Judy Edworthy

Academic profile

Professor Judy Edworthy

Emeritus Professor
School of Psychology (Faculty of Health)

The Global Goals

In 2015, UN member states agreed to 17 global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all. Judy's work contributes towards the following SDG(s):

Goal 03: SDG 3 - Good Health and Well-being

About Judy

Judy Edworthy is Professor of Applied Psychology. Her two main areas of research interest are the applied cognitive psychology of sound and the psychology of music. In terms of the applied cognitive psychology of sound, her main interest is in the design, application and underlying theory surrounding the use of alarms in both everyday environments and specific high-workload applications. Here, she carries out both research and commercial design work. Her second area of research is in the cognitive psychology of music, and her current interest lies in the aesthetics of popular song, particularly the impact of complexity, repetition, and song structure on the enjoyment of popular song. She also has interests and publications in the psychology of visual warnings.

She has been a member of several alarms standards committees, has been Chair of the Team 2 ('Noise and Communication) of the International Congress on the Biological Effects of Noise. She has served as Associate Editor for Ergonomics, as well as being on the editorial board, has been on the editorial board of the Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied and is currently on the editorial board of Human Factors. She is also a member of the EPSRC's peer review college.

She has attracted research funding from a range of bodies including the EPSRC, the ESRC, the MRC, the HSE, the DTI, Qinetic, the Laboratory of the Government Chemist, the Rail Safety and Standards Board, the NHS, and carries out alarm design work from time to time for both public and private sector organisations.

Supervised Research Degrees

Elizabeth Hellier, PhD, 1991

Sarah Loxley, MPhil, 1991

Christina Meredith, PhD, 1995

Susannah Browne, MPhil, 1995

Helen Harris, PhD, 2004

Kirsteen Aldrich, PhD, 2005

Brahim Hamidcharef, PhD, 2005

Alexandra Costello, 2009

Elizabeth Gabe-Thomas, 2012

Teaching

  • Human Factors and Ergonomics *
  • Auditory Perception *
  • Cognitive Psychology of Music *
  • Applied Psychology