Rate My Professor David O'Hare

Emeritus Professor David O'Hare serves in the Department of Psychology at the University of Otago, where he joined in 1982 after completing his BA and PhD at the University of Exeter and lecturing at Lancaster University in the United Kingdom. With over 33 years of experience as a university lecturer and researcher, and more than 20 years as a human factors consultant, he has collaborated with key organizations including the Transport Accident Investigation Commission, Civil Aviation Authority, Airways Corporation, and the New Zealand Police. O'Hare has received research grants from the Health Research Council, SPARC, the Australian Research Council, the United States Federal Aviation Administration, and NASA. He holds New Zealand and United Kingdom flight crew licences for powered aircraft and gliders.

His research focuses on cognitive ergonomics and human decision making, with particular emphasis on in-flight decision making by general aviation pilots, dynamic decision making, risk perception, display design, case-based learning, and the development of expertise. Additional interests include human cognition and decision-making processes in complex technological systems, descriptive models of human error, factors affecting cognition in naturalistic settings, technologies for aiding decision making, and training programs. O'Hare has authored three books, including Human Performance in General Aviation (1999) and Introduction to Safety Science: People, Organisations, and Risk (2022), and over 100 refereed articles, conference proceedings, and book chapters. Key publications feature "Effects of distance flown on pilot decision making in continued flight into deteriorating weather conditions" (Journal of Safety Research, 2024), "In plane sight: Inattentional blindness affects visual detection of external targets in simulated flight" (Applied Ergonomics, 2022), "Cognitive failure analysis for aircraft accident investigation" (1994, 318 citations), and "Expertise in aeronautical weather-related decision making: a cross-sectional analysis of general aviation pilots" (1995, 248 citations). His work has advanced understanding in aviation psychology, human factors, and safety science.