PhD Candidate (f/m) in Urban Mobility (HORIZON-MSCA-2023-DN-01-01 - WP4) - Ref: 25-21

The Luxembourg Institute of Socio-Economic Research (LISER)

is recruiting a

PhD Candidate (Master Degree, f/m) in Urban Mobility

Thesis title:
Beyond the concept of spatial accessibility: Conceptualizing and implementing ‘Hybrid accessibility’ measures to achieve sustainable mobility transitions in different mobility cultures

• Ref: 25-21
• 3 years (36 months) fixed-term employment contract at LISER
• Full-time, 40 hours/week
• Department: Urban development and Mobility (UDM)
• Work location: Belval (Luxembourg)
• Expected start date : between September 1st, 2025 and November 1st, 2025
• Deadline: 15th of June 2025 at midnight CET

TRANSFORM Project (“Urban Mobility Cultures in Transition: Socio-spatial implications of transformative practices”) is a Doctoral Network funded by Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (Horizon Europe Programme). TRANSFORM investigates the efficacy of transformative practices as mechanisms for initiating and consolidating transitions in urban mobility cultures, and analyses the resulting socio-spatial effects.

The successful applicant will be enrolled as a PhD Candidate at the University of Luxembourg, with an employment contract at LISER, and contribute to the work package 4 ‘‘Combined policies design promoting transformative practices’’ with the topic ‘’Beyond the concept of spatial accessibility: Conceptualizing and implementing ‘Hybrid accessibility’ measures to achieve sustainable mobility transitions in different mobility cultures’’. Only applicants who have not been residing in Luxembourg for more than 12 months in the last three years preceding the start date of the contract are eligible for this position.

About the Project TRANSFORM

TRANSFORM aims to break new academic ground by studying from a holistic, interdisciplinary, intersectoral, and gender-sensitive approach the meaning and functioning of transitions in urban mobility cultures, examining whether and to what extent transformative practices are effective mechanisms for activating and consolidating the transitions mentioned as well as the resulting socio-spatial effects. The project will recruit 13 doctoral candidates, aiming to pursue post-graduate studies towards the acquisition of a doctoral degree. The research program of these individual researchers will be integrated into a set of eight work packages that include the participation of 16 highly reputed European academic institutions and nine experienced non-academic organizations of relevance for urban mobility. The project will focus on training of a new generation of researchers through an innovative, comprehensive, interdisciplinary, and intersectoral doctoral program that includes: (i) academic training; (ii) non-academic training; (iii) transferable skills training; and (iv) specific and coordinated supervision and mentoring.

Your role

In this context, the successful candidate will have the following missions based on the main following objective: to establish a conceptual framework to integrate ‘’digital accessibility’’ within ‘‘physical accessibility’’ measures, resulting in “hybrid accessibility”. More precisely:

Objectives:

• • To understand the role of physical and digital accessibility in people’s daily activities and mobility ;
  • To operationalize ‘hybrid accessibility’ as a person-based accessibility measure ;
  • To test the usability of hybrid accessibility with practitioners.

Expected Results:

• • Development of ‘hybrid accessibility’ as a new concept in sustainable mobility research ;
  • Design of a measurement index of ‘hybrid accessibility’ to be used in practice ;
  • Insights into objective and perceived levels of ‘’hybrid accessibility’’ and the impact on an individual’s daily activities and mobility, differentiated by socio-economic status, gender and age in Schifflange (Luxembourg) and Madrid (Spain) based on a (map-based) questionnaire and activity diaries (N = 600 in each case study).

Duties:

• • Complete a research proposal, containing research objectives, description of research, methodology, proposed completion timeframe and originality of contribution ;
  • Participate in network-wide training events in the course of the project and complete any additional training required to successfully carry out the research proposal ;
  • Develop materials for TRANSFORM reporting and personal training requirements (e.g., personal career development plan; annual summaries of research findings) ;
  • Prepare and disseminate research findings, in academic journals and for relevant stakeholders ;
  • Prepare a manuscript for submission as a PhD thesis in accordance with the regulations of the University of Luxembourg.

Three secondments are foreseen within the framework of this position, and each one with a duration of approx. 2-3 months: (i) Universidad Politecnica de Madrid UPM (Spain), (ii) Research Centre for Territory, Transports and Environment, Faculty of Engineering UPORT-CITTA, Porto (Portugal), (iii) STRATEC (Belgium). The purpose of secondments are field visits, to prepare the conceptual framework, to develop mathematical model to include virtual accessibility in accessibility measures and to analyse how hybrid accessibility can be used and incorporated into planning practice.

The position involves working at Urban development and Mobility Department at LISER, and with the international TRANSFORM project team, publishing in international academic journals, and the regular presentation of papers at national and international conferences. More information on this and other TRANSFORM projects are available at https://www.transformresearch.eu

Your profile

• Master’s degree in Quantitative Geography / Transport or Civil engineering / Data Science / Psychology / Sociology / Health or Epidemiology / Urban Planning / or other relevant quantitative field ;
• Excellent knowledge and experience in regression analyses (SEM, multi-level, discrete choice behavior modeling…) based on statistical software (R, STATA or SAS) ;
• Excellent skills in GIS, Python is an asset ;
• Excellent communication and collaboration skills ;
• Excellent verbal communication and academic writing skills in English, any other language such as French, German, or Luxembourgish is considered as an asset ;
• Enthusiasm for research, critical thinking and working in an interdisciplinary and diverse team.

LISER particularly encourages female candidates to apply

What we offer

• A dynamic and international research environment with attractive working conditions and a stimulating work environment ;
• Flexibility in the organisation of the working hours and the possibility of teleworking ;
• Competitive remuneration according to the Collective Labour Agreement in force ;
• Investment in career support and development (trainings, seminars, participation to international meetings and conferences);
• 32.5 days of annual leave for a full-time contract.

How to apply

Please submit your complete application in English via https://jobs.liser.lu/jobs by including the following documents:

• Curriculum vitae ;
• Motivation letter ;
• Recent piece of research/reporting ;
• Copy of your Master diploma and transcripts;
• Two reference letters (to be uploaded with the application documents or sent separately to recruitment@liser.lu) or the applicant should provide the names of two individuals (referees) familiar with the applicant's professional qualifications

Deadline to submit applications: 15th of June 2025 at midnight CET

Early application is encouraged as the applications are processed upon reception.

All applications received before 15st of June 2025 will receive full consideration.

Would you have any work-related question, please contact Dr. Veronique Van Acker at veronique.vanacker@liser.lu and Dr. Philippe Gerber at philippe.gerber@liser.lu.

For administrative matters, please contact Mrs. Vanya Kirova at recruitment@liser.lu

Why LISER?

LISER is a publicly funded research institute located in Luxembourg and dedicated to applied empirical research in economic, social and spatial sciences. The Institute attracts top researchers from all over the world and high-level student training is a vibrant part of the Institute’s activities. LISER staff consists of approx. 200 employees, about 60% of the staff being researchers; mainly from the fields of economics, geography and sociology. The vision of the institute is to be a socio-economic research institute internationally recognised, focused on scientific excellence and societal impact, able to contribute through multi-disciplinary and intersectoral research, in an active and inclusive way to a sustainable and inclusive society at national and international level.

The institute is located on the new Belval campus in the south of Luxembourg (Cité des Sciences, Luxembourg), which hosts the University of Luxembourg and a substantial part of the country’s publicly funded research facilities, i.e. LISER, the Luxembourg Income Study (LIS) cross-national data centre, the Luxembourg institutes of Health (LIH) and of Science and Technology (LIST). Information on research in Luxembourg is accessible via the national EURAXESS platform.

LISER is strongly committed to gender parity, diversity and inclusion and is proud to be an equal opportunities Employer. We welcome applications from all qualified candidates of any background.