Gary Burnett

Professor Gary Burnett conducts research related to the human-centred engineering design issues for technology within road-based vehicles. In this research, the aim is to provide the necessary understanding to develop appropriate user-interfaces (or human-machine interfaces - HMIs) for use in the vehicle/driving environment. Increasingly, Prof. Burnett’s group is carrying out research investigating issues for highly and fully automated future vehicles, such as how the "driver/user" and car will share control in a seamless fashion or what the user-experience might be for a service-level autonomous vehicle (robotaxi). He has many years of experience in the use of immersive virtual reality (VR) driving simulators as a safe and controlled means to study driver behaviour.

Professor Burnett is an experienced lecturer who teaches in the area of Human Factors Engineering and Human-Computer Interaction. For several years, he has taught students on the use of simulation and VR in engineering design – and, recently has pioneered the use of social VR as means to engage with students wholly in virtual worlds.