Alexander Wedderburn | |
---|---|
Born | Alexander Allan Innes Wedderburn 9 May 1935
Edinburgh, Scotland, UK |
Died | 23 February 2017 Edinburgh, Scotland, UK | (aged 81)
Alma mater | University of Oxford, Heriot-Watt University |
Scientific career | |
Fields | Psychology, occupational psychology |
Institutions | Heriot-Watt University |
Thesis | Studies of attitudes to continuous shiftwork (1991) |
Alexander Allan Innes "Zander" Wedderburn (9 May 1935 – 23 February 2017) was a British psychologist renown for his research on shiftwork and for the development of the teaching of occupational psychology.
Wedderburn was born in Edinburgh in 1935. [1] His father was Alexander Archibald Innes Wedderburn, a lawyer and auditor to the Court of Session. His mother was Ellen Innes Jeans. He attended Edinburgh Academy at which he obtained the position of Dux or leading student. After a period of National Service he proceeded to Exeter College, Oxford from which he graduated in 1959 with a degree in Psychology, Philosophy and Physiology. He and Jeffrey Gray, his supervisor, subsequently published the findings of his undergraduate project. [2] After graduation, he worked in various industrial relations positions until he was appointed as lecturer at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh in 1968. He rose through the ranks and retired as Professor Emeritus in 2000. After his retirement, he founded the publishing company Fledgling Press. [3]
At Heriot-Watt, he taught occupational psychology in the School of Management. [4] Most of his teaching was in the area of making occupational psychology available to business students and engineers, and in his final three years he established a part-time MSc in Occupational Psychology taught jointly with Strathclyde University.
His main research impact was on hours of work and shiftwork, where he became an internationally known authority, building on a British Steel Corporation Fellowship in 1970 to 1972. In 1991, Heriot-Watt University awarded him a PhD in 1991 for his research on shiftwork.
His particular interest was in the interface between research and practice, with several measured practical interventions, a ten-year stint as editor of the Bulletin of European Shiftwork Topics, [1] and founding editor of the Shiftwork International Newsletter. He was President of the British Psychological Society in 2003/2004, [4] only the third occupational psychologist to achieve this in the past fifty years. [5]
He died of oesophageal cancer on 23 February 2017, aged 81. [6]
In 1960, Wedderburn married Bridget Johnstone. They had four children and eight grandchildren.
Alexander Wedderburn | |
---|---|
Born | Alexander Allan Innes Wedderburn 9 May 1935
Edinburgh, Scotland, UK |
Died | 23 February 2017 Edinburgh, Scotland, UK | (aged 81)
Alma mater | University of Oxford, Heriot-Watt University |
Scientific career | |
Fields | Psychology, occupational psychology |
Institutions | Heriot-Watt University |
Thesis | Studies of attitudes to continuous shiftwork (1991) |
Alexander Allan Innes "Zander" Wedderburn (9 May 1935 – 23 February 2017) was a British psychologist renown for his research on shiftwork and for the development of the teaching of occupational psychology.
Wedderburn was born in Edinburgh in 1935. [1] His father was Alexander Archibald Innes Wedderburn, a lawyer and auditor to the Court of Session. His mother was Ellen Innes Jeans. He attended Edinburgh Academy at which he obtained the position of Dux or leading student. After a period of National Service he proceeded to Exeter College, Oxford from which he graduated in 1959 with a degree in Psychology, Philosophy and Physiology. He and Jeffrey Gray, his supervisor, subsequently published the findings of his undergraduate project. [2] After graduation, he worked in various industrial relations positions until he was appointed as lecturer at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh in 1968. He rose through the ranks and retired as Professor Emeritus in 2000. After his retirement, he founded the publishing company Fledgling Press. [3]
At Heriot-Watt, he taught occupational psychology in the School of Management. [4] Most of his teaching was in the area of making occupational psychology available to business students and engineers, and in his final three years he established a part-time MSc in Occupational Psychology taught jointly with Strathclyde University.
His main research impact was on hours of work and shiftwork, where he became an internationally known authority, building on a British Steel Corporation Fellowship in 1970 to 1972. In 1991, Heriot-Watt University awarded him a PhD in 1991 for his research on shiftwork.
His particular interest was in the interface between research and practice, with several measured practical interventions, a ten-year stint as editor of the Bulletin of European Shiftwork Topics, [1] and founding editor of the Shiftwork International Newsletter. He was President of the British Psychological Society in 2003/2004, [4] only the third occupational psychologist to achieve this in the past fifty years. [5]
He died of oesophageal cancer on 23 February 2017, aged 81. [6]
In 1960, Wedderburn married Bridget Johnstone. They had four children and eight grandchildren.