PhD Road Safety and Driver Distraction

Almost 1000 people die on Australian roads each year, and around 93% of these incidences occur as a consequence of lapses of attention by the driver. In this project you will be investigating some of the factors that underlie crash risk, specifically those factors that impact driver attention.

In this project you will work closely with the Applied Psychology laboratory in the School of Psychology. The project is to complement research being conducted with the Australian Automobile Association of Australia looking at the distractibility of in-car entertainment systems.

The project’s scope can extend to other areas of driver distraction, focus and fatigue. Skills in programing – particular programing a driving simulator would be desirable, as would experience in eye-tracking and conducting driving studies in applied setting such as with a simulator or instrumented vehicles. The successful candidates background would most likely be in cognitive psychology, perception or human factors research.

PhD Scholarship details

Funding: $28,854 per annum (2022 rate) indexed annually. For a PhD candidate, the living allowance scholarship is for 3.5 years and the tuition fee scholarship is for four years. Scholarships also include up to $1,500 relocation allowance.

Supervisor: Professor Kristen Pammer

Available to: Domestic students

PhD

Eligibility Criteria

Honours degree in Psychology.

The applicant will need to meet the minimum eligibility criteria  for admission.

Application Procedure

Interested applicants should send an email expressing their interest along with scanned copies of their academic transcripts, CV, a brief statement of their research interests and a proposal that specifically links them to the research project.

Please send the email expressing interest to Kristen.Pammer@newcastle.edu.au by 5pm on 01 November 2022.