About
Professor Neville Stanton is Emeritus Professor of Human Factors in Transport within Engineering and Physical Sciences at the University of Southampton.
Chartered Occupational Psychologist registered with The British Psychological Society
Fellow of The British Psychological Society
Fellow of The Institute of Ergonomics and Human Factors
Member of the Institution of Engineering and Technology
Awards:
- 1998 - Professor Stanton was awarded the Institution of Electrical Engineers Divisional Premium Award (now the Institution of Engineering and Technology) for a co-authored paper on Engineering Psychology and System Safety.
- 2001 - the Institute of Ergonomics and Human Factors awarded him the Otto Edholm Medal for his contribution to basic and applied ergonomics research
- 2007 - the Royal Aeronautical Society awarded him the Hodgson Medal and Bronze Award with colleagues for their work on flight-deck safety
- 2008 - the President’s Medal to the HFI-DTC
- 2012 - the Sir Frederic Bartlett Medal for a lifetime contribution to ergonomics research
Research
Research groups
Research interests
- Ergonomics and Human Factors methods
- Distributed cognition and distributed situation awareness
- The effects of automation on human tasks, mainly focused on the development of vehicle automation in road transport
- Research in a driving simulator to test track and on-road trials
- Adaptive Cruise Control was a particular highlight as this contributed to the first commercial implementation of the system in Jaguar vehicles
Current research
Professor Stanton has research interests in Ergonomics and Human Factors methods as has focused on the broad class of approaches called Cognitive Task and Work Analysis. The validation of these methods has led to published books and papers that present a large selection of methods with advice and guidance, examples as well as any supportive evidence.
Professor Stanton has also carried out research into team working which has focused on distributed cognition and has led to the development of ideas on distributed situation awareness which has challenged contemporary thinking on situation awareness to present a new approach and associated methods. His team work research has led to the development of methods that can be used to analyse, model and redesign the ways in which teams work.
Professor Stanton also conducts research into the effects of automation on human tasks, which has mainly focused on the development of vehicle automation in road transport. The research has considered the implications from automation in other domains, such as aviation, where automation has a history and some hard lessons have been learnt. Much of the initial research has been conducted in a driving simulator, which has subsequently led to test track and on-road trials. The research on Adaptive Cruise Control was a particular highlight as this contributed to the first commercial implementation of the system in Jaguar vehicles.
The defining characteristic of the work of Professor Stanton is his ability to move between the theoretical, methodological and practical application of Ergonomics and Human Factors. He thrives on problems to be solved. In doing so he is keen to advance both the theories and methods of the discipline. The problems are not simple and the answers cannot be found quickly. It is due to his dogged determination and willingness to collaborate with others that he has been able to advance the science and engineering of the discipline.
Research projects
Active projects
Completed projects
Publications
External roles and responsibilities
Biography
Professor Stanton conducts research into human performance in technological systems. This research has been undertaken in a diverse range of domains, including:
- aviation
- defence
- energy distribution
- maritime
- medicine
- nuclear
- road and rail transportation
- oil and gas production.
The fundamentals of human interaction with technology transgresses these domains and Human Factors methods can be used to analyse and make predictions about the performance of individuals, teams and systems. The insights gained from examining the activities of people interacting with technology can be used to assist in the design of better systems and ways of working in the future.
As well as designing better human-machine systems, Professor Stanton has undertaken fundamental research into the development and validation of Human Factors methods. Prof Stanton has published over 40 books and 300 journal papers on his work over the past 30 years.
Responsibilities
- Editor of the peer-review journal Ergonomics
- On the editorial board of Theoretical Issues in Ergonomics Science
- Editor of the book series on Human Factors in Defence, published by Ashgate
- Co-Chair of the International Conference on Human Factors in Transportation
- Professor Stanton has been a member of the Human Factors National Technical Committee for the Aerospace and Defence Knowledge Transfer Network for the past decade
- Professor Stanton has advised numerous organisations on Safety Cases and Safety Management Systems over the past 20 years
Professor Stanton acted as an expert witness for Network Rail in the civil litigation following the Ladbroke Grove rail accident. His evidence on modelling the signalman’s cognitive micro-strategies and the activities of the driver have both been published in peer-review journals:
- Stanton, N. A. and Baber, C. (2008) Modelling of alarm handling responses times: A case of the Ladbroke Grove rail accident in the UK. Ergonomics, 51 (4) 423-440
- Stanton, N. A. and Walker, G. H. (2011) Exploring the psychological factors involved in the Ladbroke Grove rail accident. Accident Analysis & Prevention, 43 (3), 1117-1127
- Moray, N., Groeger, J. and Stanton, N. A. (2017) Quantitative modelling in Cognitive Ergonomics: Predicting Signals Passed At Danger. Ergonomics, 60 (2), 206-220
Prizes
- The Sir Frederic Bartlett Medal (2012)
- Vice Chancellor's award for post-graduate research supervision in the Faculty of Engineering (2011)
- The Presidents medal, 2018 (2018)
- The William Floyd Medal 2019 (2019)