(part of ‘Developing a safer and smarter transport system through advances in automation and intelligent mobility, mini-CDT’)

The Project: The vision of future transport is increasingly based on the concept of Intelligent Mobility (IM) where the connected capabilities of partially and fully autonomous vehicles, road infrastructure and traffic management systems place people and goods at the heart of the transport system. Together, road accidents and congestion cost the UK £50 billion a year. New intelligent technologies could deliver a step change in safety and mobility but they bring many research challenges. This mini-CDT will focus on five strategically selected areas of research in particular:

(1)    Systems of systems architecture

(2)    Safe and smart mobility

(3)    Connected vehicle technologies

(4)    Smart highways

(5)    Human factors

Aim/objectives:

Collisions on road transport network are a major cause of fatalities claiming 1.3 million lives worldwide in 2011. Safety has therefore always been a top priority for the government and the vehicle industry. Rapidly ageing highway infrastructure is compromising our safety, promoting congestion and forfeiting efficiency. New intelligent transport technologies could deliver a step change in safety but they bring many research challenges. This PhD project will develop a range of transformational methods to evaluate the impact of various infrastructure-based transport technologies (e.g. V2I communication, hard-shoulder running, interactive lighting, new generation of smart motorways) on safety.

The Position

This PhD will be based within the School of Civil and Building Engineering in collaboration with the Loughborough Design School. The studentship is for three years and is intended to start in October 2015. The studentship provides a stipend of £13,863 per annum plus tuition fees at the UK/EU rate (currently £3,996 p.a.) for up to three years. International (non-EU) students may apply but will need to find the difference in fees between those for a ‘UK/EU’ and ‘international’ student themselves. Non-UK applicants must meet the minimum English language requirements, details available here:http://www.lboro.ac.uk/international/englang/index.htm

The studentship is open to graduates from disciplines including Civil Engineering, Systems Engineering, Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Computer Science and Statistics, who are interested in autonomous transport systems, data fusion and statistical modelling. The minimum entry qualification is a 2.1 Honours degree or equivalent. Please add this outline proposal to your application.

For an informal discussion, please contact Prof Quddus on 01509 228545 or emailm.aquddus<στο>lboro.ac.uk

For enquiries about the application process, please email pgr.civil<στο>lboro.ac.uk

To apply, please complete the online application using the following link:https://luis.lboro.ac.uk/web_apx/f?p=100:1

The closing date for applications is 31 March 2015

Interviews will take place week commencing 20 April 2015

Please quote the following reference when applying: GS15CBE2/M4