Congratulations to the Eusebio Rial-González Innovation & Practice Award winners

The European Academy of Occupational Health Psychology (EAOHP) and the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work (EU-OSHA) are pleased to announce that Dr. Virpi Kalakoski, from the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health, and Dr. Johan Simonsen Abildgaard, from the Copenhagen Business School, have jointly been awarded the Eusebio Rial-González Innovation & Practice Award.

This biennial award honours the contribution to occupational health psychology of Eusebio (Seb) Rial González. Seb was a founding member of the EAOHP and head of EU-OSHA’s Prevention and Research Unit until his death in December 2014. The Award is open to any OHP researcher or practitioner who has produced a body of work that has made a considerable contribution to the field of occupational health psychology.

Dr. Virpi Kalakoski’s innovative and pioneering work as both a practitioner and researcher focusing on cognitive demands at work has had a substantial impact on identifying and addressing new risks for occupational health and safety in Finnish workplaces. Dr. Kalakoski has shown innovation to bring together multiple research views around cognitive psychology, ergonomics, and organizational and occupational psychology which describe empirical phenomena relevant to cognitively complex tasks in various work settings, with corresponding practices and guidelines.

Dr. Johan Simonsen Abildgaard’s work is underpinned by the participative approach to managing psychosocial risks in the workplace that draws on a strong research background led by him, in the form of conceptual and empirical papers that not only set out intervention design methodology but unpack the role of contextual and processual factors. These have led to numerous change and psychosocial interventions, with collaborations across academia and organizational contexts, and the development of several tools and guidance for the use of practitioners and organisations.

The Eusebio Rial-González Innovation & Practice Award will be formally presented at the 15th European Academy of Occupational Health Psychology Conference, taking place from 6-8 July 2022 in Bordeaux, France.