Technology is all around us and we all have to interact with machines that run our world, be it an ATM, an information touch screen or a ticket vending machine. These types of devices must be designed for as many humans as possible to use.
The people that ensure members of the public can easily interact with important technology are called ‘human factors’ scientists or engineers.
A deer-ly loved job ![Antoinette Fennell]()
Dr Antoinette Fennell, a 33-year-old UCD Zoology graduate from Booterstown, Co Dublin, moved from studying deer behaviour in Phoenix Park into this applied science.
In her 20s, Antoinette spent a lot of her time tagging deer as part of UCD Zoology’s long-term study into deer behaviour. She greatly enjoyed the experience but, by the time she finished her PhD, she wanted to do something different.
Fresh challenge
That ‘something’ jumped out at her when she was researching career options online. The London-based charity the Royal National Institute of Blind People was seeking a ‘human factors’ scientist. Antoinette had to look it up. She discovered they wanted someone to assess and research new technology for the blind.
She updated her CV to show she had been working on ‘comparative animal psychology’, did the interview and was offered the job.
In London, she found working as the link between end-users – blind people – and designers of new products to be extremely rewarding. Her inputs had a real impact on product designs.
Gaining experience
After a few years, she returned to Dublin and worked for the National Disability Authority doing a mainly desk-based research job. She then got a job as a scientist at the National Centre for the Blind of Ireland’s (NCBI’s) Centre for Inclusive Technology.
Antoinette is involved in the design of products for both blind people and the sighted. She acts as the link between older people, people with disabilities and blind people and the scientists and engineers who are working on products aimed at such people.
“We might comment on a CAD drawing or on a concept that designers have come up with,” says Antoinette. “We can also be employed as consultants to do an analysis of user interfaces – buttons, screens, the bits you touch – for clients.”
Antoinette’s contract is up at the end of December. The NCBI is seeking funding to extend her work. That’s the nature of working for a charity, she says, but there are opportunities for human factors scientists in technology companies in Ireland such as Google, Intel, Facebook and Microsoft.