IMAGINEERING
FUTURE DESIGN
ProfessorWilliamWongheadstheInteraction “ We use a variety of human-centred methods that
DesignCentre,whereresearchersinvestigatehow emphasise the study of users in their natural
humansinteractwithcomputer-basedsystemsand environments. We attempt to understand what they
inventnewinteractionandvisualisationtechniques do, and why. Field observations and in-depth
toreducethepotentialforlife-threateningerrors. interviews such as cognitive task analysis, help us
gain insights that lead to design innovations that
ResearchattheIDCisfundedthrough would enable operators to cope with the variety of
variousgrants:theEuropeanCommission,the circumstances that arise in complex work situations.”
USAirForce,EUROCONTROL,theKoreanAtomic
EnergyResearchInstitute,EPSRC,JISC,andApple
ComputerUK.Muchoftheresearchisappliedand
focusesoncreatinginnovationsinsafetycritical
domainssuchasairtrafficcontrol,emergency
ambulancedispatching,andnuclearpowerplants,
thatsupportdecisionmaking,situationawareness,
sensemaking,andsystemsresilience.Research
isalsodiverse,suchascreativityinlearning
environments,andassistinglowliteracyusers
intheUKandEgyptfindinformationin
e-governmentsystems.
Imagineering the future
One of the research areas that Professor Wong and
his team are involved with is the development of
novel techniques for portraying and interacting with
3D and multi-dimensional information in 2D display
spaces, such as planar radar displays used in air
traffic control. Working with EUROCONTROL, and
industry partners Space Applications Services in
Belgium and NEXT Ingegneria deii Sistemi in Italy,
these innovative techniques are being developed in
support of Europe’s future air traffic management
system programme, SESAR (the Single European
Sky ATM Research) due to be operational in 2025,
when the ATC control concepts and systems are
expected to be radically different from present day.
This presents significant challenges, such as the
development of interfaces that are to support tasks
that as yet do not exist.
16 Engineering and Information Sciences
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