Contact Dr Victoria Smy
- Tel: +44 (0) 7505 887854
- Email: v.smy@cranfield.ac.uk
- Twitter: @Vicki_Smy
- ORCID
- ResearchGate
Areas of expertise
- Defence Training Analysis
- Human Factors for Defence
Background
Dr Victoria Smy is a Chartered member of the British Psychological Society, an Honorary Tutor at Cardiff University and an Associate Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.
Dr Smy has a background in occupational and applied cognitive psychology, specialising in training and decision-making. She is experienced in both cognitive task analysis (knowledge, skills, attitudes, and other characteristics), and Subject Matter Expert consultation (knowledge elicitation, requirements specification) to support the generation of training criteria and content. She is interested in attitudes such as motivation and trust, and their subsequent impact on behavioural intentions. She has further experience in cognitive ergonomics and human factors considerations for system specification and design.
Prior to joining Cranfield, Dr Smy was a Research Assistant within the School of Psychology at Cardiff University where she focused on problem-solving and training at the human-computer interface. She graduated with a PhD in Cognitive Psychology from Cardiff University in 2014.
Current activities
Dr Smy is a Lecturer within the Applied Cognitive Psychology in the Centre for Electronic Warfare, Information and Cyber. Her teaching responsibilities include:
Thesis Module lead for Information Capability Management MSc and Cyber Masters Programmes (Cyberspace Operations * Cyber Defence and Information Assurance)
Lecturing in: Cognition (decision-making, team processes, training & skill retention); Research methods (literature reviews, qualitative research techniques, statistical analysis & interview/survey design)
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Dr Smy's present research interests include:
Training: training needs analysis, design, delivery, assessment
Teamwork: measurement, development and augmentation
Decision-making: decision science; thinking systems and skill categorisation; factors affecting decision-making in complex environments
Expertise: decision making, conscious and unconscious expertise; knowledge elicitation/capture in support of training design
Attitudes: motivation, engagement, satisfaction and behavioural intentions
Human-computer interaction effects on problem solving
Clients
Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (DSTL)
BAE Systems
Defence Human Capability Science and Technology Centre (DHCSTC)
Training (Army)
Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC)
Publications
Articles In Journals
- MacLean P, Cahillane M & Smy V. (2024). Lifting the lid on manipulative website contents: a framework mapping contextual and informational feature combinations against associated social cognitive vulnerabilities. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 18(2)
- Critchley R, Smy V, Corni I, Wharton JA, Walsh FC, .... (2021). Author Correction: Experimental and computation assessment of thermomechanical effects during auxetic foam fabrication. Scientific Reports, 11(1)
- Smy V, Cahillane M, MacLean P, Hilton M & Humphreys L. (2021). Evaluating teamwork development in combat training settings: an exploratory case study utilising the Junior Leaders’ Field Gun competition. Applied Ergonomics, 95(September)
- Critchley R, Smy V, Corni I, Wharton JA, Walsh FC, .... (2020). Experimental and computation assessment of thermomechanical effects during auxetic foam fabrication. Scientific Reports, 10(1)
- Cahillane M, MacLean P & Smy V. (2018). Novel application of a predictive skill retention model to technical VLE content production skills among Higher Education teachers: a case study. Interactive Learning Environments, 27(3)
- Smy V, Cahillane M & MacLean P. (2016). Sensemaking and metacognitive prompting in ill-structured problems. The International Journal of Information and Learning Technology, 33(3)
- Smy V, Shelton K, Tombs M & Patrick J. (2016). Perceived transformational leadership, instructor behaviors, and motivation to learn: A mediated model. Le travail humain, Vol. 79(2)
- Smy V, Seeby H & Patrick J. (2015). The nature of complexity facing novice designers in a constraint satisfaction task. Ergonomics, 58(6)
- Patrick J, Ahmed A, Smy V, Seeby H & Sambrooks K. (2015). A cognitive procedure for representation change in verbal insight problems.. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 41(3)
- Patrick J, Morgan PL, Smy V, Tiley L, Seeby H, .... (2015). The influence of training and experience on memory strategy. Memory & Cognition, 43(5)
- Patrick J, Smy V, Tombs M & Shelton K. (2012). Being in one's chosen job determines pre‐training attitudes and training outcomes. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 85(2)
Conference Papers
- Clewley N, Dodd L, Smy V, Witheridge A & Louvieris P. (2019). Eliciting expert knowledge to inform training design
- Smy V, Cahillane M & MacLean P. (2016). Attitudes towards, and utilisation of, virtual learning environments among postgraduate university teaching staff
- Smy V, Cahillane M & MacLean P. (2016). A case study of the barriers and enablers affecting teaching staff e-learning provision
- Smy V, Seeby H, Winslow E & Patrick J. (2014). Novel Training Techniques for Novice Timetablers
- Morgan PL, Smy V, Seeby H & Patrick J. (2013). A Novel Approach to Cognitive Engineering: Manipulating Access Cost
- Smy V & Patrick J. (2012). Some effects of increasing external constraint rules on design performance in a timetabling task
- MacLean P, Cahillane M & Smy V. Extension of a knowledge and skills taxonomy to include a complex and integrated skills category
- Smy V, MacLean P & Cahillane M. Knowledge and skills retention in sustaining e-learning capability
