| Description | Audio cassette sound recording of an interview with Dr. Ivan D. Brown (1927-2014), OBE, FBPsS, assistant director of the Medical Research Council’s applied psychology unit 1953-1993, for the British Psychological Society's Oral History project.
The interview was conducted by Sarah Paul in 2005.
The following summary is by way of introduction to the full recording held at BPS HoPC London.
Performers:
Ivan Brown (IB)
Sarah Paul (SP)
Side A
c 31mins
Topics:
IB talks of his early experiences including his time as an engineer at Cambridge Instrument Company, his war service with the Royal Engineers in India and Singapore then on to MRC/APU at Cambridge
IB speaks of his external degree and PhD and his work at the APU
IB talks of his Human Factors work and interest in information theory, fatigue measuring, driving fatigue and other projects
IB speaks of his sabbatical in Toronto for DCIEM, collaborative work at MRC, his interest in attention perception and external work for the Post Office and Transport Research Laboratory
IB talks of publishing at MRC before speaking of ethical considerations such as his early research on Mobile phones and alcohol experiments
IB speaks of APU's attitude to attendance at conferences, how he attended the first congress of the International Driver Research Association in Zurich and other conferences
IB talks of his early mentors/influences and his own mentoring for the Post Office, BT Research Department and the Transport Research Laboratory
IB speaks of his early background and his working relationships at APU
ends.
Side B
c 17mins
IB speaks of his involvement with the services, his workload at APU and his work-life balance
IB talks of legislation, changes in technology and social developments which may impact on research
IB speaks of his involvement with the BPS, the Ergonomics Society and other professional bodies
IB talks of his published work 'Driver Fatigue', and compares academic journals past and present
IB finishes the interview with his views on research funding for applied psychology and incentives to publish in applied journals.
Ends
Total Running Time: c 48 mins
Summary by Mike Maskill, BPS Archivist.
Ivan Brown's obituary by Emma Quay and Lucy Millington (daughters), in the Guardian newspaper: 27th January 2015
web: http://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/2015/jan/27/ivan-brown-obituary |
| RunTime | On one C90 cassette, running time c 48 minutes |
| AdminHistory | Date of Birth: 27/11/1927
Place of Birth: Isleham, Cambridgeshire UK
University Qualifications and Professional Training:
London University (External), BSc. Psychology 1958-1961
London University (External), PhD.Psychology 1961-1967
Professional career:
Engineer, Cambridge Instrument Company (nd)
Engineer, Royal Engineers (War Service)
MRC,APU Research Assistant 1953-1956
MRC,APU Research Scientist 1956-1957
MRC,APU Assistant Director 1974-1993
Defence and Civil Institute for Environmental Medicine (DCIEM ), Toronto Visiting Scientist 1971-1972
Univ.of Aston External Examiner 1979-1982
Univ.of Groningen Extra-Mural Professor of Traffic Science 1988-1991
Transport Reg.Lab. Hon.Research Fellow 1992-1997
Other Honours and Awards:
Distinguished Foreign Colleague Human Factors Society 1990
Order of the British Empire (OBE) HM Government, 1991
A.R.Lauer Award Human Factors & Ergonomics Society 1993
Involvement with BPS and/or other societies and organisations:
The Institution of Electrical Engineers (IEE) Student/Grad/Assoc/Member 1953-1987
Ergonomics Society Member/Fellow/President/Hon.Fellow 1961-
Editor of Ergonomics 1975-1980
BPS Grad/Associate/Fellow
Founder of BPS Professional Bodies Liaison Group on Human Computer Interaction 1983-1984
Experimental Psychology Society (EPS) Member 1969-1974
Human Factors and Ergonomics Society (HFES) Member/Fellow/President Europe Chapter
1981-
European Society for Cognitive Psychology Member 1988-1995. |
| Copyright | Subject to the condition of the original, copies may be supplied for private research use only on receipt of a signed undertaking to comply with current copyright legislation. Permission to make any published use of material from the collection must be sought in advance from the Head of the History of Psychology Centre and Archives and, where appropriate, from the copyright owner. Where possible, assistance will be given in identifying copyright owners, but responsibility for ensuring copyright clearance rests with the user of the material |