Hywel Murrell Award

This award is given to an early career ergonomist/human factors professional, who is within 6 years of completion of their highest ergonomics qualification and has demonstrated excellence in their work in either an academic or industrial setting. They must be a member of the CIEHF.

Nominees must have demonstrated excellence in the quality of the ergonomics/ human factors work that they have delivered, measured by examples which may include reports, client recommendations, reviewer comments and academic outputs. They are expected to have references which indicate their potential as a future leader in ergonomics/ human factors.

Nominate someone for this award

Download the nomination form

Who was Hywel Murrell?

K F H Murrell was born in 1908 and graduated in chemistry. He worked in the Army OR Group during the war, and later with the Admiralty. In 1948 he became head of the Naval Motion Study Unit and in 1949 invited a small group of like-minded people who had experienced human factors research, and had met US people with similar experiences, to a meeting to discuss a more formal group. From this meeting the Ergonomics Research Society was later formed, Hywel Murrell coining the term “ergonomics” at the time.

In the early 1950s he formed the ergonomics department of Tube Investments Ltd, the first such department in industry, and in 1954 moved to Bristol University to lead a group on skill and ageing. In 1963 he moved again, to the then Welsh College of Advanced Technology, later the University of Wales Institute of Science and Technology, where he became Professor of Psychology and headed the Department of Occupational (later Applied) Psychology until his retirement in 1975. He died in 1984.

He was particularly interested in skill development and use, in ageing and in fatigue, and in the application of psychology and ergonomics to practical matters. He produced the first textbook on ergonomics in the UK and worked with standards bodies, trades unions and managements in the dissemination of ergonomics.

Roll of honour

2017 Sam Waters
2016 Marie Davis
2015 Brendan Hazlett
2014 Eleanor Mowbray
2013 Alex Lloyd
2012 Ryan Meeks
2011 Simon Grantham
2010 Cara Pilcher
2007 Catherine Cooper
2006 Louise Stokes
2005 A Eldred
2004 J Barratt
2003 Naomi Ducat
2002 Paul Grimsley
2001 Charlotte Brace
2000 Elizabeth A Hoodless
1999 A E Humpherson
1998 Michael Ebdon
1997 Jane E Mechan, University of Northumbria at Newcastle
1996 Marc McNeill, Loughborough University of Technology
1995 Wayne Judd, Loughborough University of Technology
1994 Josey Bonnet, University of Nottingham
1993 Gayna Williams, Loughborough University of Technology
1991 Pauline Johnstone, Nottingham University
1989 Susan M Joyner, Loughborough University of Technology
1987 Rachael M Browne, University of Aston
1986 Suzy J Hill, Loughborough University of Technology
1985 Patrick H R Beasley, University of Surrey
1984 Joan B Butler, Aston University
1983 Yvonne Rogers, Department of Psychology, University College of Swansea
1982 Alistair S Robertson, University of Durham
1979 Anthony D B Evans, Liverpool Polytechnic
1977 Sackville J Currie, Loughborough University of Technology