The new IEA executive committee is now confirmed and already starting to take over the work from the previous committee. In the past two months weekly online meetings have been held to decide on the standing committee chairs and the IEA strategy for the next three years. The emphasis has been on keeping up the momentum of the previous executive.
The first couple of months of our three-year term have already passed and we would like to let you know what we have been doing since our election. But first, many thanks for the confidence you placed in us and for this opportunity to contribute to the growth and development of our profession. The field of human factors and ergonomics (HFE) is changing fast, and it has been a bit like jumping on a moving train, although we were all already involved in ongoing projects to do with the future of work and the profession. We intend to keep this work going but to develop it further.
The Covid pandemic has challenged us in many ways, but this challenge has produced some positive developments. Our IEA executive and council meetings have been held online since the beginning of 2020 and this has saved costs. However, it has also promoted more frequent contact between us, improving communication and collaboration. We have held regular weekly online meetings to discuss how we want to develop a work strategy for the next three years and we have carefully chosen a group of very competent and committed people to take up the important work of chairing the standing committees. These nine people will form the IEA 2021-24 executive committee along with us:
- Awards: Kathleen Mosier, Immediate Past President, USA
- Communications and Public Relations: Jonathan Davy, South Africa (new on executive)
- Development and Promotion: Elina Parviainen, Finland (incumbent from 2018)
- International Development: Anindya Ganjuli, India (new on executive)
- Professional Standards and Education: Takeshi Ebara, Japan (new on executive) with Marion Edwin, New Zealand, as new Certification Sub-Committee chair
- Science, Technology, and Practice: Nancy Black, Canada (new on executive)
- IEA2024 Planning Committee: Myung Hwan Kun, Korea
- ICT Director: Takashi Kawai, Japan
- Future of Work Task Force: Andrew Thatcher, South Africa
It is important to us that the members of the executive have support for their activities, so we have also worked on establishing co-chairs and designating people who will be responsible for sub-committees and tasks. We have tried to make a mix of people who are experienced in IEA work and newcomers, including early-career professionals, who will provide expertise for the future. It was also important to us that people from a wide range of regions and society sizes make up the executive team, so that we are as representative of the membership as possible.
Our next step will be to work with the standing committee chairs and support groups to further develop the draft strategy. We are using the PTD2 tool developed by Yushi Fujita and Andrew Todd to help us in this process. Both people will continue to work with us during this process. The tool helps us to include all important stakeholders, to identify needs early in the planning process and, most importantly, to use a holistic and systemic approach. A truly ergonomic management tool!
