Contact Dr Gulsum Kubra Kaya
- Tel: +44 (0) 1234 754096
- Email: Kubra.Kaya@cranfield.ac.uk
Background
Dr Gulsum Kubra Kaya is a system safety scientist and human factors specialist at Â鶹Íø’s Safety and Accident Investigation Centre. Her research focuses on how complex socio-technical systems can be designed, assessed and improved to support safer, more resilient and more responsible operations.
She works at the intersection of system safety, human factors, risk assessment, accident analysis and safety assurance, with particular expertise in systems-based methods including STPA, FRAM, CAST, network modelling and socio-technical risk analysis. Her work applies these methods to safety-critical domains including aviation, healthcare, rail, autonomous systems, AI-enabled operations and future transport.
Dr Kaya is especially interested in the safe adoption of emerging technologies, including AI and large language models, autonomous and remote operations, hydrogen-powered aviation, drones and human-AI interaction. She collaborates with academic, industry and public-sector partners on applied research, consultancy, funded doctoral projects and evidence-based safety interventions.
She is a Chartered Ergonomist and Human Factors Specialist, Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, Deputy Editor of BMJ Health & Care Informatics, Co-Editor-in-Chief of Risk Management and Healthcare Policy, and an Editorial Board Member of Ergonomics.
Research opportunities
Dr Kaya welcomes enquiries from prospective PhD students, research sponsors and industry partners interested in system safety, human factors and safety assurance in complex socio-technical systems.
Potential PhD topics include:
- Safety assurance of AI-enabled and autonomous systems
- Human-AI interaction in safety-critical operations
- Large language models and their role in system safety assessment
- STPA, FRAM and CAST for accident analysis and risk assessment
- Human factors integration in complex engineering systems
- Safety assurance for hydrogen-powered and low-emission aviation
- System safety of drones, remote towers and autonomous ground operations
- Safety culture, incident reporting and machine learning in healthcare and transport
- Resilience engineering and safety decision-making.
She is particularly interested in projects developed with industrial, healthcare, aviation, transport, regulatory or public-sector partners, including sponsored PhD studentships, CASE-style projects, Knowledge Transfer Partnerships and collaborative grant applications.
Current activities
Dr Kaya’s current research focuses on safety assurance, human factors and socio-technical risk management in complex safety-critical systems. Her work examines how systems-based methods can be used to understand, assess and improve safety in emerging technologies and operational environments.
She is currently involved in research on AI-enabled systems, human-AI interaction, autonomous and remote operations, accident analysis, liquid-hydrogen-powered aviation, healthcare safety and safety-critical transport systems. Her recent work includes the application of STPA, FRAM, CAST and network modelling to support safety assessment, accident analysis and evidence-based decision-making.
Across these activities, Dr Kaya is interested in developing practical approaches that help organisations, regulators and system designers manage risk, integrate human factors and support the safe adoption of new technologies. She welcomes collaboration with academic, industry, healthcare, transport and public-sector partners on applied research, consultancy, funded studentships and collaborative grant proposals.