School staff
Personal profile
I am a Research Fellow in the Design School at Loughborough University.
After a degree in Mechanical Engineering, I worked at Jaguar Cars as an engineer, and then joined Loughborough University in 1994 after doing an MSc in Human Factors at University College London.
My PhD (Loughborough University) investigated how you add value to users of mobile location services. I have worked with a wide range of academic and commercial collaborators on applied human factors research projects, specialising in the impact of new fixed and mobile IT on end users within consumer, automotive and workplace domains.
My over-riding research interests include the following:
- User centred design of mobile products and services
- User 'value' and its relationship with product/service innovation
- User evaluation
- Context-aware computing
- Research methodologies
If I had to sum up in one sentence what I do:
I apply a scientific approach to addressing user-centred issues with new technologies
Research
Although I sit within the User Centred Design Research Group, I collaborate with a number of other individuals and groups within Loughborough.
I am leading a collaborative project with UK and US companies to investigate the user issues of IT within the construction industry.
I am working with a team to investigate user-driven innovation within transport.
I am also part of a large team at ESRI investigating the human factors issues to do with new technology within vehicles.
Director of Research Degrees Programme.
Featured publications
Sun, X. and A. May (2009). The role of spatial contextual factors in mobile personalization at large sports events. Personal and Ubiquitous Computing (13): 293.
May, A., S. H. Bayer, T. Ross (2007). A survey of 'young social' and 'professional' users of location-based services in the UK. Journal of Location Based Services (1): 1 - 21.
May, A., V. Mitchell, J. Piper, L. Hanna, S. Hailes, K. Koumpis (2007). Opportunities and Challenges for Configurable Sensor Networks for Enabling Effective Fire-In-Tunnel Response. The International Emergency Management Society 14th TIEMS Annual Conference 2007, Trogir, Croatia, (Winner of Best Paper award).
May, A. and T. Ross (2006). Presence and quality of navigational landmarks: effect on driver performance and implications for design. Human Factors 48(2): 346-361.