Don has over 35 years of experience in Human Factors in the Aerospace, Automotive and Defence Industries. He is a Fellow and a Chartered Member of the Institute of Ergonomics and Human Factors and is also a Chartered Psychologist. He is currently engaged on major research contracts with consortia comprising leading UK and European aerospace industrial partners developing innovative flight deck interfaces and aircraft concepts.  He has also been involved with COMAC (the new Chinese aircraft manufacturer) on the design and certification of flight deck interfaces for their new commercial aircraft.

Don was a member of the FAA/EASA Human Factors Certification Working Group that developed the certification rules for civil aircraft flight decks and was an accident investigator attached to the Army Air Corps. Don is a member of the Aerospace Technology Institute advisory committee for Human Factors and until recently he was also the Human Factors Special Adviser to the National Air Traffic Services Safety Review Committee.  He has held various honorary academic positions, including being a visiting Professor at Shanghai Jiao Tong University; visiting academic in the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, National Cheng Kung University, Taiwan RoC and was honorary Research Fellow at the University of Leicester, UK.

Don was awarded the 2006 Hodgson prize by the Royal Aeronautical Society and in 2008 was part of the team that received the Ergonomics Society President’s Medal. Don has been Chair of the Engineering Psychology and Cognitive Ergonomics conference series since 1996. In the 2022 Stanford rankings, Don is in the top 2% of most cited scientists globally. He has published over 250 journal, conference papers and book chapters and has edited or written 25 books on Human Factors.

My current research is aimed at embedding Human Factors into all aspects of engineering System design, development and operation. Modern Human Factors is no longer simply concerned with design of products and interfaces. By adopting an integrated Systems approach (encompassing design; training; person specification; operations; health and safety and environmental issues) significant enhancements in capability, safety and reductions in operational cost can be achieved. Using this ‘through life’ approach my current research interests are in developing novel concepts for design and operation (especially in the aerospace sector) and the spin out of human factors applications developed in this arena to other domains (e.g. the automotive, rail and marine sectors).