Volunteers are needed for some university research taking place in the grounds of the ORNC for which those taking part will earn be compensated £45 per day. Full press release from the University of Greenwich below: Up to six hundred volunteers are needed to take part in fascinating new research into how pedestrians move through public spaces. The volunteers will simply be walking around part of the University of Greenwich campus, in large groups, as may be found in and around a railway or tube station. The research, which is sponsored by the UK Government, is being organised by the university’s Professor Ed Galea, Director of the Fire Safety Engineering Group. Professor Galea is a world expert on evacuation procedures and on the subject of how people behave in emergencies.This latest project will contribute to improving the safety, security and comfort of passengers at railway stations, tube stations and other public spaces, and will also help improve the design of stations and their surrounding environments.The research will take place at the University of Greenwich campus, at the Old Royal Naval College, and those taking part will be compensated with £45 each per day to contribute to travel and incidental costs.The days in question are Saturday 16 March, Sunday 17 March and Saturday 23 March. Volunteers can take part in one or more days and will be required between 8am and 5pm.Professor Galea, who is looking for two hundred volunteers per day, says those taking part will be contributing to some unique research. “An exercise of this type has never been undertaken before. My team will be directing large numbers of people on the campus and collecting data about the movement of people as they move through a simple reconstruction of a rail station environment,” he says.“The actions of the participants will be recorded on video, so that later on we can analyse their actions and performance. While it will be simple to take part in the trials, the research is vital as it will ultimately lead to the design of more people-friendly and safer public spaces.” Volunteers must be over 18 years of age. For further information, to check eligibility and to register an interest in taking part in the trials, please see: http://fseg.gre.ac.uk/experiments/If you have any queries, contact Karen Judd at exodus@gre.ac.uk or call 020 8331 8706.
