Show your working. On the real thing.
ErgoSphere is free while you are enrolled in a Human Factors course. Not a trial and not a cut-down teaching edition: the same Windows build practitioners licence at $4,900 a seat, with all 53 tools, and the project, registers, compliance and deliverables modules that turn them into a programme. Send us evidence that you are enrolled, and we send you a licence key.
Read by a person, not a script. Usually answered within two business days.
Same posture, same method, same answer. The worksheet gives you a 2. ErgoSphere shows you where the 2 came from, bands it, recommends what to do next, and writes the report - which is what your marker wants now, and what your client will want later.
The full build. Nothing removed.
An educational version usually means the useful parts have been taken out, so you learn on something you will never see again. This one is the shipping application, byte for byte. The only difference is what you are allowed to use it for.
Included in every student licence
- All 53 tools - the 37 published methods and the 16 ErgoSphere Originals
- Method guides built in - what each method is, when it applies, how to run it, and the literature it comes from
- Task Analysis, Physical, Cognitive, Human Reliability, Usability & Risk, and Systems families
- Project Management, Compliance, Registers and Deliverables modules
- Report generation - the same report engine, so you hand in a document, not a screenshot
- Export interactive .ergview files your supervisor can open free
- Runs locally on Windows 10 and 11 - no cloud account, no campus VPN; the licence just checks in online about once a week
- Every update released while your licence is active
- Renewable each academic year for as long as you are enrolled
- Support by email, same queue as everyone else
Where the line sits
The educational licence is for learning and for your own academic work. It is not a free seat for paid work, and we are direct about that because it is the whole basis of the offer.
- Coursework, assignments, dissertations, theses, research and your own practice: yes. Use it for anything you are being assessed on or publishing academically.
- Commercial or paid work: no. Client deliverables, consulting, contract work, a paid placement or anything you invoice for needs a standard seat. If your placement employer wants one, put them in touch.
- The licence is issued to you personally and is not transferable. Do not share the key with your cohort - send them here instead, they will get their own.
- It is tied to your enrolment. When the term of the licence ends you re-confirm you are still studying, and it rolls over. When you finish, it stops.
Every method, explained in place
The reading list is in the app
Every one of the 53 tools ships with its own guide: what the method is, where it came from, when it applies and when it does not, how to run it properly, its known limitations, and the source literature behind it.
You are not guessing at what SHERPA expects, or hunting a 1986 paper through a library proxy at midnight. The method, the worked example and the references sit next to the assessment you are running.
Decompose once, reuse everywhere
Build the task hierarchy once and it feeds the reliability and workload assessments without re-keying it. That is the part a spreadsheet cannot teach you, and the part that decides whether an analysis holds together.
Graduating having actually run THERP, SHERPA, CWA and FRAM on a real project file is a different conversation in an interview to having read about them.
Three questions. Answer them honestly.
There is no committee and no minimum grade. If all three are true, apply.
Tick the ones that are true
Apply nowFour steps, one of them yours
Send your evidence
Fill in the form below and attach your student ID and enrolment proof. It takes about two minutes.
A person reads it
No automated domain check. We look at what you sent, and we will email you if something does not add up rather than silently rejecting you.
Your key arrives
Emailed to your university address with the download link and setup instructions. Usually within two business days.
Renew each year
Re-confirm you are still enrolled and the licence rolls over. One reply to one email.
Build your verification dossier
Everything here goes to one inbox at Ergonomics Engineered and nowhere else. Your documents are used to confirm you are enrolled, then deleted. We keep your name, institution, course and email so we can issue and renew the licence.
What you are agreeing to
In plain terms, so you can read it in a minute. The full End User Licence Agreement applies as well, and it governs if the two ever disagree.
The licence is free, and it is a licence
You are granted the right to use ErgoSphere, not ownership of it. No fee is charged and none becomes payable while the educational licence is in force.
It is issued to you, personally
Named to one person, tied to your enrolment, and not transferable. You may not share, sell, sublicence or pass on your key. If your cohort wants licences, send them to this page.
Study and research only
Coursework, assignments, dissertations, theses, academic research and your own skills practice are all permitted. Commercial use is not: no client work, no consulting, no contract or paid work, no deliverables you are compensated for, whether you are paid in money or in kind.
It runs for your academic year
The licence is issued for a fixed term and renews on request while you remain enrolled and the programme remains open. We will ask you to re-confirm your enrolment before each renewal. When you stop studying, the educational licence ends.
The programme can close; your licence cannot be cut short
We expect to run this programme indefinitely, but we are a small business and reserve the right to pause, cap or close it to new applications at any time. Two things hold regardless: any licence already issued runs its full term - we will never end a student's licence early because the programme changed - and any closure applies to everyone equally, never to individuals.
Your evidence is used once, then deleted
Your student ID and enrolment documents are used to verify you and are then destroyed. We retain your name, institution, course, expected completion and email address for as long as you hold a licence, so we can issue and renew it. See the privacy policy.
Honest applications only
Submitting false or altered evidence voids the licence immediately and permanently. This offer works because it is verified against a real, named person at a real institution.
Same software, same support, no warranty of results
You get the full application and email support. ErgoSphere is a tool for qualified analysis, not a substitute for competent judgement - the outputs are yours, and so is professional responsibility for them.
We can decline or withdraw
We may decline an application, or withdraw a licence that is being used outside these terms. If we decline, we will tell you why.
The ones people ask
Is it actually free, or free-then-billed?
Free. There is no card, no trial clock and no invoice at the end. You will not be moved onto a paid plan without asking for it. The licence simply ends when you stop being a student, and we will tell you before it does.
Why would you give this away?
Two reasons, and the second one is the honest one.
The first: the people learning Human Factors now are the people specifying tools in five years. We would rather you learned the trade on ErgoSphere than on a spreadsheet you will have to unlearn.
The second: we need you. There is no other platform that puts all 53 of these tools in one project file, which sounds like a boast until you realise it also means there is nobody who has walked this ground before us. ErgoSphere is early. It is good, and it is going to have rough edges we have not found yet, because a handful of us cannot run every method against every kind of project the way a few hundred students can.
So use it hard. Push it into corners we did not think of. When something breaks, reads wrong, or makes you go "that is not how this method works" - tell us, and we will fix it. You get the full toolkit for nothing; we get the thing tested by people who are reading the source literature this week. We are all learning together - and in a few years, when you are the one deciding what your team runs on, your success really will be our success.
What happens when I graduate?
The educational licence ends with your enrolment. Your project files remain yours and stay on your machine - they are local files, we never held them. If your new employer wants a seat, tell them; if you go on to further study, renew instead.
Can I use it for my dissertation or thesis?
Yes. Dissertations, theses, conference papers and journal articles are all fine, including work you publish. We would appreciate a citation of the tool, and we would like to read it.
What about a placement, internship or part-time job?
If you are being paid, or the output goes to a client, that is commercial use and it needs a standard seat - even if you are still a student. This is the one line we ask you not to blur. Put your employer in touch and we will sort out a seat for them.
My university already teaches with ErgoSphere.
Then you are already covered - ask your course coordinator for the cohort licence rather than applying here. If they have not set one up, institutional licences are free too, and pointing them at that page is doing your whole cohort a favour.
Do I need a particular computer?
ErgoSphere is a native Windows 10 and 11 desktop application. Day to day it needs no connection - assessments, files and reports are all local, so it works on a locked-down campus machine or a laptop on a train. The licence revalidates its key online about once a week, which any normal connection covers. There is no macOS or Linux build.
What do you do with my student ID?
One person looks at it, confirms you are who you say you are, and deletes it. It is not stored, indexed, shared with anyone or used for anything else. Black out your student number and date of birth before you send it - we do not need them.
Why do you want my LinkedIn?
It is optional. It makes verification quicker when a course name is ambiguous, and it means we can stay in touch after you graduate - which, honestly, is the part we are hoping for. Leave it blank if you would rather not.
Can I put ErgoSphere on my CV?
Please do. You will have run the same methods, in the same application, that practitioners use on live projects. Say which methods you ran and on what - that is the part an interviewer will follow up on.
Teaching the course rather than taking it? Institutional licences cover your whole cohort in one application, and they are free as well.
