PhD student position in Design: Co-creating future mobility solutions

Do you want to contribute to making urban mobility more sustainable and better suited to citizens' needs?
At the Division of Design & Human Factors we seek a PhD candidate to join our research team "Sustainable Urban Mobility" to explore solutions to enable people to move around cities in a more sustainable way.

Project description
The position is tied to the EU project SUM - SEAMLESS SHARED URBAN MOBILITY. In the project, a number of different solutions for sustainable urban mobility will be designed, implemented in real-life conditions and evaluated. In particular you will work with autonomous electrical ferries and if, and how, they can enable a mode change from cars to active and shared mobility such as walking, cycling and other forms of micromobility. In the transformation of mobility in cities there are a large number of stakeholders and therefor co-creation becomes an important design tool to develop solutions that fits all stakeholders.

Information about the division and the department
The Division of Design & Human Factors at the Industrial and Materials Science Department at Chalmers develops knowledge about the relationship between humans and artefacts. We also develop methods and tools that can be used to study the relationship between human–artefact, as well as for designing and evaluating safe, sustainable and satisfying products, services and workplaces. We have developed our expertise since mid 1970s, and we continuously use it to educate future engineers with a user-centred perspective and to conduct high-quality research in close collaboration with industrial and public partners resulting in innovations with real-world impact. One of our research themes at the division is Circularity and Sustainable Product Use, where we explore how to enable people to live in sustainable ways by designing appropriate products and services.

Major responsibilities
Your main responsibility in the position is to carry out design-oriented research and communicate the results, both in scientific publications and to industry and public. The research will involve planning, conducting and analysing different kinds of studies with different forms of stakeholders, both citizens and commercial actors. The position requires you to contact and interact with many stakeholders - so social skills and tenacity are valuable qualities.

You will also be expected to:
- Be an active and contributing member of the research group
- Attend division and project meetings and conferences
- Take PhD courses as part of the Doctoral Programme "Human-Technology-Design"
- Teach (20% of total work time) at bachelor and/or master level and supervise thesis students.

Qualifications
To qualify as a PhD student, you must have a Master's degree corresponding to at least 240 higher education credits in design, industrial design, product development, architecture, urban planning or equivalent, or a Bachelor degree in design combined with a Master in a topic relevant for the position. You should have experience of working with design methodology and in particular user studies. A genuine interest in sustainability, mobility solutions, and urban planning is meritorious. You must have obtained a master's degree (or equivalent) in the relevant field or expect to complete such degree by the time the employment starts.

You are expected to conduct empirical research as primary activity, foremost by applying a qualitative research approach in close interaction with citizens and other stakeholders. Research results are expected to be disseminated through interactions with professionals as well as through publications in highly ranked journals within the subject area which require good writing and communication skills. Other merits include working experience from industry, collaboration, and management of relationships with stakeholders and project management.

The position requires sound verbal and written communication skills in English. If Swedish is not your native language, Chalmers offers Swedish courses.

Contract terms
Full-time temporary employment. The position is limited to a maximum of five years.

We offer
Chalmers offers a cultivating and inspiring working environment in the coastal city of Gothenburg. 
Read more about working at Chalmers and our benefits for employees.

Chalmers aims to actively improve our gender balance. We work broadly with equality projects, for example the GENIE Initiative on gender equality for excellence. Equality and diversity are substantial foundations in all activities at Chalmers.

Application procedure
The application should be marked with Ref 20230151 and written in English. The application should be sent electronically and be attached as PDF-files, as below. Maximum size for each file is 40 MB. Please note that the system does not support Zip files.

CV: (Please name the document: CV, Family name, Ref. number)
• CV
• Other, for example previous employments or leadership qualifications and positions of trust.
• Two references that we can contact.

Personal letter: (Please name the document as: Personal letter, Family name, Ref. number)
1-3 pages where you:
• Introduce yourself
• Describe your previous experience of relevance for the position (e.g. education, thesis work and, if applicable, any other research activities)
• Describe your future goals and future research focus

Other documents:
• Copies of bachelor and/or master’s thesis.
• Attested copies and transcripts of completed education, grades and other certificates, e.g. TOEFL test results.

Please use the button at the foot of the page to reach the application form. 

Application deadline: April 15, 2023

For questions, please contact:
Pontus Wallgren
Head of division Design & Human Factors
Email: pontus.wallgren@chalmers.se
Phone: +46-31 772 13 97

Helena Strömberg
Design & Human Factors,
Emai: helena.stromberg@chalmers.se
Phone: +46-31 772 10 47