What We Do / Research and Evidence Base
Research and Evidence Base
Meet our Research Lead and on-the-road Volunteer, Shel Silva
Shel is the PhD Researcher for DocBike, a very keen motorcyclist who started riding at the age of 4 on a Honda z50r and became a motorcycle instructor the day she turned 21. She loves motorcycle touring, ‘track days’, loves learning generally and has multifarious qualifications!
Shel is highly qualified in Neuropsychology and is keen to explore how aspects of psychology may be applied to motorcycle injury prevention strategies.
Because research and evidence-base form the core of everything that the DocBike charity does, Shel’s appointment has demonstrated the commitment of the charity to share facts, not fiction with the motorcycling community. In evaluating the effectiveness of injury prevention measures, we can share with others across the UK and the world, what works in keeping bikers on two wheels and what doesn’t. Keep an eye out for her research – it’s going to be outstanding!
Shel thinks she has hit the jackpot with this research position for DocBike; and she is very keen to receive contact from any riders who may be interested in participating in motorcycle injury prevention research based at Bournemouth University.
Research Investigating Identification and Perception Risk of Motorcyclist and Car Drivers
Shel has a background in Psychology, already having attained a master’s degree. Prior to undertaking her PhD she also worked with difficult-to-engage-with individuals, trying to encourage them to take up further education. Shel has been riding motorcycles since the age of 4 and there’s little about bikes that she doesn’t know. Her passion for motorcycles, motorcyclists and preventing them from coming to harm through her research has to be seen to be believed…. It’s phenomenal. We’re really lucky to have Shel and the PhD studentship in partnership with Bournemouth University. This is just the start of the research journey for the charity; but it’s a start we’re really proud of and one that we hope will bring some great results early on.
Shel Silva, our DocBike researcher, has undertaken research investigating the identification and perception of risk for both motorcyclists and car drivers. To investigate identification of risk, participants used an Eye-Tracker at Bournemouth University. In order to investigate perception towards risk, participants completed two short questionnaires. In addition, motorcyclist participants completed a 1:1 interview to talk about motorcycling.
You may question why car drivers have been involved with this research; especially because DocBike is a motorcycle charity. Put simply, we need to learn more about how both motorcyclists and car drivers interact with the road. Indeed, although DocBike is set up for motorcyclists by motorcyclists, we also realise that there are many different vehicles using the road, and if we can better understand how humans behave when driving other vehicles, then it might help inform how we can save bikers’ lives.
Want to find out more about Shel’s research?
Shel was interviewed by BBC South Today regarding her PhD research work, which has found that there are differences in motorcyclists’ and car drivers’ visual attention, because they may be viewing completely different things, despite being on the same stretch of road. This fantastic research project has been jointly funded by DocBike and Bournemouth University. You can watch the interview below, which was filmed in January 2022.