Professor Judy Edworthy

Qualifications

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.

Roles on external bodies

Current

Member of editorial board, Human Factors, 2009-present

 Member of peer review panel, EPSRC, 2002 onwards

 Member, alarms committee, US American Association of Medical Instrumentation

 Member, BSI IST/35 Health Informatics Technical Committee

 Ad hoc reviewer for additional journals including, Perception & Psychophysics, Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, Acta Psychologica, Anesthesia and Analgesia, Applied Ergonomics, Ergonomics, Biomedical Instrumentation and Technology, Applied Cognitive Psychology, Advances in Human-Computer Interaction, International Journal of Accounting Information Systems and others

 Previous

Editor-in-chief for two special issues of Ergonomics, one on warnings (1995) and one on Patient Safety (2006)

 Member of editorial board, Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied, 2005-2011

 Member of editorial board, Ergonomics, 1993-5 and 2000-2005

 Associate editor (action editor), Ergonomics, 1995-2000

 Chair, Team 2 (Noise and Communication), International Commission on the Biological Effects of Noise, 2003-2008

 Invited speaker, Cabinet Office (Civil Contingencies Secretariat), 2009

 Invited contribution to BPS feedback to the Royal Society Inquiry on ‘Detection and Decontamination of Biological and Chemical Weapons’ as a warnings expert (2003)

 Keynote speaker at the 7th International Congress of the International Commission on the Biological Effects of Noise (ICBEN), Sydney, 1998

 Member, BSI Health Care Committee 16 ‘Medical alarms’

 Member, BSI panel PSM/39/3 ‘Danger signals in noisy workplaces’

 Member of ESRC Case Award review panel, 2006-9