{{Short description|British psychologist (1935–2017)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=November 2022}} {{Use British English|date=May 2013}} {{Infobox scientist | name = Alexander Wedderburn | image = | image_size = | alt = | caption = | birth_name = Alexander Allan Innes Wedderburn | birth_date = {{Birth date|df=yes|1935|05|09}} | birth_place = Edinburgh, Scotland, UK | death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|2017|2|23|1935|05|09}} | death_place = Edinburgh, Scotland, UK | fields = Psychology, occupational psychology | alma_mater = University of Oxford, Heriot-Watt University | thesis_title = Studies of attitudes to continuous shiftwork | thesis_url = https://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?did=1&uin=uk.bl.ethos.316307 | thesis_year = 1991 | work_institutions = Heriot-Watt University }}
'''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.
== Biography == Wedderburn was born in Edinburgh in 1935.<ref name=Scotsman/> 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.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Gray |first1=Jeffrey|last2=Wedderburn |first2=Alexander |title=Grouping strategies with simultaneous stimuli |journal=Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology |date=1960 |volume=12 |pages=180–184|doi=10.1080/17470216008416722 }}</ref> After graduation, he worked in various industrial relations positions until he was appointed as a 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.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://thepsychologist.bps.org.uk/zander-wedderburn-1935-2017|title=Zander Wedderburn 1935–2017 – ''The Psychologist''|work=bps.org.uk|access-date=28 March 2017|archive-date=29 March 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170329045904/https://thepsychologist.bps.org.uk/zander-wedderburn-1935-2017|url-status=dead}}</ref>
At Heriot-Watt, he taught occupational psychology in the School of Management.<ref name="NewPresident">{{cite journal|title=New President|journal=The Psychologist|date=April 2003|volume=16|issue=4|pages=181|url=http://www.thepsychologist.org.uk/archive/archive_home.cfm/volumeID_16-editionID_93-ArticleID_536-getfile_getPDF/thepsychologist/apr03newpres.pdf |publisher=British Psychological Society |access-date=24 August 2012}}</ref> 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 from 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,<ref name=Scotsman>{{cite news|url=http://www.scotsman.com/news/obituaries/obituary-zander-wedderburn-international-authority-on-the-psychology-of-shift-work-1-4388866|title=Obituary: 'Zander' Wedderburn, international authority on the psychology of shift work|newspaper=The Scotsman|access-date=28 March 2017}}</ref> and founding editor of the Shiftwork International Newsletter. He was President of the British Psychological Society in 2003/2004,<ref name="NewPresident" /> only the third occupational psychologist to achieve this in the past fifty years.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.hw.ac.uk/schools/social-sciences/zander-wedderburn-1935-2017-obituary.htm|title=Zander Wedderburn 1935 – 2017: Obituary – Heriot-Watt University|publisher=hw.ac.uk|access-date=28 March 2017}}</ref>
He died of oesophageal cancer on 23 February 2017, aged 81.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/education/2017/mar/28/zander-wedderburn-obituary|title=Zander Wedderburn obituary|first=Greg|last=Bamber|date=28 March 2017|newspaper=The Guardian|access-date=28 March 2017}}</ref>
== Honours == * President, British Psychological Society (2003-2004) * Fellow, Working Time Society.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.workingtime.org/HonoraryMembers|title=Working Time Society (WTS) – Fellow and Honorary Members|publisher=workingtime.org|access-date=28 March 2017}}</ref>
== Personal life == In 1960, Wedderburn married Bridget Johnstone. They had four children and eight grandchildren.
==Works== * Wedderburn, A. A. I. (1967) Social factors in swiftly rotating shifts. ''Occupational Psychology'', 41, 85–107. * Wedderburn, A. A. I. (1972) Sleep patterns on the 25-hour day in a group of tidal shiftworkers. ''Studia Laboris et Salutis'', 11, 101–106. * Keenan, A. and Wedderburn, A. A. I., (1975) Effects of non-verbal behaviour of interviewers on candidates' impressions. ''Journal of Occupational Psychology'', 48, 129–132. * Wedderburn, A. A. I. (1975) EEG and self-recorded sleep of two shiftworkers over four weeks of real and synthetic work. In ''Experimental Studies of Shiftwork'', edited by W. P. Colquhuoun et al., Forschungsberichte des Landes Nordrhein-Westfalen 2513. * Wedderburn, A. A. I. (1978) Some suggestions for increasing the usefulness of psychological and sociological studies of shiftwork. ''Ergonomics'', 21, 827–833. * Keenan, A. and Wedderburn, A. A. I. (1980), Putting the boot on the other foot: candidates' descriptions of interviewers. ''Journal of Occupational Psychology'', 53, 81–89 * Wedderburn, A. A. I. (1987) Unintentional falling asleep at work: what can you do about it In Contemporary advances in shiftwork research, ed. Oginski et al., Krakow, Medical Academy. * Wedderburn, A. A. I. (1987) Sleeping on the job: the use of anecdotes for recording rare but serious events. ''Ergonomics'', 30, 1229–1233. * Wedderburn, A. A. I. (1991) ''[http://hdl.handle.net/10068/449295 Guidelines for shiftworkers]''. ''Bulletin of European Shiftwork Topics'' 3. European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions, Dublin. * Wedderburn, A. A. I. (1992) How fast should the night shift rotate? A rejoinder. ''Ergonomics'', 35, 1447–1451 * Wedderburn A. A. I. and Scholarios, D. (1993) Guidelines for shiftworkers: trials and errors. ''Ergonomics'', 36, 211–217 * Wedderburn, A. A. I. (1993) Teaching grandmothers how to suck eggs: do shiftworkers need rules or guidelines? ''Ergonomics'', 36. * Wedderburn, A. A. I. (1995) Men and women who like continuous shiftwork are more 'hardy': but what does it mean? ''Work & Stress'', 9, 206–210. * Quinn, K. M., King, C., Slawek, K. and Wedderburn, A. A. I. (1995) The effectiveness of an individually tailored health education intervention for 24hr shiftworkers. Paper presented at the XII Symposium on Night and Shiftwork, Connecticut. * Monk, T. H., Folkarc, S. and Wedderburn A. A. I. (1996) ''[https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0003-6870(95)00048-8 Maintaining safety and high performance on shiftwork.]'' in ''Applied Ergonomics'', 27, 17–23 * Wedderburn A. A. I. Rankin D. (2001) An intervention using a self-help guide to improve the coping behaviour of nightshift workers and its evaluation. HSE Books.
== References == {{Reflist}}
==External links== * Alexander Wedderburn's publishing company [http://www.fledglingpress.co.uk/ Fledgling Press ] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121124230421/http://www.fledglingpress.co.uk/ |date=24 November 2012 }} {{authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wedderburn, Alexander}} Category:1935 births Category:2017 deaths Category:Academics of Heriot-Watt University Category:Alumni of Exeter College, Oxford Category:British psychologists Category:British neuroscientists Category:Scientists from Edinburgh Category:Presidents of the British Psychological Society Category:Alumni of Heriot-Watt University Category:People educated at Edinburgh Academy