Ergonomics in the United Kingdom

Abstract

The Ergonomics Society has just celebrated its 50th anniversary but we still face some major issues. Whilst we have had some success ergonomics has not penetrated in to general life as much as we would have expected. We have always been active in publicising the subject; we have lobbied government departments; we have pushed industry; why have we not achieved more? We have problems as a multidisciplinary applied subject within the academic environment when assessments of performance are being made. We do we not have as many members as we would expect? How do we cope with competition from competing groups such as HCI specialists? We cover a very wide field but need to get a good balance between a small professionally based core and the much wider group of those who have an interest in parts of the subject.