professor Seppo Väyrynen

Work Science belongs to the Department of Industrial Engineering and Management with two-fold educational roles: (1) serves all degree programs, and (2) is responsible for "Usability design and management of well-being at work" degree program. The individual courses taught by Work Science predominantly in Finnish are: Basic course in occupational safety, Basic course in occupational psychology, Usability and safety in product development, Technology, society and work, Machine safety and usability, Administration, organization and education in working life, Chemical and physical hazards in industrial environments, Exercises in work science, Safety in process industry, Ergonomics, Computer-aided methods in ergonomics, Creativity at work and in product development.

The degree programs of the Faculty of Technology lead to the Bachelor of Science (Technology) degree of 180 (ECTS) credits (3 years of study) followed by the Master of Science (Technology or Architecture) degree of 120 (ECTS) credits (2 years of study). The yearly cumulation of completed credits within the courses of Work Science amounts to around 2500 credits. MSc theses for Work Science MSc main studies are typically completed from 4-8 ones on yearly basis, during the last 15 years. The cumulative amount of Doctoral theses in Work Science is 11 completed during a period of 18 years. In addition to 4 teachers the Work Science comprises the research staff of around 10-15 persons.

As far the research, and development & innovations based on research, Work Science is the principal research institute of ergonomics, user-centered design and work science in Northern Finland. Based in the University of Oulu, it has been working for better environments, organizations and systems for working and living for all and everyone during 30 years. It’s approach to the design problems and solutions for all as well as for the groups with special needs is multidisciplinary and it accommodates researchers with backgrounds in engineering, psychology, cognitive sciences, social sciences and education sciences. The unit has long experience in working with industrial and social partners in projects linked with the private as well as public sectors, and it’s expertise includes for instance ergonomic and work scientific research, user-centered design and implementation of technology, academic user- and usability-studies, risk prevention (safety design, safety management), and more general development of organizations, management, and human resources.

Main empirical cases in research are dealing with process and technology industries and their personnel. Public sector organisations are as well developed. Main stakeholders and often as well funding sources comprise the Ministry of Employment and the Economy, Ministry of Social Affairs and Health, Finnish Funding Agency for Technology and Innovation, Finnish Work Environment Fund, Finnish Workplace Development Programme TYKES, and Federation of Accident Insurance Institutions. Human-centred approach of the unit is studying humans being in active interaction with technology and environment as employees and citizens.

R&D and innovations have been most successful and continuous in the fields of process industry, health care and truck transportation. The former field is described best in a article about steps towards the current Finnish Occupational Safety Card System, a nation-wide training and safety management-linked system (Väyrynen et al. 2008, http://www.tyoturvallisuuskortti.fi/?l=en). In health care, the most prominent have been the ones of Video Phone (e.g. Väyrynen et al. 2006) and telemedical development and implementation in Lapland (Tel Lappi 2001).  Collaboration with the Hospital District of Lapland is continuing 2008-2009 as far as the general user and usability study within their work system. For more than five years the unit has made projects of truck transportation development. Participatory approach - drivers and, on the other hand, many companies, stakeholders, universities and institutes are studying for improvements and innovations of productivity, usability and safety. The national project coordinated by the unit has as well international links, and during coming years both deeper academic and market-oriented R&D are planned to continue. Collecting and listing good practices was a basis to go forward.

In addition to the research and participation to the development projects the unit gives the above described higher education and occupies positions in the national and international advisory bodies. The institute has good basic facilities for field and laboratory studies within the field of usability and safety, observation, questionnaires, interviews, basic usability lab, OPERA method, VIDAR (video- and computer-assisted system), noise measuring instruments, illumination measuring instruments, etc.

Internationally Work Science collaborates actively concerning KANSEI methodology (Hiroshima International University, Japan) and VIDAR method (Karolinska Institutet, KI, Stockholm, Sweden). To the former we have had (or will have one in Nov. 2009 as far as Kansei, together with the Federation of Finnish Technology Industries and Finnish technical universities) 4 direct contacts by / with professors and / or PhD students in Hiroshima, Oulu, and Malaga during 2008-09. With the KI researchers, during the same period, we have had meetings in Oulu and Stockholm. A Seminar for PhD students by prof. Mikael Forsman from KI was arranged in Oulu in November 2010. Cognitive ergonomics and its role in product development has been a topic of collaboration with the cognitive ergonomics group at the University of Granada for many years.

The Finnish Workplace Development Programme TYKES (Within the Tekes, the Finnish Funding Agency for Technology and Innovation) is choosing a TYKES Project of the Month in Finland. Work Science has currently been involved in two TYKES Projects of the Month. In August 2009, the winner was Measurement of strategic success factors (3Koo project, case Maustaja Ltd) in which he key strategic success factors of Maustaja Ltd. , a contract manufacturer of branded food, were transformed into four performance indicators. In October 2009, Well- being to premises and facilities maintenance work (KIPA-project, cases ISS Services and SOL Services) won corresponding the corresponding nation-wide competition. The goal of KIPA was to improve productivity and quality of work and workers' and supervisors' "coping with work challenges".

In 2011, Work Science with consortium of partners was hosting Nordic Ergonomics Society's international conference (170 participants from 14 countries) in Oulu, with the Theme: Wellbeing and Innovations through Ergonomics.