Doctoral Projects

I am interested in developing Doctoral research projects around the following themes within the Philosophy of Safety Engineering:

- Backwards: Analyse the causal and explanatory frameworks being employed in the case history of contentious accident investigations.

- Forwards: Analyse the epistemic assumptions in each of the disparate methodologies that are currently employed under the heading of “Safety Cases”.

The aims of each of these projects are to shape the norms within Safety Engineering, and to shape policy at aviation regulators (UK: CAA, US: FAA, EU: EASA) around the analysis and reporting of accidents and safety cases. The targeted impact is to reduce accidents involving complex systems.

J. Adam Carter and I are delighted to welcome Finn McCardel to a PhD post starting 1st October 2019 working on this topic in collaboration with NASA.