Aisling O’Kane on mobility, interdisciplinary threads & family (Part 1)

Dec 8, 2022

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Dr. Aisling O’Kane is an Associate Professor of Human-Computer Interaction in Health at the University of Bristol in the UK. In Part 1 of our conversation, she talks about her very diverse background from engineering to human factors and working in industry, from margarine, beer and nuclear risk assessment, then to doing a PhD, and now being in a faculty position. Along the way she reflects on the importance of mobility, the challenges being part of an academic couple with family, and the impact of COVID. In Part 2, we will go on to talk about how she came to take on an acting Head of Department role to try to make a better workplace for herself and others.

“I'm really quite passionate about understanding the real world influence on these things that are designed to be safety critical for health.”

“It is luck. But it's a lot to do with my parents, setting me up with an education that I could I could pursue something of interest rather than just having to focus on making money.”

“We're very lucky here to have not only superstars, but they're also really nice…they're all parents as well.”

Overview (times approximate):

00:30 Preamble

02:31 Aisling introduces herself, her very diverse background, and draws the threads together in her current work on safety critical health technologies.

06:49 Combining experiences from different disciplinary areas and experiences for her PhD and current work around real world influences on safety critical systems

09:40 The important influence of her parents on so-called luck

11:30 Reflecting on the skills needed to bridge different disciplinary and application domains

15:47 The importance of mobility and ability to travel for her and the impact of COVID, having two children and the ‘two body problem’ as well as the environmental impact concerns

20:31 Coming out of COVID and choosing to go into the office now for more face to face, chit chat banter with nice colleagues, lab meetings and accommodating people’s different childcare responsibilities using online tools

24:54 Impacts of COVID on CV etc, as well as the passive impact of choosing to have two kids on her CV and research trajectory and appreciating having the safety net of a permanent role

26:21 Reflecting on some tips and tricks for how to manage that, eg using external conference and review deadlines

28:06 Reflecting on generational differences

31:15 My final reflections

33:19 End

Download a full transcript of the conversation.

Aisling O’Kane on mobility, interdisciplinary threads & family (Part 1)

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