51cg

Internal Memberships

Research groups

• Lead of the Applied Psychology and Human Factors research group
• Lead of the Non-technical skills in agriculture research group
• Co-lead Qualitative research group

Internal groups / committees

• Psychology impact group.
• Education committee.
• Research steering group.

Administration / course co-ordination

• Ondemand Human Factors in Industrial Practice course co-ordinator
• Ondemand Safety Critical Skills in Industry course co-ordinator
• Ondemand Organisational Culture and Conflict course co-ordinator
• Ondemand Organisational safety and risk co-ordinator.
• Psychology impact co-ordinator.

Prizes and Awards

Winner Principal's Prize for Public Engagement with Research. 2021.

Nominated for Principal’s Prize for successful industry engagement. 2020.

Runner-up Principal's Prize for Public Engagement with Research. 2019.

Best thesis supervisor. 51cg Student-led Teaching Awards. 2016.

Research Overview

• The examination of Non-Technical Skills (teamwork, communication, situation awareness, cognitive readiness etc) and factors influencing non-technical skills (such as mission type, performance limitations, context etc) in industries including:
  • Agriculture
  • Aviation (helicopters, commercial and general aviation fixed-wing)
  • Healthcare
  • Forestry
  • Fishing
  • Mountain guiding
• The experience of rudeness and incivility at work including:
  • The impact of status (both instigator and victim) on the perception of, and response to, incivility.
  • The utility of different coping mechanisms to mitigate the impact of incivility.
  • How context might influence the incivility experience.
  • I am particularly interested in the impact of incivility in veterinary practice.
• Risk normalisation and cognitive bias in high-risk industrial and sport settings:
  
  • Normalisation of deviance (shortcuts and workarounds) within the energy industry.
  • Habituation to risk in extreme sport settings.
  • Risk normalisation in high risk workplace settings e.g. farming, fishing.

Knowledge Exchange

Irwin, A., Perkins,J., Branigan,H.& Trevethan, C. (2022). Supporting student resilience is about moving from surviving to thriving.

Irwin A. & Perkins, J. (2021). Are online internships the future of work experience, or just a pandemic remedy for student employability?  

Guest blog for the National Farmers Union (2020):  

Article for Press & Journal discussing email communication (2020):  

Irwin, A. (2020). Tackling rudeness in Higher Education. WonkHE. 

Appearance on BBC News Scotland, based on Landward episode (Nov, 2019). 

Appearance on Landward (Nov, 2019). 

Article for Press & Journal discussing Applied Psychology (Oct, 2019): 

Irwin, A. & Trevethan, C. (Oct, 2019). Five ways rudeness can actually be a positive experience. The Conversation: 

Irwin, A. & Lipan, G. (March, 2019). Students this is how you can stand out from the crowd in a very competitive job market. The Conversation.  

Irwin, A. (August, 2018). Does rudeness have a legitimate place in politics? The case for and against. The Conversation. 

Appearance on STV Aberdeen, North and Tayside (June, 2018). Financial pressure may lead to farmer risk taking.  

Irwin, A. & Hamlet, O. (May, 2018). How situation awareness could save your life. The Conversation. 

Irwin, A. (April, 2018). Risky Business? Guest blog, Farm Safety Foundation. 

Irwin, A. (March, 2018). That's just rude: Why being polite might not be a universal concept. The Conversation.  

Irwin, A. (October, 2017). Non-technical skills in farming. Guest blog, Farm Safety Foundation. 

Collaborations

Industrial collaborations (both current and past)

• Bristow helicopters
• CHC helicopters
• Forestry and Land Scotland
• Sodexo
• Farm Safety Foundation
• Creed consultancy
• Teagasc
• VetLed
• Mountain Assurance Ltd
• Being Human Consulting Ltd.

Academic collaborations (current and past)

• Dr Anita Weidmann (RGU)
• Dr Joy Perkins (CAD)
• Dr Ceri Trevethan (UoA)
• Dr Heather Branigan (UoA)
• Dr Oliver Hamlet (UoA)
• Dr Ruby Roberts (RGU)
• Prof Rhona Flin (UoA)
• Dr Doug Martin (UoA)
• Prof Amelia Hunt(UoA)
• Prof Liz Mossop (University of Lincoln)
• Dr Luiz Santos (University of Glasgow)

Funding and Grants

Research grants

• 2024 Trinity House maritime grant
  • Safety at sea part 2: Training and skill influencing factors in commercial fishing.
• 2023 Trinity House maritime grant
  • Safety at sea: exploring the safety critical skills used by commercial fishermen.

PhD Studentships

• 2025 Internal School of Psychology PhD funding
  • Exploring military pilot non-technical skills and influencing factors in fast-jet and helicopter contexts.
  • First supervisor (second supervisor: Dr Nejc Sedlar, Third supervisor: Prof Amelia Hunt).
  • Student: Chiara Asshoff
• 2024 Office for Nuclear Regulation studentship
  • Investigating operational decision-making approaches, tools and techniques within the nuclear industry.
  • First supervisor (Second supervisor: Dr Eva Rubinova, Third supervisor: Dr Ruby Roberts).
  • Student: Apoorva Amirapu
• 2024 ESRC SGSSS DTP Collaborative studentship award
  • Is double checking twice as safe? Investigating peer checking with the nuclear industry.
  • First supervisor (Second supervisor: Prof Amelia Hunt).
  • Student: Beatrix Duff
• 2021 ESRC SGSSS DTP Collaborative studentship award
  • Staying safe in the forest: Evaluating forestry worker non-technical skills and associated influencing factors.
  • First supervisor (second supervisor: Dr Ceri Trevethan, third supervisor: Prof Rhona Flin, industrial supervisor: Dr Jason Liggins)
  • Student: Sofia Johansson
• 2020 Energy Institute PhD studentship award
  • Combating bias on the frontline: Investigating cognitive bias and risk normalisation within the energy industry
  • First supervisor (second supervisor: Dr Doug Martin, third supervisor: Dr Ruby Roberts)
  • Student: Nejc Sedlar
• 2019 ESRC SGSSS DTP Collaborative Studentship award
  • Considering culture in the cockpit: Cultural influences on crew resource management.
  • First supervisor (second supervisor: Dr Devin Ray, third supervisor: Prof Rhona Flin)
  • Student: Anna Kaminska
    
• 2017 ESRC SGSSS DTP Collaborative Studentship award (+3)
  • Its all about the mission: An assessment of factors influencing non-technical skills in offshore and emergency helicopter teams.
  • First supervisor (second supervisor: Prof Rhona Flin)
  • Student: Oliver Hamlet
• 2016 ESRC SGSSS SDS Studentship award (1+3)
  • Mind the gap: An investigation into the factors influencing student, academic and employer perceptions of required graduate attributes.
  • Joint first supervisor with Dr Emily Nordmann (second supervisors: Dr Joy Perkins & Prof Louise Phillips)
  • Student: Gabi Lipan
• 2014 ESRC SGSSS DTP Collaborative Studentship award (+3)
  • Product Safety Culture: A new variant of safety culture
  • Second supervisor (First supervisor: Prof Rhona Flin)
  • Student: Lucia Suhanyiova

Impact Grants

• 2026 Impact and Engagement Accelerator Fund - Agile
  • Lead applicant (co-applicant: Dr Nejc Sedlar).
  • Funding to develop and run NTS in Industry event.
• 2023 Knowledge Exchange and Commercialisation grant:
  • Lead applicant (industrial collaborator: VetLed, Post-doc: Ilinca-Ruxandra Tone).
  • Funding to develop on incivility toolkit for veterinary practice.
• 2022 Knowledge Exchange and Commercialisation grant
  • Lead applicant (industrial collaborator: Forestry Land Scotland)
  • Funding to develop a behavioural change technique toolkit for Forestry Land Scotland.
• 2022 Knowledge Exchange and Commercialisation grant
  • Co-applicant (Lead applicant: Prof Amelia Hunt)
  • Funding to examine visual search patterns on helicopter landing approaches.
• 2021 Knowledge Exchange and Commercialisation grant
  • Lead applicant (co-investigator: Ilinca-Ruxandra Tone, Industrial collaborator: Kura Human Factors).
  • Funding to develop CRM-style training for farmers.
• 2020 Knowledge Exchange and Commercialisation grant
  • Lead applicant (co-investigator: Oliver Hamlet)
  • Funding to develop practical tools associated with non-technical skills in helicopter flight.
• 2019 REF 2021 Impact Support Award
  • Lead investigator (Co-investigators: Oliver Hamlet, Ilinca Ruxandra-Tone, Gabi Lipan)
  • Funding to produce a Farm Safety Roadshow, attend Human Factors events and support three student internships.
• 2018 ESRC Business Boost award
  • Lead investigator (Co-investigators: Oliver Hamlet, Ilinca Ruxandra-Tone, Gabi Lipan)
  • Funding to develop a website for the Applied Psychology and Human Factors group and produce three webinars.
• 2017 Impact, Knowledge Exchange and Commercialisation Award
  • The Human Factor in Agriculture: Introducing non-technical skills (NTS) to UK Agriculture.
  • Lead Investigator (Co-investigator: Dr Emily Nordmann)
    
  • Funding provided to support NTS awareness event and the creation of a website

Teaching and Learning based grants

• 2022 Learning and Teaching Enhancement Programme
  • Steps to resilience
  • Co-investigator (Lead investigator: Dr Ceri Treventhan, Co-investigators: Dr Joy Perkins, Dr Heather Branigan)
• 2021 Learning and Teaching Enhancement Programme
  • Building student resilience through course development - moving from surviving to thriving
  • Lead investigator (Co-investigators: Dr Joy Perkins, Dr Heather Branigan, Dr Ceri Trevethan)
• 2017 Learning and Teaching Enhancement Programme
  • Telling tales: Using student narratives to aid transition
  • Co-investigator (Primary investigator: Dr Emily Nordmann)
  • Student: Aletta Boerkoel
    
• 2015 Curriculum Development Studentship, University Aberdeen
  • Putting the 'I' in employability: Development of interactive class materials to enhance provision of L3 Psychology employability workshops
  • Lead Investigator
    
  • Student: Oliver Hamlet

Teaching Responsibilities

I teach on undergraduate, postgraduate and ondemand courses:

• Level 3: Psychological Assessment Tutorials
• Level 4: Thesis supervision
• MRes: Public engagement 
• MRes: Thesis Supervision
• PhD Supervision
• Human Factors in Industrial Practice online course
• Safety Critical Skills in Industry online course
• Organisational Culture and Conflict online course
• Organisational Safety and Risk online course