About the Council
The PhD-council is the bridge between the PhD-students and the TRAIL-management. We act as an advisory board for the TRAIL-management regarding the TRAIL strategy, the course program and the TRAIL congress. Moreover, we organize PhD activities or social events every now and then for you to socialize or network with your peers.
If you have any questions, suggestions, ideas, problems or complaints, you can contact us by email or in person. And don’t forget to become a member of the TRAIL Members group on LinkedIn!
(in alphabetical order)
Research Topic:
A majority of land use and transport policies aim to improve accessibility and road safety as separate goals but they fail a balanced treatment of accessibility and road safety concerns. The findings of this study may inform policies in which different externalities are optimized so that accessibility and road safety can both be improved along with other important issues such as public health, built environment designs, and the public life satisfaction. During my PhD studies, I am focusing on the shortcomings of the current transport and land use policy analysis measure (i.e., Accessibility analysis). The “Accessibility and Road Safety” Project is a collaboration with SWOV, the road safety research institute in the Netherlands. This research will comprise a spatial analysis of the impacts of built environment characteristics on road safety and accessibility. Also, I will examine how people trade-off between road safety and accessibility in their transport-related choices. Thereafter, as an attempt to better incorporate road safety in accessibility analysis we will develop accessibility models which incorporate road safety effects.
Background and interests:
I am graduated in Socioeconomic Systems Engineering- Transportation Planning (MSc.) and Industrial Engineering (BSc.). My research interests encompass combinations of different systems and I am willing to collect and analyze data to explore the interactions between individuals and transportation system components. In my spare time, I enjoy going gym, doing watercolor painting, gardening, and baking.
Research topic:
In my Ph.D. project, I study robotized warehouses. Order picking – the process of retrieving products from storage to fulfill a specific customer request – is the most costly operation among others in warehouses. Advances in technologies have created many possibilities for companies to automate various parts of the order picking process. The evolution of automated guided vehicles (AGV) into autonomous mobile robots (AMR) is a major development in technologies that can improve the efficiency of material handling systems. In my Ph.D. project, I focus on systems in which robots collaborate with a human picker to pick the orders and reduce pickers’ unproductive walking time.
Background and interest:
I studied Industrial Engineering (B.Sc. and M.Sc.) at the Ferdowsi University and the Tarbiat Modares University of Iran. I started my Ph.D. in September 2020 at the Rotterdam School of Management. My main research interests are modeling (mathematical or queueing) and optimizing supply chains and material handling systems. In my free time, I play futsal and video games.
I’m José Ignacio Hernández, a Chilean PhD candidate at the Delft University of Technology. My background and training is in environmental and resource economics, and in my PhD research I’m exploring the potential of data-driven methods / machine-learning to obtain insights from complex choice experiments, particularly with Participatory Value Evaluation, a novel method to elicit the citizen preferences for allocating resources in public policy options. Before starting my PhD, I made research on non-market valuation and consumer preferences, with applications in water demand, conservation areas and climate change.
Beside my researcher persona, I’m an amateur photographer, drummer, self-trained (i.e. internet-trained) baker, foodie and (specialty) coffee enthusiast.
Research Topic:
Efficient and safe use of road space in cities is crucial for reducing congestion and improving mobility. However, vehicle movement in urban areas involves intricate two-dimensional interaction, which are not sufficiently accounted for in current traffic models yet. As such, my PhD research is investigating how humans communicate with and react to each other while driving in cities, and furthering our understanding of human perception and use of road space. Ultimately, the aim of my research is to answer how we can improve the coordination of vehicles in urban traffic to achieve more efficient and safe use of the shared road space. This will help enhance traffic safety, promote efficiency, and gain more understanding of human driving behaviour.
Background and interests:
My research interests are in interactive behaviour and collective intelligence, with a current focus on urban mobility. Prior to joining TU Delft, I obtained my Bachelor’s degree in Industrial Engineering from Northeastern University (CN) in 2018 and Master’s degree in Management Science and Engineering from Harbin Institute of Technology in 2020. In my spare time, I enjoy painting, reading, and paper folding.
Research topic:
Transit Oriented Development (“TOD”) is often hailed as a planning approach that enables dense, diverse, walkable and sustainable urban communities. However, recent experience and research have revealed challenges and drawbacks that damage social justice, such as gentrification, loss of affordable housing and domination of certain stakeholders. In my PhD project, I aim to analyse social justice within TODs comprehensively. Stating with building an analytical framework from relevant theories, I plan to examine the subject from both the supply-side (the government, planners, developers) and demand-side (the residents in a TOD), tentatively comparing between Hong Kong and the Netherlands. Through my research, I hope to shed light on how we may build socially just TODs for all.
Background and interests:
Born, grew up and studied in Hong Kong, I worked in the public sector and completed my Master’s in transport policy and planning before pursuing a PhD in the Netherlands. I enjoy cooking, baking and watercolour painting. If time permits, I also enjoy some (light) gardening and woodworking.
Research topic:
Understanding citizens’ need and their decision mechanisms helps policy makers to advocate soft interventions in line with policies and plans’ objectives. In this manner, not only the gradual move towards a sustainable urban environment but also quality of life and people’s travel satisfaction can be guaranteed. My PhD project primarily focuses on examining consumer acceptance of e-bikes from the perspective of household portfolios of transportation modes under new marketing and environmental conditions through a stated choice experiment. Studies such as the current one can provide policy recommendations in order to keep the active modes sufficiently attractive and competitive in the market.
Background and interest:
After receiving my Master degree in Urban and Rural Planning from Beijing Jiaotong University, currently I’m a Ph.D. Candidate in the Urban Planning and Transportation Group of the Eindhoven University of Technology. My research interests include the areas of smart mobility, healthy cities and activity-travel behavior. In my spare time, I like photography, playing violin and various sports like tennis, horseback riding, swimming and fencing.
Research topic:
In my PhD project I focus on the interactions between government and citizens in the decision-making process surrounding sustainable mobility. Aiming to deal with climate change and ever-growing populations of our cities, there is a need for mobility and transport systems to become more sustainable. However, formulating sustainable mobility policies is not easy; decision-makers, innovators, and citizens deal with many uncertainties in terms of future (inter)national guidelines, new technologies, and shifting public opinion. Within the On the Move program different kinds of these uncertainties are investigated, with my research focusing on structuring the interactions between government policy-makers and their citizens. Delving into methods of participative planning, I aim to investigate how the decision-making process can be structured so that robust and effective sustainable mobility policies can be achieved with the support of local communities.
Background and interest:
During my Bachelors in Psychology and Masters in Behavioral Science at the Radboud University Nijmegen, the intersection between human behavior and technology captured my interest. Branching out to the realm of technological design, I completed a PDEng traineeship (Smart Buildings & Cities) at Eindhoven University of Technology. In my free time I enjoy many kinds of games and puzzles, pictures of alpacas, and movies featuring Brad Pitt.
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