Date:Sep 2018
This is the first newsletter from the 20th IEA Executive. It is a great privilege and honor to serve the members of IEA. New officers elected at the Council meeting in Florence (24-25 August, 2018) are:
President – Kathleen Mosier (USA)
Vice President and Secretary General – Sara Albolino (Italy)
Vice President and Treasurer – Jose Orlando Gomes (Brazil)
We were able to organize a highly capable Executive Committee during the IEA2018 Congress – a mixture of continuing and new members. The appointed Standing Committee Chairs and Ex-officio Executives are:
Awards Standing Committee Chair – Yushi Fujita (Japan), Past President
Communications and Public Relations Standing Committee Chair – Michelle Robertson (USA)
Develop and Promotion Standing Committee Chair – Elina Parviainen (Finland)
International Development Standing Committee Chair – Andrew Todd (South Africa)
Professional Standards and Education Standing Committee Chair – Max Chang (Taiwan)
Science, Technology and Practice Standing Committee Chair – Thomas Alexander (Germany)
IEA2021 Congress Chair – Ian Noy (Canada)
Historian – Ernst Koningsveld (Netherlands)
Future of Work ad hoc Committee – Juan Carlos Hiba (Argentina)
Swiss Resident Director – Maggie Graf (Switzerland)
IEA2018 in Florence, Italy was a grand success! Approximately 1600 delegates from more than 80 different countries attended the Congress. Most notably, more than 450 attendees were students, who benefitted from discounted registration and inexpensive lodging provided by the conference organizers. Feedback on the sessions is highly positive, and the social dinner in Giardino dei Semplici was lovely and lively – with a live band providing entertainment and dancing. The Plenary Sessions were streamed on FaceBook, and can still be viewed at www.facebook.com/pg/FlorenceIEA2018
It is clear from the presentations and discussions at the Congress that the future of human factors and ergonomics is evolving rapidly and in ways that were not easily predicted a decade ago. If HFE science and practice are to have an impact, the discipline of HFE needs 1) to take a systemic approach rather than remaining segmented into physical, cognitive, and organizational areas of specialization; and 2) to be proactive and anticipatory. As Eric Hollnagel cautioned in his Plenary Address: “It is it the dilemma of HFE that we inadvertently create the complexity of tomorrow by trying to solve the problems of today with the mindset (models, theories, methods) of yesterday.” We need to be future-focused.
I hope to write more about this during my term as President, and am looking forward serving the IEA community during this exciting time.
Kathleen Mosier, IEA President
