INFUZE: Evaluating new mobility systems

One full scholarship is available at the Institute for Transport Studies in 2025/26. This scholarship is open to UK (Home fee rated) applicants and covers UK fees plus maintenance stipend. <br /> <br /> This fully funded PhD place provides an exciting opportunity to pursue postgraduate research in a range of fields relating to environmental science and climate change.<br /> <br /> The Institute for Transport Studies invites applications from prospective postgraduate researchers who wish to commence study for a PhD in the academic year 2025/26 for the Institute for Transport Studies INFUZE Scholarship. <br /> <br /> The award is open to full-time UK (Home fee rated) candidates who have been offered a place on a PhD degree at the Institute for Transport Studies.

<p>Current appraisal approaches explore the value for money of specific projects or interventions, such as a new road or the adding of a cycle lane. We understand the impacts of the intervention on the choices for journeys passing through that intervention but there is no consideration of any impacts on wider system change. This is justifiable with discrete investments but leaves us missing any understanding of how to assess broader changes in systems, norms and values. </p> <p>The INFUZE project is exploring what the potential is for moving from systems of individual car based mobility to systems which are more based around mobility on demand. This potentially means changing the way in which people pay for how they travel, how they perceive the options in front of them, and how they blend their choices. There is also the potential for such choices to impact on the quality of their local neighbourhood. In a broader sense, the visions is to imagine a “city where you don’t need to own a car”, which could also include how work is organised, health care and social activities. These kinds of system changes are much harder to evaluate with current appraisal tools. </p> <p>To fully understand what the transition to such schemes means to people, this PhD will focus on building a novel evaluation framework which is led by the citizens who are involved in the trials and demonstrations being run by the INFUZE project. This will enable an integrated assessment of the social and public value of changes to the way transport is organised. The PhD will then go on to place the citizen-led evaluation framework in critical dialogue with the existing appraisal framework. The aim will be to identify the critical gaps which need to be addressed if we are to put the needs of people at the heart of a decision-making framework that can also demonstrate the value of state investment and intervention. </p> <p>The candidate will need to have skills in documentary analysis, interviewing and will need to be able to work as part of a wider team in the INFUZE project to ensure the study connects to it. Experience in integrated assessment frameworks is desirable as well as an understanding of core economic principles. The studentship is part funded by the Department for Transport and the successful applicant will spend some time during their study period on secondment to the Department for Transport in Leeds to ensure the study can achieve impact. </p> <p><strong>Connected Reading</strong></p> <p paraeid="{64b5b7de-c713-4463-bc30-1f2bd6b405e4}{40}" paraid="1009825733">Büscher, M., Cronshaw, C., Kirkbride, A., & Spurling, N. (2023). Making Response-Ability: Societal Readiness Assessment for Sustainability Governance. <em>Sustainability</em>, 15(6), 5140. <a href="https://doi.org/10.3390/su15065140" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">https://doi.org/10.3390/su15065140</a> </p> <p paraeid="{64b5b7de-c713-4463-bc30-1f2bd6b405e4}{55}" paraid="872864380">Docherty, I., Stone, J., Curtis, C., Sørensen, C.H., Paulsson, A., Legacy, C., & Marsden, G. (2022). The case for ‘public’ transport in the age of automated mobility. <em>Cities</em>, 128, 103784. <a href="https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cities.2022.103784" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cities.2022.103784</a> </p> <p paraeid="{64b5b7de-c713-4463-bc30-1f2bd6b405e4}{80}" paraid="734376632">HM Treasury and Government Finance Function. (2022). The Green Book: appraisal and evaluation in central government. <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-green-book-appraisal-and-evaluation-in-central-government" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-green-book-appraisal-and-evaluation-in-central-government</a>  </p> <p paraeid="{64b5b7de-c713-4463-bc30-1f2bd6b405e4}{80}" paraid="734376632">INFUZE project: <a href="https://in-fuze.org.uk/" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">https://in-fuze.org.uk/</a></p>

<p>Formal applications for research degree study should be made online through the <a href="https://www.leeds.ac.uk/research-applying/doc/applying-research-degrees">University's website</a>. You will need to create a login ID with a username and PIN.</p> <ul> <li>For ‘Application type’ please select ‘Reseach Degrees – Research Postgraduate’.</li> <li>The admission year for this project is 2025/26 Academic Year.</li> <li>For ‘Planned Course of Study’ please select ‘PhD Institute for Transport studies Full-time’.</li> <li>For ‘Proposed Start Date of Research’ please select 1 September 2025.</li> <li><strong>In the research information section, you must state clearly that the project you wish to be considered for is ‘INFUZE: Evaluating new mobility systems</strong><strong>’ and name <a href="https://environment.leeds.ac.uk/transport/staff/958/professor-greg-marsden">Professor Greg Marsden</a> as your proposed supervisor.</strong></li> </ul> <p>If English is not your first language, you must provide evidence that you meet the University's minimum English language requirements (below).</p> <p><em>As an international research-intensive university, we welcome students from all walks of life and from across the world. We foster an inclusive environment where all can flourish and prosper, and we are proud of our strong commitment to student education. Across all Faculties we are dedicated to diversifying our community and we welcome the unique contributions that individuals can bring, and particularly encourage applications from, but not limited to Black, Asian, people who belong to a minority ethnic community, people who identify as LGBT+ and people with disabilities. Applicants will always be selected based on merit and ability.</em></p>

Applicants should normally have at least an upper second class British Bachelors Honours degree (or equivalent) or a good performance in a Masters level course. Applicants who are uncertain about the requirements for a particular research degree are advised to contact the Postgraduate Research Admissions team prior to making an application.

The minimum English language entry requirement for research postgraduate research study is an IELTS of 6.0 overall with at least 5.5 in each component (reading, writing, listening and speaking) or equivalent. The test must be dated within two years of the start date of the course in order to be valid. Some schools and faculties have a higher requirement.

<p><strong>Information about the Award</strong></p> <p>We are offering 1 full-time PhD scholarship in the Institute for Transport Studies for <strong>one UK candidate (Home fee rated)</strong>, covering tuition fees and a maintenance grant matching the UKRI rate (£19,237 in 2024/25) for three and a half years, subject to satisfactory progress.</p> <p><strong>Duration of the Award</strong></p> <p>Full-time (3.5 years). The award will be made for one year in the first instance and renewable for a further period of up to two and a half years, subject to satisfactory academic progress.</p> <p><strong>Other conditions</strong></p> <ul> <li>Applicants must not have already been awarded or be currently studying for a doctoral degree.</li> <li>Awards must be taken up by 1^st October 2025.</li> <li>Applicants must live within a reasonable distance of the University of Leeds whilst in receipt of this scholarship.</li> </ul>

<p>For further information, please contact the INFUZE team: <a href="mailto:infuze@leeds.ac.uk">infuze@leeds.ac.uk</a>.</p>