Ergonomics for a Sustainable Digital Age: Human-Centred Design for Social, Economic, and Human Wellbeing
A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050).
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 December 2026
Special Issue Editors
Interests: safety and health; human factors and ergonomics; engineering management; industrial design
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Interests: safety management; accident causation theory
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
The digital age has fundamentally reshaped modern society, transforming how we work, communicate, and interact. This transformation presents both profound opportunities and significant challenges to the “2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.” While digitalization can drive efficiency and connectivity, it also introduces risks that threaten social sustainability, such as digital exclusion, algorithmic bias, and new forms of occupational strain.
Ensuring a truly sustainable digital future requires more than technological innovation. It demands a deep and proactive focus on social and economic sustainability by sustaining the human users within these systems. A work process that leads to burnout, a public service that is inaccessible to the elderly, or an AI collaboration that erodes human autonomy is inherently unsustainable. These factors directly impact crucial sustainable development goals related to safety, health, well-being, and decent work. Ergonomics and human factors, as the core disciplines of human-centred design, are therefore critical for creating sociotechnical systems that are not only productive but also resilient, inclusive, and conducive to long-term human thriving.
This Special Issue aims to bring together cutting-edge research addressing the intersection of ergonomics and sustainable development in the digital age. We invite theoretical, empirical, and evidence-based studies that explore the application of ergonomic principles to both occupational and public domains, aligning with the journal's broad scope covering socio-economic, safety-and-health-related, and ethical aspects of sustainability. The goal is to foster a collection of work that moves beyond reactive problem-solving to showcase proactive, “by-design” solutions.
In this Special Issue, original research articles and comprehensive reviews are welcome. Research areas may include (but are not limited to) the following:
- Ergonomic principles for sustainable remote, hybrid, and flexible work models.
- Cognitive ergonomics in human–AI teamwork, trust, and decision-making.
- Strategies for mitigating digital fatigue, information overload, and burnout.
- The design of inclusive and accessible digital public services (e.g., e-health and e-government).
- Human factors in the safety and usability of autonomous systems (e.g., vehicles and drones) in public spaces.
- Ergonomics of smart home technology, wearables, and the Internet of Things (IoT) for daily life.
- Participatory design methods involving workers and the public in technology development.
- Ethical considerations in the use of technology for monitoring health, safety, and performance.
- Novel methodologies for assessing well-being and performance in digital environments.
Dr. Siu Shing Man
Prof. Dr. Gui Fu
Dr. Mu Tong
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.
Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.
Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
Keywords
- sustainability
- human factors and ergonomics
- safety and health
- wellbeing
- human–computer interaction
- human–AI interaction human performance
- VR/AR/MR
- e-health
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