Associate Professor in Driver Behaviour

Information about the research group
The researchers in the Accident Prevention group within the Vehicle Safety Division (Department of Applied Mechanics) conduct world-leading research on topics ranging from normal driving behaviour to the events leading to on-road crashes and incidents. Additional research addresses the development of methods to assess the safety impact of in-vehicle active safety systems. Much of our current research involves the analysis of quantitative data collected naturalistically. That is, data collected by road users in their daily routines. These data and their analysis is often used as a basis for controlled experiments, mathematical simulations and driver modelling. 

The research group has strong ties to the Swedish automotive industry and participate in national and international projects (EU, US and Japan). The division is physically located at the SAFER Vehicle and Traffic Safety Centre at Chalmers and utilizes this central positioning to collaborate with the resources of other SAFER partners. SAFER's partners include prominent Swedish Universities, research institutes, government agencies, and supporting industries. In addition to a multidisciplinary network on traffic safety, the SAFER centre enables access to advanced driving simulators and full scale vehicle testing environments.  Examples of relevant research projects include the Drive-me (autonomous vehicles), U-Drive (EU NDS), and QUADRAE (driver modelling) projects.

We are expanding our teaching beyond our current activities in Automotive Engineering at Chalmers University on both the technical and behavioral aspects of traffic safety and active safety systems. Student projects at the Master's and Doctoral level are also conducted in the Accident Prevention research group.

Major responsibilities
The successful candidate will apply their expertise of theories and models of road user behaviour to attract new research activities and PhD students to the division. Working with the other researchers in the Accident Prevention group, the candidate will be expected to conduct research projects that develop quantitative models of driver behaviour during normal and critical driving conditions. This work will address the development of new active safety systems and support the transition of autonomous driving in real-traffic. Chalmers is at the forefront of research activities dealing with integrated analyses of driver behaviour using complementary methods such as analysis of naturalistic road user data, controlled experiments (e.g. driving simulators and experiments on test tracks), epidemiology, and mathematical modeling and simulation.  The Associate Professor is expected to expand the existing research network for developing models of driver behaviour using the internal resources at Chalmers, the SAFER partners, and their own personal contacts. This collaborative approach is imperative to make Chalmers and SAFER an attractive research partner.

Position summary
Full-time permanent position.

Qualifications
The position of associate professor requires a doctoral degree in Engineering with demonstrated expertise in road user behaviour research, as well as at least 15 higher education credits in teaching and learning in higher education or corresponding expertise. You must be accustomed to teaching and be a skilled educator. For this reason, we place a great deal of emphasis on your pedagogical portfolio. Experience from performing academic research or qualified research in industry/the public sector is meritorious.

The candidate must be capable of quantitative analyses of time-series data from different data sources (field and controlled experiments). Experience in computer based analysis resources (e.g. Matlab, Excel, SPSS, SAS, R) is crucial. Recognized leadership and academic performance such as awards, nominations, and similar peer acknowledgements are meritorious.

The position's level will primarily be determined on the basis of your scientific qualifications. The position of associate professor requires, for example, scientific expertise that is considerably higher than that required for a doctoral degree (corresponding to admission as docent).

Regardless of the level, the position requires sound verbal and written communication skills in Swedish and English. If Swedish is not your native language, you must be able to teach in Swedish on undergraduate level after two years. Chalmers offers Swedish courses.

Chalmers continuously strives to be an attractive employer. Equality and diversity are substantial foundations in all activities at Chalmers.

Application procedure
The application should be marked with Ref 20160279 and written in English. The application should be sent electronically via Chalmers webpage.


Application deadline: 15 December 2016

For questions, please contact:
Robert Thomson,
Vehicle Safety
robert.thomson@chalmers.se

*** Chalmers declines to consider all offers of further announcement publishing or other types of support for the recruiting process in connection with this position. ***