Out of the box with Cortexia.
WHO IS CORTEXIA?
Cortexia is a boutique human factors consultancy working closely with organisations from a variety of high-risk industries. We take the latest research and turn it into real world solutions. Our work encompasses the full range of human factors applications for your projects, as well as customised programs to give your business the performance edge.
WHY CORTEXIA?
You won't get an organisational advantage by doing the same thing as everyone else. As much as that adage applies to your business and operations, it also applies to us. We apply cutting edge research and practices to formulate solutions that improve your results without the scientific jargon and unwieldly academic approaches. We are real world practitioners, human factors experts, ahead of our competition, with over 100 years combined experience solving complex high-risk problems.
OUR ETHOS
We are passionate about being innovative and finding cost-effective solutions for our clients that will be measurable and make a real impact on operations. In 2016 we even had our ethos designed into the artwork you see above! Our focus is and always will be, improving your capability, safety, efficiency and bottom-line with our human factors expertise.
OUR ADVANTAGE.
~Our deliverables are always concise, pragmatic, cost-effective and impactful
~We keep the academic jargon out of our work without losing the science
~All our consultants are well recognised in the fields of Human Factors, Safety and Organisational Psychology
~We understand your budget matters and deliver to scale
OUR LEADERSHIP & DIRECTION
In addition to our human factors, system safety and organisational psychology experts, Cortexia is led by a team of globally-recognised executives.
Dr. Damien Armenis
Founder & Managing Director
Damien is a world recognised expert in the fields of human factors, safety and organisational excellence. He completed his Honours thesis in Behavioural Finance and his PhD in 2006 focussing on naturalistic decision making and corporate culture and then went on to successfully lead a major human performance research program within the Department of Defence focussing on Human Factors and Distributed Cognition. Damien has over 18 years experience designing, leading and developing human performance programs across a range of industries. He has integrated human factors on numerous projects across all lifecycle phases and has a keen understanding of the demands of complex automated systems. He has played key roles on international human performance working groups and helped develop numerous international standards including CANSO's Human Performance Standard of Excellence. As a human factors expert, his pragmatic and results-driven focus combined with exceptional comprehension of the field and formal accreditation in Change Management, mean your operational outcomes will be second to none.
Download a copy of Damien's CV here and check out Damien's book on Decision Making Bias and Training here.
Ana Vilaca
Research & Operations Manager
Ana is Cortexia's Research & Operations Manager ensuring our interventions and solutions are always leading edge and evidence-based by leveraging the latest in human, organisational and safety performance research. This requires an up to date and in-depth comprehension of the research along with a keen ability to present this information in a consolidated, succinct and pragmatic manner. Ana has over a decade's experience in research across a number of roles and high-reliability industries including healthcare, pharma and medical device manufacturing. By keeping this role in-house Cortexia is able to provide cost-effective solutions that leverage the latest evidence-based practices.
Nick Carter
Client Relationship Manager
Nick has over 20 years of international business experience, client relationship management and conflict resolution. Nick also has a unique expertise in deploying complex projects with large numbers of stakeholders, which requires a high level of skill in conflict management and collaboration. Using these skills, Nick has won product development, entrepreneurship and innovation awards both in Australia and overseas.
We deliver big results for our clients across high-reliability and high-risk industries.
HOW WE HELP OUR CLIENTS ACCOMPLISH GREAT RESULTS
HUMAN FACTORS ENGINEERING & EVALUATION
We integrate pragmatic human factors approaches into your existing Project Delivery and Systems Engineering processes to ensure your systems are optimised for delivering big results in both safety and operational performance.
OPERATIONS DIAGNOSTIC
Our Operations Diagnostic provides you with an in-depth and results-driven analysis of your current operations including both strengths and weaknesses. Our unique human performance perspective gives you a more holistic approach to improving process, procedures, and most importantly, results.
OPERATIONAL PERFORMANCE & TRAINING
Our Performance Workshops and training solutions provide your high-risk, high-reliability operators with the practical tools to reach their peak performance and perform under a tighter safety envelope.
SMS DESIGN & PROCEDURES
Cortexia has a proven track record in delivering proven and pragmatic Safety Management System artefacts across the safety and human performance spectrum. Whether it's a regulatory requirement or a drive to be a world leader in safety benchmarks, Cortexia can help you accomplish big results.
JUST CULTURE & PSYCHOLOGICAL SAFETY
Cortexia has designed and implemented a number of Fair and Just Culture Decision Tools and Procedures. We customise the program to your business and advise on implementation strategy based on best practice and our lessons learnt.
HUMAN FACTORS FOR BANKING & FINANCE
Cortexia are global leaders in integrating high-reliability human factors in the banking & finance industry; our methods are proven to reduce errors in manual processes, empower employees and improve ability to identify systemic risk.
HUMAN ERROR MANAGEMENT
Understanding and controlling risk is a critical aspect of operations. By helping you identify, monitor and control human risk, Cortexia's Human Error Management Systems (HEMS) unleash the potential of your operations to deliver big, bottom-line improvements.
RISK MONITORING: ARGOS PROTOCOL
Cortexia's Argos Protocol allows your organisation to develop safety leading indicators and get ahead of the curve by providing an accurate picture of your normal operating risk, rather than relying on lagging indicators such as incidents which are often too late to highlight your organisation's drift.
OUR EXPERTISE, YOUR PERFORMANCE.
Are we on the brink of a paradigm shift in aviation safety?
March 23, 2023Are we on the brink of a paradigm shift in aviation safety? The recent release of the European Plan for Aviation Safety 2023-2025 (EPAS), the ICAO manual on Human Performance (ICAO Doc 10151), and the forthcoming update of ICAO Annex 19 all suggest that we may be. Key Takeaways One of the common takeaways from these documents is that … Read More
Psychological Safety: Feeling safe to speak up?
March 23, 2023Leaders who make the connection between resilience and psychological safety reap the benefits. We just read a wonderful HBR article written by Maren Gube and Debra Subatini Hennelly and have decided to summarise below along with our unique human factors and ultra-resilience take: Gube and Henelly (2022) highlight that as leaders, it’s crucial to recognise the connection between psychological safety and … Read More
How Human Factors and Psychology improve GCRA
January 3, 2023Human factors and cognitive psychology offer a solution to APRA’s recent risk culture survey insights. Background Between October and December 2021, APRA rolled-out 31 survey questions to 18 of Australia’s major authorised deposit-taking institutions on their organisation’s risk management practices. The high response rate (up to 59%) suggests that governance, risk culture, remuneration and accountability (GCRA) is a … Read More
Cortexia Conducts Survey of Construction Industry Leaders
April 8, 2022The latest trends in Human Factors and Performance Excellence for the construction industry Cortexia has commenced a survey to investigate the latest trends in Human Factors and Performance Excellence for the construction industry. Running between mid-April and mid-June 2022, the survey will be conducted by Dr, Damien Armenis, Cortexia’s founder and Managing Director and … Read More
Construction Sector Workforce Safety and Performance Linked to Shareholder Value
March 2, 2022The future of strategic human resource management in the construction industry will see the emergence of sustainable practices as a driver for improved employee safety and performance, which in turn will increase shareholder value. HRM leveraging change The Australian construction industry is poised to evolve over the next 5 to 10 years, with strategic … Read More
Human Factors Improves Outcomes in the Banking Industry
February 17, 2021What happens when a financial institution takes a traditional approach to risk, with the aim to eliminate or minimise human error with procedure laden controls and a focus on individuals’ actions? Unless the industry is highly stable with very little complexity involved, it can be like trying to fit a square peg into a round … Read More
How Psychological Flexibility Increases Safety and Performance in High-Reliability Industries
July 19, 2020What do financial traders, surgeons, miners, bankers, pit crew, pilots, and air traffic controllers all have in common? Their decisions often have life-impacting implications for themselves and others. Their roles are complex, high-risk, and require rapid decision-making under extreme pressure. To avoid catastrophe, they must manage the unexpected as efficiently, effectively, and safely as … Read More
Safety Leading Indicators
June 11, 2018Developing and Implementing a Safety Lead Indicator Program Organisations are increasingly moving towards an approach to safety that is proactive and predictive. For this to occur, a socio-technical systems approach to safety is often recommended. This involves considering all variables within the work environment and how they interact with one another (e.g., people, procedures, systems, … Read More