Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE160101137
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$373,536.00
Summary
The whole is greater than its parts: Improving rail safety through teamwork. This project seeks to develop a train driving risk model that includes human factors, to enable rail organisations to better identify and mitigate safety risks. Train driving is a cognitively demanding task in which errors can quickly lead to catastrophic consequences. Signals passed at danger (SPADs) occur when a train goes past a red light. Despite significant investment in better signalling and communications infrast ....The whole is greater than its parts: Improving rail safety through teamwork. This project seeks to develop a train driving risk model that includes human factors, to enable rail organisations to better identify and mitigate safety risks. Train driving is a cognitively demanding task in which errors can quickly lead to catastrophic consequences. Signals passed at danger (SPADs) occur when a train goes past a red light. Despite significant investment in better signalling and communications infrastructure, SPAD rates remain unacceptably high and are projected to rise. SPAD risk is currently managed with a retrospective approach that fails to consider non-technical human factors such as time pressure, workload and team communications. By including non-technical dimensions, this project seeks to develop a comprehensive model to explain and prevent SPADs.Read moreRead less
Advancing the science of willpower: investigating the mechanisms and processes of self-control. Willpower or 'good' self control is important for success in our academic, occupational, and social lives. This project will use cutting-edge scientific methods to investigate how glucose, the primary fuel for body function, promotes 'good' self-control and stimulates regions in the brain important for self-control.