International Ergonomics Conference - HWWE 2014

The International Ergonomics Conference ‘Humanizing Work and Work Environment’ (HWWE 2014) – the 12th annual conference of the Indian Society of Ergonomics (ISE), focusing on the theme ‘User Centered Design and Occupational Wellbeing’ was held at Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Guwahati during December 3 – 5, 2014. The Department of Design, IIT Guwahati hosted the event under the aegis of ISE in collaboration with the International Ergonomics Association (IEA). Department of Design, IIT Guwahati organized this conference under Chairmanship of Prof. Debkumar Chakrabarti for the second time after its grand success in 2005. The event was planned across five days – two days (December 01–02, 2014) of pre-conference workshops followed by three days of the international conference (December 03–05,  2014). The conference comprised of plenary and techno-scientific sessions – a number of distinguished speakers were also invited in different technical sessions. In addition, eminent academicians, experts, researchers across the academia and industries delivered learned lectures. Prof. Sukumar Nandi, the Deputy Director, IIT Guwahati inaugurated the conference and addressed the participants. Prof. Eric Min-yang Wang, President, IEA and Prof. G. G. Ray, President, ISE graced the inaugural ceremony along with Prof. Debkumar Chakrabarti, IIT Guwahati, Dr Manas Kumar Mandal, Distinguished Scientist and Director General – Life Sciences, DRDO, Ministry of Defence and Padmashree Prof. Y S Rajan, Honorary Distinguished Professor at ISRO, Govt. of India. Four executive committee members of IEA namely, Prof. Eric Min-yang Wang, President; Ms Margo Fraser, Vice-President & Secretary General; Dr. Yushi Fujita, Vice-President & Treasurer; Prof. Jose Orlando Gomes, Professional Standard and Education Committee Chair attended technical sessions and participated in various panel meetings About 400 participants consisting of academicians, researchers and students across the globe presented and shared their research work in the conference. Faculty members, research scholars and students of Department of Design, IIT Guwahati formed the organizing committee with Prof. Debkumar Chakrabarty as the Conference Chair; Dr. Sougata Karmakar as the Organizing Secretary and Dr. Swati Pal, the Treasurer.  Plenary sessions lectures were delivered by Dr. Manas Kumar Mandal, Distinguished Scientist and Director General – Life Sciences, Defence Research and Development Organization, Ministry of Defence, Government of India; Prof. Amitabha De, Director, Rajiv Gandhi Indian Institute of Management Shillong; Prof. G. G. Ray, President, ISE and Professor, Industrial Design Centre, IIT Bombay; Prof. Y S Rajan, Honorary  Distinguished Professor at ISRO;  Prof. Subhas Rakheja, Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, Concordia University, Canada; Dr. Dhurjati Majumdar, Scientist ‘G’ and Associate Director, Defence Institute of Physiology & Allied Sciences; Mr. Sugato Sen, Deputy Director General, Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers; and Mr. Pankaj Jhunja, General Manager (Design), Tata Motors Ltd.  The proceedings of the conference entitled ‘User Centered Design and Occupational wellbeing’ (comprising 160 articles published by McGraw Hill Education Pvt. Ltd with ISBN) were released and distributed among participants on the first day of the conference. Moreover, a separate booklet containing 97 abstracts were published for those, who could not communicate their full paper in time. In the valedictory session Margo Fraser, Vice-President, IEA appreciated the organizers for the successful management of the conference and expressed their gratitude to the hospitality and admiration on behalf of IEA

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