HDR 2022 Scholarship – Command and Control (C2) Agility

Description/Applicant information In many safety-critical workplaces, teams are adapting to significant technological advances accompanied by great volumes of incoming data. Such changes have the potential to improve capabilities in complex and uncertain conditions, but only if sociotechnical systems are appropriately designed. “Command and Control” (C2) is the process taken by organisations and teams to achieve shared goals, and the C2 system is the underpinning technologies, social structures, and networks. Effective C2 organisational systems are critical not only to military settings, but also to the operation of many civil domains, including emergency response coordination (e.g., disasters), remote and distributed workplaces (e.g., virtual organisations), and management of civil infrastructure and services (e.g., aviation). In C2 settings, teams of heterogeneously skilled human operators must acquire and integrate information from multiple distributed sources (e.g., physical and informational environments) to coordinate cognitively (e.g., decision-making) and behaviourally (e.g., sequencing of task executions) in complex environments characterised by uncertain and evolving threats. There is no single best strategy or approach to designing C2 systems because teams and individuals must adapt to the situational demands at hand. The capacity of teams to adapt to cope with, learn from, and exploit their operational situation is referred to as C2 Agility. However, the existing evidence underlying C2 Agility is based mainly on descriptive studies that use cross-sectional or low-resolution (i.e., broad timescale) snapshots of key inputs, processes, and outputs obtained within static networks. C2 research that better reflects the rich dynamics and complexities that occur in real-world contexts has the potential to result in major benefits for many sociotechnical systems. Therefore, the aim of this project is to develop and validate an experimental paradigm that can describe the dynamic processes underlying C2 agility and to characterise the situational factors by which C2 agility can vary.

Student type

• Future Students

Faculty

• Faculty of Health Sciences
• Faculty of Science & Engineering
• Science courses
• Engineering courses
• Western Australian School of Mines (WASM)

Value

The successful candidate will receive a tax-free stipend of AUD 30,000 per annum, which is indexed annually for the duration of the award. The duration of the scholarship shall be for 3 years, with a maximum possible extension of up to six months (assessed on a case by case basis).

Maximum number awarded 1

Eligible courses Doctor of Philosophy

Eligibility criteria Essential Criteria

To be successful with this scholarship, the successful applicant will have:

• Educational qualifications in psychology, human factors, artificial intelligence, human computer interaction, or a discipline that could shed light on individual and team dynamics within the context of command and control settings; and
• Evidence of high-quality verbal (e.g., delivering instructions to participants) and written communication skills (e.g., Honours or Masters thesis), as well as excellent interpersonal skills (e.g., working with people from diverse backgrounds).

Desirable Criteria

The following criteria are considered advantageous but not essential to be successful with this scholarship:

• Experience with observational research (e.g., simulations) and/or lab or field experiments
• Experience with the analysis (e.g., sequential analysis, multilevel modelling) and interpretation (e.g., conference presentation) of complex data
• Evidence of peer-reviewed publications within the behavioural sciences
• Work experience within Defence settings (e.g., researcher, practitioner)
• Demonstrated capacity to work independently and as part of a multidisciplinary team to complete tasks within set timeframes and agreed budgets