Dr. Murray Sinclair is now a Visiting Fellow at Loughborough University, as well as a Visiting Academic at the University of Sydney. He is a Systems Ergonomist of some 40 years standing, having been an academic member of Loughborough University since 1970. His interests have evolved from the understanding of organisational processes of manufacturing from the shopfloor, through manufacturing systems engineering to design processes and the management of knowledge. Latterly, due to the steady infiltration of information technology into society and its pervasiveness in the lives of individuals, his interests now include the assurance of ethical behaviour by autonomous and semi-autonomous systems, such as robots, healthcare systems and the like.
All of this work has necessitated close involvement with manufacturing industry, initiall in the food and knitwear domains, then in the automotive domain, and latterly the aerospace and defence domains.
Murray is a Fellow of the Institute of Ergonomics and Human Factors and, before official retirement, he was a registered European Ergonomist with CREE professional registration, and a Member of the IEEE Engineering Management Society. He has also been a member of the UK Nuclear Safety Advisory Council, and of a Royal Society Committee. He has held representative roles on several of the organising committees of the Institute of Ergonomics and Human Factors, including its Council.
Expertise
Applications of Systems Engineering
Autonomous systems
Engineering management
Human Factors
Human performance evaluation and simulation
Integration of complex systems
System of systems engineering
Systems Engineering
Systems Theory and Practice
High integrity systems
After qualifying as a Chemist, Murray Sinclair worked as an Industrial Engineer in Lyons Bakeries in Cadby Hall, having vowed never to open a chemistry book again. This step led to a career in Ergonomics/Human Factors, firstly through a sponsored M.Sc at Loughborough University, followed by appointment as a Lecturer at Loughborough University. Research undertaken in this and subsequent roles within the University has always been applied research involving industrial companies almost always in the manufacturing domain. Initially, these companies were in the knitwear industry, a feature at that time in the East Midlands. Subsequently, the research moved into the fast-moving consumer good area, working on supply chains with Unilever, Tesco and others, and then on to the automotive industry, working with companies such as Rover, Ferrari, PSA, Magneti Marelli, Siemens and Lucas CAV. In the current century, the research focus moved again, to aerospace, in particular with BAE Systems, concentrating on the design process. Eventually, this has led to an interest in assuring the ethical behaviour of systems where the end-effector is a semi-autonomous entity such as a robot. Without this, it is unlikely that any robot with a significant degree of autonomy will be certified to operate within human society.
Murray Sinclair has been a researcher/investigator on a range of EPSRC/Industry (10), European Union (5) and MoD/Industry (5) funded projects. These have developed an understanding of basic manufacturing workstation ergonomics, computer-supported co-operative working, the organisation and management of manufacturing processes, lifecycle aspects of capability management, aspects of information, knowledge and wisdom accretion and management to deliver organisational agility and responsiveness, the importance of governance and trust in organisational processes, and of the issues involved in ensuring the ‘immortality’ of manufacturing organisations.
Current interests centre on the assurance of ethical behaviour in semi-autonomous systems, such as robots.
View all Dr Sinclair’s publications in the central publications database
Selected Publications
Publications since 2000 include:
SIEMIENIUCH, C.E. and SINCLAIR, M.A., 2000, Implications Of The Supply Chain For Role Definitions In Concurrent Engineering.
Int. J. Human Factors & Ergonomics in Manufacturing. Sp issue, ed.: Prof. H. Luczak & Dipl.-Ing. Jürgen Stahl, Vol 10 (3), 251-272
PARKER, C.G. and SINCLAIR, M.A., 2001, User Centred design does make a difference! the case of Decision Support Systems in Agriculture
Behaviour & Information Technology, 20(6), 449-460
KHALFAN, M.M.A., ANUMBA, C.J., SIEMIENIUCH, C.E. AND SINCLAIR, M.A., 2001, ‘Readiness Assessment of the Construction Supply Chain for Concurrent Engineering’, European Journal of Purchasing and Supply Management, 7(2), 141-153.
SIEMIENIUCH, C.E. and SINCLAIR, M.A., 2002, On complexity, process ownership and organisational learning in manufacturing organisations, from an ergonomics perspective. Applied Ergonomics, Vol 33, Issue 5, September 2002 pp 449 – 462 ISSN: 0003-6870
SIEMIENIUCH C E and SINCLAIR M. A., 2004, ‘CLEVER: A framework for organizational readiness for knowledge management”. International Journal of Operations and Production Management, vol 24, iss 1&2, pp. 79-98
SIEMIENIUCH C E and SINCLAIR M. A., 2006,
‘Systems integration’. Applied Ergonomics, vol 37, iss. 1, 91-110
CALLAN, K., SIEMIENIUCH, C.E. and SINCLAIR, M.A., 2006, A Case Study Example of the Role Matrix Technique. International Journal of Project Management, 24(6), 506-515
SINCLAIR, M.A., 2007, Ergonomics issues in future systems
Ergonomics, 50(12), 1957-1986
SIEMIENIUCH, C.E. and SINCLAIR, M.A., 2007, ‘Using corporate governance to enhance ‘long-term situation awareness’ and assist in the avoidance of organization-induced disasters. Applied Ergonomics, 39(2), 229-240
HUBBARD, E.-M., SIEMIENIUCH, C.E. and SINCLAIR, M.A.. (2009). "Decision-Making Systems and the Product-To-Service Shift'." Journal of Manufacturing Technology Management 20(5): 606-625.
SINCLAIR, M.A., SIEMIENIUCH, C.E., HASLAM, R.A., HENSHAW, M.J.D., and EVANS, J.L., 2011, ‘The development of a tool to predict team performance’.
Applied Ergonomics, in press.
SINCLAIR, M.A, SIEMIENIUCH, C.E., HENSHAW, M.J.deC. , 2011, ‘To shoot, or not to shoot; that is the question’; ensuring effective management of legal and ethical decision making for autonomous systems (AS)
Journal of Social Robotics, submitted Jan 2011.
