PhD-Scholarship in Network Optimisation for Connected, Cooperative and Automated Mobility (CCAM) Development

DTU Management’s Transportation Systems Modelling section would like to invite applications for a 3-year PhD position starting on 1 October 2024 or earlier. The successful candidate will join the section under the supervision of Asst. Prof. Guido Cantelmo, Associate Prof. Jesper Bláfoss Ingvardson, and Associate Prof. Yu Jiang.

The candidate will contribute to the CulturalRoad project, funded by the European Commission. We are looking for excellent applicants with a strong background in Transport, Operation Research, Applied Mathematics, Transport Engineering, and/or Computer Science with an ambition for excellence and experience working with mathematical modelling and programming.

Project Background

With the increasing transport demand, traffic pressure on existing infrastructure has grown significantly; a trend that is unlikely to change significantly as transportation links with economic growth. Unfortunately, the transport sector also generates several negative externalities, and it is one of the few economic sectors that have not seen a significant decline in emissions. Accordingly, the European Commission indicated CCAM as a strategic asset to meet the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) set by the United Nations and reduce negative environmental impacts on the environment. CCAM is not only expected to be more efficient than conventional mobility solutions (e.g. conventional vehicles) but also allows the development of entirely new mobility services, such as autonomous on-demand responsive transport (DRT), that can serve different typologies of users and completely revolutionise our mobility ecosystems. 

In such a context, the PhD project is established to develop algorithms able to optimize routing and scheduling of mixed CCAM fleets. The new algorithm will leverage semi-personalized incentives to make CCAM services more inclusive of all users. The ultimate goal is to develop an algorithm that can optimize CCAM services while also promoting equity in mobility. 

Responsibilities and qualifications

The project includes 18 partners from 10 different countries. You will work in an international environment and in close collaboration with scholars with expert knowledge within various aspects of the field and you will have the opportunity to engage with a variety of consortium partners, including mobility companies and municipalities. You will need to conduct case studies/experiments to validate the models and algorithm.

Your primary tasks will be:  

• Develop mathematical modelling and solution algorithms for routing and scheduling passenger transport using CCAM fleets
• Advance multimodal traffic assignment models to consider transport equity and multimodality
• Propose and investigate the use of semi-personalized travel incentives for improving public transport
• Conduct case studies to validate the models and algorithms
• Publish in high-impact journals and present your results at conferences
• Spend 6 months visiting one of our partner universities, in Europe or United States (the most suited partner will be decided together with the candidate during the first 6 months of the project). 

You will be rooted in the Transportation Systems Modelling section, a part of the Division of Transportation Science, DTU Management. The division also consists of research groups within transport demand, machine learning for smart mobility, transport economics and transport psychology. You will be part of an expanding group working on integrated urban mobility systems with other PhD students and staff in the division. 

Application procedure 

To apply, please read the full job advertisement, by clicking the 'Apply' button