PhD student in traffic safety with a focus on data analysis and traffic simulation

Lund University was founded in 1666 and is repeatedly ranked as one of the world's leading academic institutions. Here, there are approximately 46,000 students and 8,500 employees in Lund, Helsingborg, and Malmö. We are united in our endeavor to understand, explain, and improve our world and human conditions.

Lund University welcomes applicants with different backgrounds and experiences. Equality, equal opportunities, and diversity are fundamental principles for all parts of our operations.

Description of the operations

Traffic and Road offers a unique and open environment for advanced research in traffic safety and behavior. The group consists of five senior researchers (postdocs and university lecturers) as well as two PhD students. The group also has access to a traffic simulation laboratory with an advanced driving simulator. The group has several ongoing research projects in the field of traffic safety, both at the European and national levels.

As a PhD student, you will contribute to research aimed at increasing understanding of and preventing road traffic accidents and personal injuries. You will work closely with senior researchers while developing your own independent research profile. The employment offers opportunities for interdisciplinary and international collaboration, participation in scientific conferences, and research visits when relevant to the project.

Being a PhD student

As a PhD student, you are both admitted as a student and employed at Lund University.

As a doctoral researcher, you are trained in a scientific approach. This can be briefly described as gaining practice in thinking critically and analytically, solving problems independently with the help of correct methodological choices, and gaining research ethics awareness. Additionally, as a PhD student, you are given the opportunity to work with projects, to develop your leadership skills, and your pedagogical ability. Throughout your period of study, you will be guided by supervisors. The doctoral studies conclude with a dissertation and a doctoral degree.

More about being a PhD student at LTH at lth.se.

Subject description

The doctoral project concerns the development and application of quantitative methods for traffic safety analysis. The research will combine empirical accident and traffic data with statistical modeling, machine learning, as well as traffic or driving simulation to study accident occurrence, the severity of injuries, and road user behavior.

Special attention may be directed towards variations between different road user groups and traffic environments, interpretation and validation of predictive models, as well as the traffic safety effects of infrastructural measures or policy interventions. The exact research questions and the trade-off between different methods will be developed together with the PhD student based on the project's data, research infrastructure, and collaborations. The work is expected to result in both scientific contributions and knowledge relevant to practical traffic safety work and decision-making within the traffic safety field.

Tasks

Primarily, you will devote yourself to your doctoral training, which includes both participation in research projects as well as doctoral training courses, seminars, and conferences. You will plan and conduct research studies with gradually increasing independence, in collaboration with the supervisory group and the project's partners.

The tasks include:

• Conducting literature reviews and synthesizing research on traffic safety, accident analysis, road user behavior, and relevant modeling methods.
• Collecting, documenting, quality-assuring, and analyzing data on accidents, traffic, infrastructure, road user behaviors, and simulations in accordance with requirements for research ethics and data management.
• Developing, implementing, comparing, and validating quantitative models, which may include statistical, econometric, machine learning-based, and simulation-based methods.
• Interpreting results in relation to traffic safety theory, human behavior, and practical decision-making, including considering uncertainties, bias, and the limitations of the methods.
• Writing scientific articles and a doctoral dissertation, as well as presenting research results at seminars, conferences, and meetings with the project's partners.
• Contributing to the group's research environment and collaborative culture and, when relevant, conducting research visits or participating in field and laboratory work.
• The tasks may also include participation in teaching and other departmental work (however, a maximum of 20% of the working time).

Qualifications

To be admitted and employed as a PhD student, you need to meet the requirements below.

Eligibility requirements

You meet the basic eligibility for education at the doctoral level if you have:

• a degree at an advanced level or
• completed course requirements of at least 240 higher education credits, of which at least 60 higher education credits are at an advanced level or
• in some other way acquired knowledge mainly corresponding to this.

Special eligibility for Engineering and Society is met if you have:

• 30 higher education credits at an advanced level with relevance to the subject area.

Other requirements

To undertake the current doctoral training, the following are also required:

• Master's degree or equivalent in transport engineering, road and water construction, traffic engineering, applied statistics, computer science, informatics, or another area relevant to the project.
• Completed course at an advanced level or thesis involving quantitative analysis of transport, traffic safety, mobility, or comparable complex empirical data.
• Experience with programming languages or statistical analysis environments, such as Python, R, MATLAB, or equivalent tools, for data processing and analysis.
• Good ability to work independently, formulate research questions, and choose appropriate methods.
• Good written and oral communication skills, including the ability to communicate methods and results in a clear manner.
• Good ability to collaborate in interdisciplinary and international research environments.
• Very good knowledge of English, both oral and written.

Read the full advertisement and how to apply on the Lund University website: https://lu.varbi.com/what:job/jobID:970477/.