About the Chair

Professor Joanne Crawford is the inaugural WorkSafe New Zealand Chair in Health and Safety.

Professor Crawford was appointed as the inaugural WorkSafe New Zealand Chair in Health and Safety in 2019. Established in partnership with WorkSafe, the Chair aims to lift New Zealand’s health and safety performance through high quality research and teaching.

Originally from Edinburgh, Professor Crawford was most recently Head of Ergonomics and Human Factors at the Institute of Occupational Medicine in Edinburgh and has previously been a Senior Lecturer in Ergonomics at the University of Birmingham and Programme Director for the MSc in Occupational Health.

She completed her PhD at the Robens Centre for Occupational Health at the University of Surrey. Dr Crawford’s research projects and consultancy work have focused on the occurrence and management of musculoskeletal disorders, including back pain and upper limb disorders, at the national and international level, as well as knowledge management, ageing at work, and return to work after cancer.