Postgraduate Research Associate (PhD position) in transport simulation and analysis / Reference Code 03

The Department of Landscape, Spatial and Infrastructure Sciences, Institute for Transport Studies at BOKU University is currently seeking a Postgraduate Research Associate in transport simulation and analysis.

Extent of employment: 30 h/week
Duration of employment: 1st of May 2023, limited to 30th of April 2027

Gross monthly salary and pay grade in terms of collective agreement for university staff (payable 14 times per year): B1, € 2.458,00

The researcher will be part of the core team of a research group which aims to identify and analyse the impacts for digitalised and automated mobilities, co-sponsored by the Austrian Federal Ministry for Climate Action, Environment, Energy, Mobility, Innovation and Technology (BMK)

The researcher will contribute to establishing an activity-based transport simulation for assessing the individual and system level impacts of transport policy measures and digitalisation and automation developments in the greater Vienna region. One focus of this work is to investigate how automated public transportation and micromobility impact the existing transport and mobility system

The researcher will have opportunity to develop themself and expertise within the research group and the research institute in the field of transport demand analysis, behavioural and choice modelling, and will actively engage with relevant local stakeholders

Responsibilities

• Participation in the development of a simulation model to investigate mobility behavior including new mobility services (e.g. micro-mobility) in the greater Vienna area
• Cooperation with national experts regarding traffic simulation/modeling, data exchange and knowledge transfer
• Participation in ongoing research projects and acquisition of new research projects at the institute
• Writing scientific publications and publishing the results in specialist journals as well as active participation in (inter)national conferences
• Writing a cumulative dissertation in the research area of the institute is desired
• Participation in teaching and independent implementation of courses in transport
• Participation in the organizational and administrative tasks of the institute

Required skills and qualifications:

• Diploma degree in Civil Engineering and Water Management, Transportation or Civil Engineering, (Technical) Physics, Computer Science, Urban or Spatial Planning, Environmental and Bioresource Management, Geodesy and Geoinformation or other equivalent university degree
• Very good knowledge of spoken and written English
• Very good knowledge of German or the willingness to learn sufficient German in the first year to conduct courses in German
• Experience/training in (multi-agent or transport or related) computer simulation
• Object oriented programming skills (preferably Java)
• Experience with relevant scientific software packages (e.g. scripting languages, GIS systems, MATLAB, etc.)
• Interest in mobility behaviour and transportation

Desired skills and qualifications

• Proven ability to write and publish high quality scientific papers
• Experience with common traffic simulation software (e.g. MATSim, SUMO, Visum, Aimsun, etc.) is a strong merit
• Experience with mainstream transport planning models (e.g. Visum, Emme, etc.) is also an advantage
• Experience with large GPS datasets, survey design, and appropriate data collection methods
• Extended technical skill set (e.g. version control and deployment tools, databases/SQL, high performance computing, etc.) is a plus
• Willingness to teach as well as didactical training
• Ability to self-organize and take responsibility for the performance of tasks

University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences Vienna seeks to increase the number of its female faculty and staff members. Therefore qualified women are strongly encouraged to apply. In case of equal qualification, female candidates will be given preference unless reasons specific to an individual male candidate tilt the balance in his favour.

People with disabilities and appropriate qualifications are specifically encouraged to apply.

Please send your job application incl.

• motivation letter
• CV
• copy of degree certificates
• description (max. 1 page) of programming experience in the past
• description (max. 1 page) of transport engineering/modelling experience in the past

to Personnel Management, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Peter-Jordan-Straße 70, 1190 Vienna; E-Mail: kerstin.buchmueller@boku.ac.at. (Reference code: 02)

We regret that we cannot reimburse applicants travel and lodging expenses incurred as part of the selection and hiring process.

www.boku.ac.at