expanding areas such as HCI and the continual push for greater recognition and public understanding of the field, the future of ergonomics is a very exciting place to be!" David Haines, Loughborough University.
So now for next year, we want to make it even bigger and better, so if you are interested in contributing to the 2012 Student Conference, whether it's speaking, exhibiting, sponsoring or running a workshop then please get in touch with us, it's never to early to start planning!
Kia Maine, Student Conference Organiser, IEHF
kia@ergonomics.org.uk