Studia Generalia, Margareta Lützhöft

Margareta Lützhöft is a master mariner with a PhD in Human-Machine Interaction.

Margareta Lützhöft.  Her expertise lies in the field of Maritime Human Factors - shaping ships for people.

She is a master mariner, trained at Kalmar Maritime Academy in Sweden. After 13 years at sea, she studied for a Bachelor's degree in Cognitive science and a Master's in Computer Science. In December 2004 she received a PhD in Human-Machine Interaction. Between 2006 and 2013 she worked as Associate Professor at Chalmers University of Technology, leading the research in the Maritime Human Factors research group at the Department of Shipping and Marine Technology, within the Lighthouse competence center.

Presently she is holding a position as Professor of Nautical studies at the Australian Maritime College. Her research interests include human-centered design, the effects of new technology and resilience engineering.

Research Themes

Margareta's research aligns with the theme Marine, Antarctic and Maritime and the vision of her maritime human factors group is 'Shaping shipping for people'. Her research interests include human-centred design of maritime workplaces, including supporting technologies as well as ships, being both a workplace and a home for our seafarers. The approaches include understanding of user needs and matching them to existing and developing technologies and processes – improving collaboration and communication.

Much of the work is performed in collaboration with AMSA, providing an opportunity to feed into national and global regulation. The projects aim at existing ships, ports and other maritime sociotechnical systems, as well as inspiring the next generation of seafarers and maritime design engineers.

Lecture summary

In 2006 the containership Alva Star ran aground on a Greek island called Zakintos. The cause was reportedly human error, because early reports stated that the second officer chose to run aground. Even if we believe there is such a thing as human error, we surely cannot believe that anyone gets up in the morning and thinks “today I will hit an island”? Do we really think that a seafarer would make a conscious decision to run aground? Did you get up this morning and decide to put juice in your coffee instead of milk, or decide to lose your keys? The comparison may be trivial, but the point is the same. No-one decides to make an error. Some may decide to commit illegal acts (which is outside the scope of this discussion), but – no one decides to make an error.

Thu 12.01.2017 at 13:00-15:00

lecture rooms R001/U154 U1
Otakaari 1, Espoo