Dr Marco Ajovalasit

Marco Ajovalasit is a Lecturer in Human Factors & Ergonomics within the School of Engineering and Design, Brunel University, West London, UK. His research interests include perception enhancement systems, sensory evaluation techniques and multisensory perception in human-product interactions. Particular emphasis is placed on the measurement of human subjective response to hearing and tactile sensory stimuli so as to understand the key stimulus parameters which are perceptually meaningful to the user. His previous research activity performed in collaboration with Shell Global Solutions Ltd has developed empirical laws governing the human perception of sound and vibration stimuli occurring at the steering wheel interface in automobiles. His work served as a starting point to understand how a driver’s feelings of engine roughness or unpleasantness change with changes in the chemical properties of the fuel so as to choose chemical compounds that meet and exceed customer expectations. During his collaborative research with Shell Global Solutions Ltd. he has undertaken consultant activity in the field of automotive vibration and sound testing, field work and experimental vibro-acoustic testing.

Marco currently performs research in perception enhancement strategies for emotional engagement in automobiles aimed to decode the steering system tactile communication language and to identify salient characteristics that may help to map the physical properties of the steering wheel signature to the emotional response that characterise the driver steering experience.

Via his teaching and other collaborative activities through the Human Centred Design Institute (HCDI), Marco also has experience of applying perception enhancement research to product design. His research aims to provide designers with toolkits for new product functionalities in user-product interactions. Focus is placed on product sound design and multisensory design looking at the analysis of the effects of product properties on the perceptual experiences which occur at a product or service interface which can elicit emotional engagement.

He performs research with the Perception Enhancement Systems (PES) Research Group at Brunel Design which focuses on methods for designing the sensory stimuli of products, systems and services for purposes of meaning, interaction and emotion. He is a member of the Sound & Vibration Product Perception (SVPP) Committee of the Engineering Integrity Society (EIS), an associate member of the Institute of Ergonomics and Human Factors (IEHF) and a member of the Human Centred Design Institute (HCDI).

Brief biography:

Marco has an M.Eng. equivalent degree in Mechanical Engineering (5-year course) awarded by The University of Studies of Palermo in Italy. He holds a Ph.D. degree obtained from The University of Sheffield, UK which focused on the human perception of steering wheel hand-arm vibration as perceived by the driver in automobiles. While completing his PhD, he worked as a Research Assistant at the University of Sheffield in collaboration with Shell Global Solutions, UK for two years to establish an industrial methodology to quantify the idle quality of diesel fuel products as perceived by the driver. Marco joined Brunel University as a Research Fellow in 2006 within thePerception Enhancement Systems (PES) Research Group applying his experience to automotive research and human factors knowledge of sound and vibration stimuli in automobiles. Since 2008, he coordinates the research seminar series of the Human Centred Design Institute (HCDI) at Brunel Design, events designed to encourage communication and teamwork with colleagues across the academia and experts leaders in human-centred related topics.

Marco has a PG Cert in Learning and Teaching in Higher Education from Brunel University where he leads the Human Factors module and the Mechanics for Design module for the BSc Product Design and BSc Product Design Engineering course degree within the School of Engineering & Design. He also coordinates the 4-year thick-sandwich programme for overseas placements for professional practice with Design Institutions including San Francisco State University in the USA, TU Delft University in the Netherlands and Politecnico di Milano in Italy.

Academic qualifications

• 2009 Postgraduate Certificate (PGCert) in Teaching and Learning in Higher Education, Brunel University, UK.
• 2007 – Present Lecturer in Human Factors & Ergonomics, School of Engineering and Design, Brunel University, UK.
• 2006 – 2007 Research Fellow in the subject areas of human factors, psychophysics and engineering psychology in industrial applications, Brunel University, UK .
• 2004 – 2006 Research Assistant in the subject area of human comfort and human perception of vibration and sound exposure in motor vehicles, The University of Sheffield, UK.
• 2000 - 2003 Ph.D. degree in Mechanical Engineering, The University of Sheffield, UK. Research project investigating the human perception of steering wheel hand-arm vibration in automobile at idle to establish an industrial methodology to quantify the idle quality of diesel fuel products. Project sponsored by Shell Global Solutions, UK.
• 1999 Professional engineering qualification as Chartered Engineer in Italy.iv>
• 1991 - 1997 M.Eng. equivalent degree in Mechanical Engineering (5-year course) awarded by The University of Studies of Palermo, Palermo, Italy.

Research Interests

• Perception Enhancement of sensory stimuli of products.
• Multisensory driver perception (mainly sound and tactile perception in automobiles).
• Product experience (measurement of attitudes, human emotional experience in product design).
• Sensory evaluation techniques for human-product interactions.

Previous Research

Fuel Variability in Diesel Engine Idle Sound and Vibration (FVSV) - Principal Investigator

• Sponsors: Shell Global Solutions, UK.
• Value: £12,5k
• Dates: 2009

Effect of Fuel Content on Human Perception of Engine Idle Irregularity - (Main Researcher)

• Sponsors: EPSRC and Shell Global Solutions, UK.
• Value: £36,3k
• Dates: 2000-2003

Teaching

Module leader for DM3329 Human Factors

The module introduces human-centred problem identification within consumer product design. It presents physical and cognitive ergonomics methods and techniques that enable user requirements to be captured for inclusion into the design process.

Module teaching contributor for DM1309 Mechanics for Design

The module provides the basic concepts and methods of engineering mechanics (statics and dynamics) relevant to the analysis of existing products. It introduces the role of these concepts and methods in the new product development process.

Research Supervision

Supervising of a number of undergraduate and postgraduate student projects/dissertations in the field of human subjective response to environmental stimuli, of user-feel in design engineering applications and integrated product design.

• 2011-2015 - “Multisensory Interface Design (MID): Embedding human hearing and tactile sense for product engagement”, PhD project, main supervisor, Brunel University
• 2008-2011 - “Effects of interaction between physical and mental workload on human performance’. PhD project co-supervised, Brunel University.
• 2007-2011 - “Proposed Automobile Steering Wheel Test Method for Vibration” PhD project co-supervised, Brunel University.
• 20082009 - “Fuel variability in diesel engine idle sound and vibration” (FVSV Industrial consultancy project).
• 2007 - “A survey study of human response to automobile diesel engine idle Sound and Vibration”. MSc project.
• 2007 - “Design of Human Vibration Test Rig”. MSc project.
• 2007 - “Design of a Force Transducer for Hand-Arm Vibration”. MSc project.
• 2006. - “U-ser-Feel in Access Platform”. MSc project

• Twitter: http://twitter.com/Marco_Ajo
• LinkdIn: http://www.linkedin.com/pub/marco-ajovalasit/b/a59/447
• HCDI Seminar Series: http://hcdi.brunel.ac.uk/seminar.aspx
• TSB Creative Industries, Knowledge Transfer Network: https://ktn.innovateuk.org/web/marco.ajovalasit/summary

Peer esteem

• 2011-2012: Guest editor for the Special Issue of International Journal of Vehicle Noise and Vibration (IJVNV) on “Human emotional response to sound and vibration in automobiles”.
• 2009-2010: Guest editor for the Special Issue of the Proceedings of the IMechE, Part D - Journal of Automobile Engineering on “Human perception of sound and vibration in automobiles”.
• 2011 Peer reviewer for the Design Journal
• 2010 Peer reviewer for the for the Journal of Sound & Vibration (JSV).
• 2007-present Peer reviewer for the International Journal of Vehicle Noise and Vibration (IJVNV).
• 2007-present Peer reviewer for, the Institution of Mechanical Engineer (IMechE) Part D Journal of Automotive Engineering.
• 2007 Chairmanship of the European project VIBTOOL session of the 11th International Conference on Hand-Arm Vibration, Bologna, Italy, 3-7 June.
• 2005-2010 Peer reviewer for the Engineering Integrity Society (EIS) Journal.
• Invited speaker at several workshops in human factors including the MDU Network on “Human Factors and the Development of Medical Products” at Brunel University (2011), and in the automotive industry including the a research workshop at Shell Research Centre in Thornton (2005) and the EIS Workshop on “Perception of Product Sound and Vibration” at the International Manufacturing Centre, University of Warwick, UK (2006).

Design awards

• (2011) Undergraduate University Prize - Best Project of the School of Engineering and Design and (2011) Graham Hawkes Prize - Best Design Project. Marco supervised the Major project “The Vario Chair” by Adrian Hodder (BSc Hons Product Design) who received both these prizes. With his project, Adrian combined human-centred design approach and ergonomics principles for school chair design to provide a better fit between the students and their chairs.

Committee

• 2008 – present, Human-Centred Design Institute (HCDI), Brunel University, UK. Coordinator of the research seminar series designed to encourage communication and teamwork with colleagues across the academia and experts leaders in human-centred related topics
• 2008 – present, Membership Committee of the Institute of Ergonomics and Human Factors (IEHF), UK. Implementation of the membership-related activities within the Society Business Plan to raise aspirations for professional development and progression through the membership grades for practitioners in the area of ergonomics, human factors and human centred design.
• 2005 – present, Sound, Vibration, Product & Perception (SVPP) Committee of the Engineering Integrity Society (EIS) which includes meeting professional experts from the academia and the industrial sector for the organisation of technical events promoting new and stimulating research areas.
• Professional affiliations
• 2011-present, Member of the TSB Creative Industries, Knowledge Transfer Network
• 2011 – present, Member of the Design & Emotion Society.
• 2008 – present, Member of the Human-Centred Design Institute (HCDI), Brunel University, UK.
• 2006 – present, Associate Member of the of the Institute of Ergonomics and Human Factors (IEHF), UK.
• 2006 – present, Member of the International Society for Psychophysics (ISP).

Consultancy

Marco has attracted nearly £12k in industrial consultancy projects during his collaborative research with Shell Global Solutions Ltd. He has undertaken consultant activity in the field of automotive vibration and sound testing, field work and experimental vibro-acoustic testing in automobiles, signal data acquisition, signal processing analysis and psychophysical scaling methods of vibro-acoustic stimuli.

Extra-curricular activities

2003 UK GRAD Programme (Research Councils’ Graduate Schools), course for the development of personal effectiveness, communication skills, networking, team work and career.

Publications

Journal Papers

(Forthcoming) Ajovalasit, M., Tajadura-Jiménez, A., Shabani, A. and Giacomin, J., Human emotional response to steering wheel vibration in automobiles, International Journal of Vehicle Noise and Vibration

(2010) Berber Solano, TP., Ajovalasit, M. and Giacomin, J., Facilitating the driver detection of road surface type by selective manipulation of the steering-wheel acceleration signal, Proceedings of the Institute of Mechanical Engineers, Part D: Journal of Automotive Engineering 224 (10) : 1321- 1333

(2009) Jeon, B., Ajovalasit, M. and Giacomin, J., Effects of gender differences on the subjective perceived intensity of steering wheel rotational vibration based on a multivariate regression model, International Journal of Industrial Ergonomics 39 (5) : 736- 743 Download publication

(2009) Ajovalasit, M. and Giacomin, J., A survey study of steering wheel vibration and sound in automobiles at idle, Engineering Integrity 26 6- 14 Download publication

(2009) Ajovalasit, M. and Giacomin, J., Non-linear dependancy of the subjective perceived intensity of steering wheel rotational vibration, International Journal of Industrial Ergonomics 39 (1) : 58- 67 Download publication

(2007) Ajovalasit, M. and Giacomin, J., Effect of automobile operating condition on the subjective equivalence of steering wheel vibration and sound, International Journal of Vehicle Noise and Vibration 3 (2) : 197- 215 Download publication

(2006) Gnanasekaran, S., Ajovalasit, M. and Giacomin, J., Driver estimation of steering wheel vibration intensity: laboratory-based tests, Engineering Integrity 20 (1) : 25- 31 Download publication

(2005) Ajovalasit, M. and Giacomin, J., Human subjective response to steering wheel vibration caused by diesel engine idle, Proceedings of the Institute of Mechanical Engineers, Part D: Journal of Automotive Engineering 219 (4) : 499- 510 Download publication

(2004) Ajovalasit, M. and Giacomin, J., Human perception of diesel engine idle vibration, ATA Ingegneria dell'Autoveicolo 57 (5/6) : 52- 56 Download publication

(2003) Ajovalasit, M. and Giacomin, J., Analysis of variations in diesel engine idle vibration, Proceedings of the Institute of Mechanical Engineers, Part D: Journal of Automotive Engineering 217 (10) : 921- 933 Download publication

Conference Papers

(2010) Basahel, AM., Young, MS. and Ajovalasit, M., Effects of interaction between physical and mental workload on human performance, Annual Conference of the Institute of Ergonomics and Human Factors, Contemporary Ergonomics and Human Factors, 2010 598- 601

(2007) Ajovalasit, M. and Giacomin, J., Hand-arm equal sensation curves for steering wheel rotational vibration, 11th International Conference on Hand-Arm Vibration Download publication

(2006) Ajovalasit, M. and Giacomin, J., Effect of automobile operating condition on the subjective equivalence of steering wheel vibration and sound, International Conference on Noise and Vibration Engineering (ISMA2006) Download publication