Ian Walker's work

Ian Walker is a traffic and transport psychologist at the University of Bath's psychology department. Before this he was a researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences in Leipzig, having taken BSc and DPhil degrees at the University of York. He has also worked as a psychology lecturer for the Dyslexia Institute.

Ian is a member of the European Union's COST group on motorcycle helmet research and standards, a founder member of the Centre for Transport and Psychology and was co-founder of revolutionary online journal Philica. The New York Times selected Ian's work on driver-bicyclist interactions as one of the ideas that defined 2006.




Research interests
Ian's research looks at psychological and behavioural factors in people's road safety and travel behaviour. His road safety work looks in particular at how drivers' attention and decision-making mechanisms affect the safety of vulnerable road user groups such as pedestrians, bicyclists, and motorcyclists. Of particular interest at the moment is how informal communication between road users affects the safety of vulnerable groups, and looking for common themes in cyclist and motorcyclist accidents.

Ian's travel and transport research particularly looks at the how and why people use (and don't use) active transport modes for health and environmental reasons. He is currently very interested in the role of habit in how people travel, and whether interventions at times when habits must be broken (e.g., when moving house) are more effective than interventions at other times.

All this work is carried out in collaboration with other academics, government and industry. Ian also has some lingering interests in memory, language and dyslexia, and the use of non-linear statistical techniques.

Teaching
Ian currently teaches cognitive psychology at second-year level, statistics at second-year and masters-levels and an advanced course in traffic and transport psychology. In the past he has also taught biological psychology, first-year cognitive psychology and first-year statistics. He also offers two evening courses for the general public at Wiltshire College, Salisbury: Psychology: The Science of the Mind and Making Statistics Work for You

Research links

Curriculum Vitae

Education

University of York:
1999: Doctor of Philosophy, Psychology
1996: Bachelor of Science (with honours), Psychology (First Class)


Employment

2000-present: University of Bath, lecturer

2000-2003: Dyslexia Institute, psychology lecturer

1999-2000: Max Plank Institut fuer Neuropsychologische Forschung (Max Planck Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience), Leipzig - postdoctoral research, looking at language processes in the brain with magnetoencephalography (MEG).

1996-1999: University of York - doctoral research (thesis title: "The role of language-processing mechanisms in verbal short-term memory", supervised by Prof. Charles Hulme)

1996-1999: University of York - part-time teaching

1995: University of York - Dyslexia research assistant with Prof. Maggie Snowling


Teaching

I mostly teach the following courses in the Psychology Department at the University of Bath:

Undergraduate

  • Cognitive Psychology (second-year)
  • Statistics (second-year)
  • Traffic Psychology (fourth-year advanced course)

Postgraduate

  • MRes Quantitative Methods 1

Details of all these are on my Bath teaching page.


Expertise and consultancy (major projects only)

  • 2009 International Driver Behaviour and Training Conference - scientific committee
  • 2008 Parliamentary Road Safety Select Committee - expert witness
  • 2008 JMP Consultancy/Transport for London - New movers project consultant
  • 2007 Cycling England/North Yorks County Council - cycling intervention advisory work
  • 2005-06 Oxfordshire County Council - travel surveys and road user focus groups

Notable accomplishments and roles - research and scholarship

  • 2008 Authored a report on technology in school assessment published by Specialist School and Academies Trust, Becta and the Department for Children, Families and Schools
  • 2008- Centre for Transport and Psychology, founder member
  • 2006-2011 European Union, COST 357 (motorcycle helmet research) group member
  • 2005- Screenlearning.com technology start-up, psychology/psychometrics adviser
  • 2005- Philica open-access journal, co-founder and programmer
  • 1998-1999 Chair, UK Psychology Postgraduate Affairs Group (PsyPAG)
  • 1997-1998 British Psychological Society Scientific Affairs Board postgraduate representative

Notable accomplishments and roles - teaching

  • 2008-2011 Sheffield Hallam University, External examiner MSc Research Methods
  • 2007-2010 University of Hertfordshire, External examiner for psychology
  • 2006- University of Bath, Director of Studies (MRes degree); member of faculty assessment appeals/disciplinary committee
  • 2002-2008 Three times nominated for Innovation in Teaching awards at University of Bath

PhD Students

  • 2006-: Henrietta Sherwin. The Potential Contribution of Utility and Leisure Cycling to the Sustainable Development of Integrated Transport and Tourism in the South West. Funded by SW RDA and First Group
  • 2005-: Gillian Browning. Human factors in stadium design
  • 2001-2005: Emma Vince. Using neural network modelling to develop theory and target intervention to prevent the development of eating disorders. ESRC funded.


Publications

Authored books

Holt, N. & Walker, I. (2009). Research with People: Theory, Plans and Practicals. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.


Peer-reviewed papers

Walker, I. & Holt, N & Brosnan, M. (in prep). Socio-cognitive processing on the road: Transport mode, signals and individual differences.

Walker, I. & Briggs, K. (in revision). A Gaussian model of public transport performance and its impact on users: Service failure in situations of non-constant demand.

Walker, I. (in revision). Psychological factors affecting the safety of vulnerable road users: A review of the literature.

Murphy Jones, C. & Walker, I. (in revision). How types of pedal cycle accidents in Oxfordshire, England vary with age and sex of cyclist.

Laffan, AJ., Metzler-Baddeley, C., Walker, I. & Jones, R.W. (in review). Making errorless learning more active: Self-generation in an error free learning context is superior to standard errorless learning of face-name associations in people with Alzheimer's disease.

Brosnan, M., Walker, I. & Collomosse, J. (2009). The effect of explicitly varying the proportion of 'Same' and 'Different' responses on sex differences in the Shepard and Metzler mental rotation task. European Journal of Cognitive Psychology.

Vince, E.P. & Walker, I. (2008). A set of meta-analytic studies on the factors associated with disordered eating. Internet Journal of Mental Health.

Walker, I. (2008). Mixing it up: Safety implications when different transport modes interact. Bath Royal Literary and Scientific Institution Proceedings, 10.

Brosnan, M. & Walker, I. (2008). A preliminary investigation into the potential role of waist hip ratio (WHR) preference within the assortative mating hypothesis of autistic spectrum disorders. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders.

Verplanken, B., Walker, I., Davis, A. & Jurasek, M. (2008). Combining the habit discontinuity and self-activation hypotheses in explaining travel mode choices. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 28, 121-127.

Walker, I. & Brosnan, M. (2007). Drivers' gaze fixations during judgements about a bicyclist's intentions. Transportation Research Part F: Traffic Psychology and Behaviour, 10, 90-98.

Walker, I. (2007). Drivers overtaking bicyclists: Objective data on the effects of riding position, helmet use, vehicle type and apparent gender. Accident Analysis and Prevention, 39, 417-425.

Walker, I. (2005). Signals are informative but slow down responses when drivers meet bicyclists at road junctions. Accident Analysis and Prevention, 37, 1074-1085.

Walker, I. & Milne, S. (2005). Exploring function estimators as alternatives to regression in psychology. Behavior Research Methods, 37, 23-36.

Walker, I. (2005) Road users' perceptions of other road users: Do different transport modes invoke qualitatively different concepts in observers? Advances in Transportation Studies, A6, 25-33.

Lowe, R., Bennet, P., Walker, I., Milne, S., & Bozionelos, G. (2003). A connectionist implementation of the Theory of Planned Behavior: Association of beliefs with exercise intention. Health Psychology, 22, 464-470.

Goulandris, N.K., Snowling, M.J., & Walker, I. (2000). Is dyslexia a form of specific language impairment? A comparison of dyslexic and language-impaired children as adolescents. Annals of Dyslexia, 50, 103-120.

Walker, I. & Hulme, C. (1999). Concrete words are easier to recall than abstract words: Evidence for a semantic contribution to short-term serial recall. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 25, 1256-1271.

Fiebach, C., Maess, B., Walker, I., & Friederici, A.D. (1999). Differences of processing of nouns and verbs in the human brain: Neuromagnetic evidence. Max Planck Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, Leipzig, Annual Report 1999.


Other articles and papers

Walker, I. (2008). Research methods: It's the way you do it that counts. Psychology Review, 14, 13.

Walker, I. (2008). Psychology on the move. Psychology Review, 13, 8-9.

Walker, I. (2007). Why Statistics Matter. Psychology Review, 12(3), 15.

Walker, I. & Jones, C. (2005). The Oxford and Cambridge Cycling Survey. Oxford: Oxfordshire County Council.

Walker, I. (1997). Review of Hampson & Morris's Understanding Cognition. Trends in Cognitive Science, 1, 83.


Contributions to books

Walker, I. (2005). Vulnerable road user safety: Social interaction on the road? In L. Dorn (Ed.), Driver Behaviour and Training Vol II. Aldershot, UK: Ashgate.

Reader's Digest (2002). A Good Memory. London: Reader's Digest/Duncan Baird Publishers [I wrote several of the sections in this book, although irritatingly was missed out of the credits in the first edition!!]
[PS whichever student last borrowed my copy of this, can I have it back please? Aquiles - you're my prime suspect!]


Keynote/invited talks

Walker, I. (2009). Successful community road safety programmes. Keynote address at the International Conference on Urban Traffic Safety, Edmonton, Canada, 17 March 2009.

Walker, I. (2008). Stereotypes and vulnerable road user safety. Invited seminar at University of Strathclyde, 22 February 2008.

Walker, I. (2008). Travel in Mind: The psychology of transport. British Association for the Advancement of Science, 19 February 2008.

Walker, I. (2007). Drivers meeting cyclists: What they see and what they think. Invited talk, Cycling Opportunities Group, 25 September 2007.

Walker, I. (2007). Formal and informal communication between cyclists and drivers. Opening presentation, 4th Cycling and Society Symposium, 7 September 2007.

Walker, I. (2007). Planning for cyclists. Invited seminar at Transport for London road safety conference, 15 March 2007.

Burgess, C. & Walker, I. (2006). Psychological factors in off-duty military road accidents. Invited presentation to the Army Master Drivers’ Convention, 16 November, 2006.

Walker, I. (2006). Misunderstandings on the road: Implications for vulnerable road users. Invited seminar at Reading University, 30 October, 2006.

Walker, I. (2006). Making roads safer through understanding social factors. Invited presentation at the Transport Research Laboratory, 27 October, 2006.

Walker, I. (2006). Misunderstandings on the road: Implications for vulnerable road users. Invited keynote address to the Northern Ireland Road Safety Congress, 20 October, 2006.

Walker, I. (2006). Overtaking cyclists and other aspects of vulnerable road user safety. Invited presentation at the University of the West of England, 12 October, 2006.

Walker, I. (2006). Mixing it up: When drivers meet cyclists, motorcyclists and pedestrians. Invited presentation at the Bath Royal Literary and Scientific Institute, 11 July 2006.

Walker, I. (2006). The problem with people: faces, figures and vulnerable road user safety. Keynote paper presented at the 2006 RoSPA annual conference. Blackpool, UK, January 2006.


Conference presentations (not updated for a while!)

Henning, V., Babisch, J. & Walker, I. (2006). Nutzen der kombinierten Pfannen-und Schaftnaftnavigation bei der Hueftendoprothesenimplantation und deren Einfluss auf den Beinlaengenausgleich und die Operationszeit. Paper presented at Deutscher Kongress fuer Orthopaedie und Unfallchirurgie, 5 October 2006. [PEER-REVIEWED FULL PAPER]

Vince, E.P., Walker, I & Rodham, K. Can Neural Network Models Detect Eating Disorders in Primary Care?. Division of Health Psychology Annual Conference, 13th - 15th September 2006, University of Essex, UK.

Vince E.P. and Walker, I. (2006). Can neural network models detect eating disorders in primary care? 35th Annual scientific meeting of the society for academic primary care. 12-14 July 2006. Keele, UK

Walker, I. (2006). Drivers overtaking bicyclists: Objective data on riding position and helmet use. Paper presented at the International Congress of Applied Psychology, Athens, July 2006.

Walker, I. (2006). The problem with people: faces, figures and vulnerable road user safety. Paper presented at the 2006 RoSPA annual conference. Blackpool, UK, January 2006.

Walker, I. (2005). Vulnerable road user safety: Social interaction on the road? Paper presented at the 2nd International Conference on Driver Behaviour and Training. Edinburgh, UK, 15-17 November, 2005.

Walker, I. (2004). Drivers' perceptions of cyclists' signals. Paper presented at the 3rd International Conference on Traffic and Transport Psychology. Nottingham, UK, 5-9 September 2004.

Walker, I. (2003). Cyclists' signals and errors in driver decision making. Paper presented at the First International Conference on Driver Behaviour and Training, Stratford-on-Avon UK, 10-12 November 2003.

Vince, E. and Walker, I. (2003). Detecting Eating Disorders using neural network modelling. 17th Conference of the European Health psychology Society, Kos, Greece, 24th-27th September 2003.

Vince, E. and Walker, I. (2003) Do Probabilistic neural networks have a role in eating disorder research? Psychology Postgraduate Affairs Group Annual conference, Wolverhampton, UK, 28th - 30th July 2003

Walker, I. & Milne, S. (2002). Using neural networks to predict behaviour. European Association for Experimental Social Psychology Conference, San Sebastian, June 2002.

Milne, S., Walker, I. & Verplanken, B. (2002). Predicting health intentions from personality measures using connectionist models. Research Institute for Psychology & Health, The Netherlands. May 2002.

Walker, I. (2001). Applying Non-linear Models to the Design of "Intelligent" Hearing Aids. 11th Annual Conference of the Society for Chaos Theory in Psychology and Life Sciences, Madison, Wisconsin, 3-6 August, 2001.

Milne, S., Walker, I., & Lowe, R. (2001). Simulating people's cognitive responses to health threats. 11th Annual Conference of the Society for Chaos Theory in Psychology and Life Sciences, Madison, Wisconsin, 3-6 August, 2001.

Milne, S. Walker, I. & Lowe, R (2001). Modeling coping response to a health threat: A neural network analysis of protection motivation theory. European Health Psychology Society Annual Conference/British Psychological Society, Division of Health Annual Conference, St Andrews, September 2001.

Lowe, R., Walker, I. & Milne, S. (2001). A neural network approach to modeling intentions to exercise. European Health Psychology Society Annual Conference/British Psychological Society, Division of Health Annual Conference, St Andrews, September 2001.

Walker, I. & Hulme, C. (1998). Meaning and memory: The role of semantic factors in temporary verbal storage. Paper presented at the Quebec 98 Conference on Short-Term Memory, Quebec City, June, 1998.

Walker, I. & Hulme, C. (1998). How do we remember what we hear? Paper presented at the Psychology Postgraduate Affairs Group annual conference, Derby, 21 July. [See Proceedings of the British Psychological Society, 7(2), 93] [READ ABSTRACT]

Walker, I. & Hulme, C. (1997). Semantic factors can affect verbal short-term storage: Implications for models of working memory. Paper presented at the XIV annual conference of the BPS Cognitive Psychology Section, Bristol, 6 September, 1997. [See Proceedings of the British Psychological Society, 6(1), 42]


Humorous articles

When I was an undergraduate I wrote three "bluffer's guides" to famous psychologists, printed in The Psychologist. I've lost the references, but if you want to find them they were published around 1995ish. They're worth digging out, as they're pretty droll.


Collaborations

I have current or recent collaborations with various organizations outside the University of Bath, including:

  • JMP Consultancy
  • Oxfordshire County Council
  • Brunel University
  • University of the West of England
  • Bournemouth University
  • EMPA (Switzerland)
  • TNS Consultancy
  • Bath Spa University

Media coverage

My work has been covered by many media outlets, including:

Broadcast stories/interviews

  • BBC News 24
  • BBC Points West
  • BBC South
  • ITV News
  • Discovery Channel
  • National Talk Sport
  • BBC Radio Five Live
  • BBC Radio 2
  • BBC Radio Scotland
  • BBC Radio Wales
  • BBC Radio Belfast
  • BBC Radio Wales
  • BBC Radio Jersey
  • CBC Canada, CBC Montreal
  • ABC News and ABC 20/20 (USA)
  • Kanal 24 (Norway)
  • National Public Radio (North America)
  • Beat 102-103 (Ireland)
  • Today FM (Ireland)
  • Many, many local radio stations in the UK, USA, Canada, New Zealand, Australia

Newspapers & Wire agencies
  • Reuters
  • Press Association
  • United Press International
  • Daily Telegraph
  • The Independent
  • Daily Mail
  • Financial Times
  • The Mirror
  • Metro
  • The Guardian
  • Daily Express
  • The Sun
  • The Times
  • Times Higher Education Supplement
  • The Sunday Times
  • Evening Standard
  • The Scotsman
  • Glasgow Evening Times
  • The Daily Record
  • The Irish News
  • Belfast Telegraph
  • Trouw (Netherlands)
  • Der Spiegel (Germany)
  • Hindustan Times (India)
  • Daily Telegraph (Australia)
  • Sunday Times (Australia)
  • MX Melbourne, MX Sydney
  • Melbourne Herald & Sun
  • Sydney Morning Herald
  • Courier Mail (Australia)
  • The Australian
  • Berlingske Tidende (Denmark)
  • Toronto Star
  • Southwest Nebraska News
  • Courier Mail (Australia)

Magazines & websites
  • BBC News
  • Scientific American
  • Cycling Plus
  • ABC News (USA)
  • Ars Technica
  • Fleet News
  • Transport Times
  • Planning
  • CTC Newsnet
  • Injury Watch
  • 999 Today
  • Life Style Extra
  • Singletrack
  • Bike for All
  • Cyclotourism (France)
  • EFYTimes (India)
  • Independent Online (South Africa)
  • News-Medical.net (Australia)
  • Innovations Report (Germany)
  • Shortnews.com (Germany)
  • Earthtimes.org
  • Trade Arabia (Bahrain)
  • Playfuls (Romania)
  • Pocket Lint

Personal information, hobbies, etc.

This information is on a separate page.